Exomoon

Last updated

Artist's impression of candidate exomoon Kepler-1625b I orbiting its planet. Exomoon Kepler-1625b-I orbiting its planet (artist's impression).tiff
Artist's impression of candidate exomoon Kepler-1625b I orbiting its planet.

An exomoon or extrasolar moon is a natural satellite that orbits an exoplanet or other non-stellar extrasolar body. [2]

Contents

Exomoons are difficult to detect and confirm using current techniques, [3] and to date there have been no confirmed exomoon detections. [4] However, observations from missions such as Kepler have observed a number of candidates. [5] [6] Two potential exomoons that may orbit rogue planets have also been detected by microlensing. [7] [8] In September 2019, astronomers reported that the observed dimmings of Tabby's Star may have been produced by fragments resulting from the disruption of an orphaned exomoon. [9] [10] [11] Some exomoons may be potential habitats for extraterrestrial life. [2]

Definition and designation

Although traditional usage implies moons orbit a planet, the discovery of brown dwarfs with planet-sized satellites blurs the distinction between planets and moons, due to the low mass of brown dwarfs. This confusion is resolved by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) declaration that "Objects with true masses below the limiting mass for thermonuclear fusion of deuterium that orbit stars, brown dwarfs or stellar remnants and that have a mass ratio with the central object below the L4/L5 instability (M/Mcentral < 2/(25+621) are planets." [12]

The IAU definition does not address the naming convention for the satellites of free-floating objects that are less massive than brown dwarfs and below the deuterium limit (the objects are typically referred to as free-floating planets, rogue planets, low-mass brown dwarfs or isolated planetary-mass objects). The satellites of these objects are typically referred to as exomoons in the literature. [7] [8] [13]

Exomoons take their designation from that of their parent body plus a capital Roman numeral; thus, Kepler-1625b orbits Kepler-1625 (synonymous with Kepler-1625a) and itself may be orbited by Kepler-1625b I (no Kepler-1625b II is known, nor is I known to have a submoon).

Characteristics

Characteristics of any extrasolar satellite are likely to vary, as do the Solar System's moons. For extrasolar giant planets orbiting within their stellar habitable zone, there is the prospect that terrestrial planet-sized satellite may be capable of supporting life. [14] [15] [ clarification needed ]

In August 2019, astronomers reported that an exomoon in the WASP-49b exoplanet system may be volcanically active. [16]

Orbital inclination

For impact-generated moons of terrestrial planets not too far from their star, with a large planet–moon distance, it is expected that the orbital planes of moons will tend to be aligned with the planet's orbit around the star due to tides from the star, but if the planet–moon distance is small it may be inclined. For gas giants, the orbits of moons will tend to be aligned with the giant planet's equator because these formed in circumplanetary disks. [17]

Lack of moons around planets close to their stars

Planets close to their stars on circular orbits will tend to despin and become tidally locked. As the planet's rotation slows down the radius of a synchronous orbit of the planet moves outwards from the planet. For planets tidally locked to their stars, the distance from the planet at which the moon will be in a synchronous orbit around the planet is outside the Hill sphere of the planet. The Hill sphere of the planet is the region where its gravity dominates that of the star so it can hold on to its moons. Moons inside the synchronous orbit radius of a planet will spiral into the planet. Therefore, if the synchronous orbit is outside the Hill sphere, then all moons will spiral into the planet. If the synchronous orbit is not three-body stable then moons outside this radius will escape orbit before they reach the synchronous orbit. [17]

A study on tidal-induced migration offered a feasible explanation for this lack of exomoons. It showed the physical evolution of host planets (i.e. interior structure and size) plays a major role in their final fate: synchronous orbits can become transient states and moons are prone to be stalled in semi-asymptotic semimajor axes, or even ejected from the system, where other effects can appear. In turn, this would have a great impact on the detection of extrasolar satellites. [18]

Detection methods

The existence of exomoons around many exoplanets is theorized. [14] Despite the great successes of planet hunters with Doppler spectroscopy of the host star, [19] exomoons cannot be found with this technique. This is because the resultant shifted stellar spectra due to the presence of a planet plus additional satellites would behave identically to a single point-mass moving in orbit of the host star. In recognition of this, there have been several other methods proposed for detecting exomoons, including:

