Kepler Spots the First Exomoon Candidate 4000 Light Years From Earth

[Binary_Bark]

Ever since it was deployed in March of 2009, the Kepler mission has detected thousands of extra-solar planet candidates. In fact, between 2009 and 2012, it detected a total of 4,496 candidates, and confirmed the existence of 2,337 exoplanets. Even after two of its reaction wheels failed, the spacecraft still managed to turn up distant planets as part of its K2 mission, accounting for another 521 candidates and confirming 157.

However, according to a new study conducted by a pair of researches from Columbia University and a citizen scientist, Kepler may also have also found evidence of an extra-solar moon. After sifting through data from hundreds of transits detected by the Kepler mission, the researchers found one instance where a transiting planet showed signs of having a satellite.

Their study – which recently published online under the title “HEK VI: On the Dearth of Galilean Analogs in Kepler and the Exomoon Candidate Kepler-1625b I” – was by led Alex Teachey, a graduate student at Columbia University and a Graduate Research Fellow with the National Science Foundation (NSF). He was joined by David Kipping, an Assistant Professor of Astronomy at Columbia University and the Principal Investigator of The Hunt for Exomoons with Kepler (HEK) project, and Allan Schmitt, a citizen scientist.

Read More At: https://www.universetoday.com/136654/kepler-spots-first-possible-exomoon-4000-light-years-away/

 

[mfumbesi]

Not really, it is a candidate. They still need to confirm it with Hubble and so forth.
Please view this video from the actual guys who are busy with the research:
[video=youtube;8V9QHn5oHMs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V9QHn5oHMs[/video]