Direct imaging

Direct imaging of an exoplanet is extremely challenging due to the large difference in brightness between the star and exoplanet as well as the small size and irradiance of the planet. These problems are greater for exomoons in most cases. However, it has been theorized that tidally heated exomoons could shine as brightly as some exoplanets. Tidal forces can heat up an exomoon because energy is dissipated by differential forces on it. Io, a tidally heated moon orbiting Jupiter, has volcanoes powered by tidal forces. If a tidally heated exomoon is sufficiently tidally heated and is distant enough from its star for the moon's light not to be drowned out, it would be possible for a telescope such as the James Webb Space Telescope to image it. [20]

Doppler spectroscopy of host planet

Doppler spectroscopy is an indirect detection method that measures the velocity shift and resulting stellar spectrum shift associated with an orbiting planet. [21] This method is also known as the Radial Velocity method. It is most successful for main sequence stars. The spectra of exoplanets have been successfully partially retrieved for several cases, including HD 189733 b and HD 209458 b. The quality of the retrieved spectra is significantly more affected by noise than the stellar spectrum. As a result, the spectral resolution, and number of retrieved spectral features, is much lower than the level required to perform Doppler spectroscopy of the exoplanet.

Radio wave emissions from the host planet's magnetosphere

During its orbit, Io's ionosphere interacts with Jupiter's magnetosphere, to create a frictional current that causes radio wave emissions. These are called "Io-controlled decametric emissions" and the researchers believe finding similar emissions near known exoplanets could be key to predicting where other moons exist. [22]

Microlensing

In 2002, Cheongho Han & Wonyong Han proposed microlensing be used to detect exomoons. [23] The authors found detecting satellite signals in lensing light curves will be very difficult because the signals are seriously smeared out by the severe finite-source effect even for events involved with source stars with small angular radii.

Pulsar timing

In 2008, Lewis, Sackett, and Mardling [24] of the Monash University, Australia, proposed using pulsar timing to detect the moons of pulsar planets. The authors applied their method to the case of PSR B1620-26 b and found that a stable moon orbiting this planet could be detected, if the moon had a separation of about one-fiftieth of that of the orbit of the planet around the pulsar and a mass ratio to the planet of 5% or larger.

Transit timing effects

In 2007, physicists A. Simon, K. Szatmáry, and Gy. M. Szabó published a research note titled 'Determination of the size, mass, and density of “exomoons” from photometric transit timing variations'. [25]

In 2009, David Kipping published a paper [3] [26] outlining how by combining multiple observations of variations in the time of mid-transit (TTV, caused by the planet leading or trailing the planet–moon system's barycenter when the pair are oriented roughly perpendicular to the line of sight) with variations of the transit duration (TDV, caused by the planet moving along the direction path of transit relative to the planet–moon system's barycenter when the moon–planet axis lies roughly along the line of sight) a unique exomoon signature is produced. Furthermore, the work demonstrated how both the mass of the exomoon and its orbital distance from the planet could be determined using the two effects.

In a later study, Kipping concluded that habitable zone exomoons could be detected by the Kepler Space Telescope [27] using the TTV and TDV effects.

Transit method (star-planet-moon systems)

When an exoplanet passes in front of the host star, a small dip in the light received from the star may be observed. The transit method is currently the most successful and responsive method for detecting exoplanets. This effect, also known as occultation, is proportional to the square of the planet's radius. If a planet and a moon pass in front of a host star, both objects should produce a dip in the observed light. [28] A planet–moon eclipse may also occur [29] during the transit, but such events have an inherently low probability.

Transit method (planet-moon systems)

If the host planet is directly imaged, then transits of an exomoon may be observable. When an exomoon passes in front of the host planet, a small dip in the light received from the directly-imaged planet may be detected. [29] Exomoons of directly imaged exoplanets and free-floating planets are predicted to have a high transit probability and occurrence rate. Moons as small as Io or Titan should be detectable with the James Webb Space Telescope using this method, but this search method requires a substantial amount of observation time. [13]

Orbital sampling effects

If a glass bottle is held up to the light it is easier to see through the middle of the glass than it is near the edges. Similarly, a sequence of samples of a moon's position will be more bunched up at the edges of the moon's orbit of a planet than in the middle. If a moon orbits a planet that transits its star then the moon will also transit the star and this bunching up at the edges may be detectable in the transit light curves if a sufficient number of measurements are made. The larger the star the greater the number of measurements needed to create observable bunching. The Kepler telescope data may contain enough data to detect moons around red dwarfs using orbital sampling effects but won't have enough data for Sun-like stars. [30] [31]

Indirect detection around white dwarfs

The atmosphere of white dwarfs can be polluted with metals and in a few cases, the white dwarfs are surrounded by a debris disk. Usually, this pollution is caused by asteroids or comets, but tidally disrupted exomoons were also proposed in the past as a source of white dwarf pollution. [32] In 2021 Klein and collaborators discovered that the white dwarfs GD 378 and GALEXJ2339 had an unusually high pollution with beryllium. The researchers conclude that oxygen, carbon or nitrogen atoms must have been subjected to MeV collisions with protons in order to create this excess of beryllium. [33] In one proposed scenario, the beryllium excess is caused by a tidally disrupted exomoon. In this scenario a moon-forming icy disk exists around a giant planet, which orbits the white dwarf. The strong magnetic field of such a giant planet accelerates stellar wind particles, such as protons, and directs them into the disk. The accelerated proton collides with water ice in the disk, creating elements like beryllium, boron, and lithium in a spallation reaction. These three elements are relatively rare in the universe as they are destroyed in the process of stellar fusion. A moonlet forming in this kind of disk would have a higher beryllium, boron and lithium abundance. The study also predicted that the mid-sized moons of Saturn, for example, Mimas, should be enriched in Be, B, and Li. [34]

Candidates

Detection projects

There are several missions underway now using some of the methods described above, which will find many more candidate exomoons and be able to confirm or disprove some candidates. PLATO, for example, is expected to launch in 2026.

As part of the Kepler mission, the Hunt for Exomoons with Kepler (HEK) project was intended to detect exomoons, and generated some of the candidates still discussed today. [35] [36]

Habitability

Artist's impression of a hypothetical Earth-like moon around a Saturn-like exoplanet The Blue Moon.png
Artist's impression of a hypothetical Earth-like moon around a Saturn-like exoplanet

The habitability of exomoons has been considered in at least two studies published in peer-reviewed journals. René Heller & Rory Barnes [37] considered stellar and planetary illumination on moons as well as the effect of eclipses on their orbit-averaged surface illumination. They also considered tidal heating as a threat to their habitability. In Sect. 4 in their paper, they introduce a new concept to define the habitable orbits of moons. Referring to the concept of the circumstellar habitable zone for planets, they define an inner border for a moon to be habitable around a certain planet and call it the circumplanetary "habitable edge". Moons closer to their planet than the habitable edge are uninhabitable. In a second study, René Heller [38] then included the effect of eclipses into this concept as well as constraints from a satellite's orbital stability. He found that, depending on a moon's orbital eccentricity, there is a minimum mass for stars to host habitable moons at around 0.2 solar masses.

Taking as an example the smaller Europa, at less than 1% the mass of the Earth, Lehmer et al. found if it were to end up near to Earth orbit it would only be able to hold onto its atmosphere for a few million years. However, for any larger, Ganymede-sized moons venturing into its solar system's habitable zone, an atmosphere and surface water could be retained indefinitely. Models for moon formation suggest the formation of even more massive moons than Ganymede is common around many of the super-Jovian exoplanets. [39]

Earth-sized exoplanets in the habitable zone around M-dwarfs are often tidally locked to the host star. This has the effect that one hemisphere always faces the star, while the other remains in darkness. An exomoon in an M-dwarf system does not face this challenge, as it is tidally locked to the planet and it would receive light for both hemispheres. Martínez-Rodríguez et al. studied the possibility of exomoons around planets that orbit M-dwarfs in the habitable zone. While they found 33 exoplanets from earlier studies that lie in the habitable zone, only four could host Moon- to Titan-mass exomoons for timescales longer than 0.8 Gyr (HIP 12961 b, HIP 57050 b, Gliese 876 b and c). For this mass range the exomoons could probably not hold onto their atmosphere. The researchers increased the mass for the exomoons and found that exomoons with the mass of Mars around IL Aquarii b and c could be stable on timescales above the Hubble time. The CHEOPS mission could detect exomoons around the brightest M-dwarfs or ESPRESSO could detect the Rossiter–McLaughlin effect caused by the exomoons. Both methods require a transiting exoplanet, which is not the case for these four candidates. [40]

Like an exoplanet, an exomoon can potentially become tidally locked to its primary. However, since the exomoon's primary is an exoplanet, it would continue to rotate relative to its star after becoming tidally locked, and thus would still experience a day/night cycle indefinitely.

The possible exomoon candidate transiting 2MASS J1119-1137AB lies in the habitable zone of its host (at least initially until the planet cools), but it is unlikely complex life has formed as the system is only 10 Myr old. If confirmed, the exomoon may be similar to primordial earth and characterization of its atmosphere with the James Webb Space Telescope could perhaps place limits on the time scale for the formation of life. [13]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Exoplanet</span> Planet outside the Solar System

An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not then recognized as such. The first confirmation of the detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, first detected in 1988, was confirmed in 2003. According to statistics from the NASA Exoplanet Archive, As of 8 August 2024, there are 5,743 confirmed exoplanets in 4,286 planetary systems, with 961 systems having more than one planet. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is expected to discover more exoplanets, and to give more insight into their traits, such as their composition, environmental conditions, and potential for life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hot Jupiter</span> Class of high mass planets orbiting close to a star

Hot Jupiters are a class of gas giant exoplanets that are inferred to be physically similar to Jupiter but that have very short orbital periods. The close proximity to their stars and high surface-atmosphere temperatures resulted in their informal name "hot Jupiters".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Habitable zone</span> Orbits where planets may have liquid surface water

In astronomy and astrobiology, the habitable zone (HZ), or more precisely the circumstellar habitable zone (CHZ), is the range of orbits around a star within which a planetary surface can support liquid water given sufficient atmospheric pressure. The bounds of the HZ are based on Earth's position in the Solar System and the amount of radiant energy it receives from the Sun. Due to the importance of liquid water to Earth's biosphere, the nature of the HZ and the objects within it may be instrumental in determining the scope and distribution of planets capable of supporting Earth-like extraterrestrial life and intelligence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HD 28185 b</span> Gas giant orbiting HD 28185

HD 28185 b is an extrasolar planet 128 light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Eridanus. The planet was discovered orbiting the Sun-like star HD 28185 in April 2001 as a part of the CORALIE survey for southern extrasolar planets, and its existence was independently confirmed by the Magellan Planet Search Survey in 2008. HD 28185 b orbits its sun in a circular orbit that is at the inner edge of its star's habitable zone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gliese 876 b</span> Extrasolar planet orbiting Gliese 876

Gliese 876 b is an exoplanet orbiting the red dwarf Gliese 876. It completes one orbit in approximately 61 days. Discovered in June 1998, Gliese 876 b was the first planet to be discovered orbiting a red dwarf.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Methods of detecting exoplanets</span>

Any planet is an extremely faint light source compared to its parent star. For example, a star like the Sun is about a billion times as bright as the reflected light from any of the planets orbiting it. In addition to the intrinsic difficulty of detecting such a faint light source, the light from the parent star causes a glare that washes it out. For those reasons, very few of the exoplanets reported as of January 2024 have been observed directly, with even fewer being resolved from their host star.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HD 69830 d</span> Ice giant exoplanet orbiting HD 69830

HD 69830 d is an exoplanet likely orbiting within the habitable zone of the star HD 69830, the outermost of three such planets discovered in the system. It is located approximately 40.7 light-years (12.49 parsecs, or 3.8505×1014 km) from Earth in the constellation of Puppis. The exoplanet was found by using the radial velocity method, from radial-velocity measurements via observation of Doppler shifts in the spectrum of the planet's parent star.

This page describes exoplanet orbital and physical parameters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Habitability of natural satellites</span> Measure of the potential of natural satellites to have environments hospitable to life

The habitability of natural satellites is the potential of moons to provide habitats for life, though it is not an indicator that they harbor it. Natural satellites are expected to outnumber planets by a large margin and the study of their habitability is therefore important to astrobiology and the search for extraterrestrial life. There are, nevertheless, significant environmental variables specific to moons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Discoveries of exoplanets</span> Detecting planets located outside the Solar System

An exoplanet is a planet located outside the Solar System. The first evidence of an exoplanet was noted as early as 1917, but was not recognized as such until 2016; no planet discovery has yet come from that evidence. What turned out to be the first detection of an exoplanet was published among a list of possible candidates in 1988, though not confirmed until 2003. The first confirmed detection came in 1992, with the discovery of terrestrial-mass planets orbiting the pulsar PSR B1257+12. The first confirmation of an exoplanet orbiting a main-sequence star was made in 1995, when a giant planet was found in a four-day orbit around the nearby star 51 Pegasi. Some exoplanets have been imaged directly by telescopes, but the vast majority have been detected through indirect methods, such as the transit method and the radial-velocity method. As of 24 July 2024, there are 7,026 confirmed exoplanets in 4,949 planetary systems, with 1007 systems having more than one planet. This is a list of the most notable discoveries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kepler-16b</span> Gas giant orbiting Kepler-16 star system

Kepler-16b is a Saturn-mass exoplanet consisting of half gas and half rock and ice. It orbits a binary star, Kepler-16, with a period of 229 days. "[It] is the first confirmed, unambiguous example of a circumbinary planet – a planet orbiting not one, but two stars," said Josh Carter of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, one of the discovery team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kepler-47c</span> Temperate gas giant in Kepler-47 system

Kepler-47c is an exoplanet orbiting the binary star system Kepler-47, the outermost of three such planets discovered by NASA's Kepler spacecraft. The system, also involving two other exoplanets, is located about 3,400 light-years away.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hunt for Exomoons with Kepler</span> Space research project

The Hunt for Exomoons with Kepler (HEK) is a project whose aim is to search for exomoons, natural satellites of exoplanets, using data collected by the Kepler space telescope. Founded by British exomoonologist David Kipping and affiliated with the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, HEK submitted its first paper on June 30, 2011. HEK has since submitted five more papers, finding some evidence for an exomoon around a planet orbiting Kepler-1625b in July 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kepler-90h</span> Exoplanet in the constellation Draco

Kepler-90h is an exoplanet orbiting within the habitable zone of the early G-type main sequence star Kepler-90, the outermost of eight such planets discovered by NASA's Kepler spacecraft. It is located about 2,840 light-years, from Earth in the constellation Draco. The exoplanet was found by using the transit method, in which the dimming effect that a planet causes as it crosses in front of its star is measured.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kepler-138</span> Red dwarf in the constellation Lyra

Kepler-138, also known as KOI-314, is a red dwarf located in the constellation Lyra, 219 light years from Earth. It is located within the field of vision of the Kepler spacecraft, the satellite that NASA's Kepler Mission used to detect planets transiting their stars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kepler-438b</span> Super-Earth orbiting Kepler-438

Kepler-438b is a confirmed near-Earth-sized exoplanet. It is likely rocky. It orbits on the inner edge of the habitable zone of a red dwarf, Kepler-438, about 472.9 light-years from Earth in the constellation Lyra. It receives 1.4 times our solar flux. The planet was discovered by NASA's Kepler spacecraft using the transit method, in which the dimming effect that a planet causes as it crosses in front of its star is measured. NASA announced the confirmation of the exoplanet on 6 January 2015.

HIP 57274 d is an exoplanet orbiting the K-type main sequence star HIP 57274 about 84.5 light-years (26 parsecs, or nearly 8.022×1016 km) from Earth in the constellation Cetus. It orbits within the outer part of its star's habitable zone, at a distance of 1.01 AU. The exoplanet was found by using the radial velocity method, from radial-velocity measurements via observation of Doppler shifts in the spectrum of the planet's parent star.

Kepler-1625b is a super-Jupiter exoplanet orbiting the Sun-like star Kepler-1625 about 2,500 parsecs away in the constellation of Cygnus. The large gas giant is approximately the same radius as Jupiter, and orbits its star every 287.4 days. In 2017, hints of a Neptune-sized exomoon in orbit of the planet was found using photometric observations collected by the Kepler Mission. Further evidence for a Neptunian moon was found the following year using the Hubble Space Telescope, where two independent lines of evidence constrained the mass and radius to be Neptune-like. The mass-signature has been independently recovered by two other teams. However, the radius-signature was independently recovered by one of the teams but not the other. The original discovery team later showed that this latter study appears affected by systematic error sources that may influence their findings.

References

  1. "Hubble finds compelling evidence for a moon outside the Solar System – Neptune-sized moon orbits Jupiter-sized planet". spacetelescope.org. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
  2. 1 2 Woo, Marcus (27 January 2015). "Why We're Looking for Alien Life on Moons, Not Just Planets". Wired . Archived from the original on 27 January 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
  3. 1 2 Kipping D. M. (2009). "Transit timing effects due to an exomoon". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society . 392 (3): 181–189. arXiv: 0810.2243 . Bibcode:2009MNRAS.392..181K. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13999.x . S2CID   14754293.
  4. Heller, René (2014). "Detecting Extrasolar Moons Akin to Solar System Satellites with an Orbital Sampling Effect". The Astrophysical Journal. 787 (1): 14. arXiv: 1403.5839 . Bibcode:2014ApJ...787...14H. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/787/1/14. ISSN   0004-637X. S2CID   118523573.
  5. Teachey, Alex; Kipping, David M. (4 October 2018). "Evidence for a large exomoon orbiting Kepler-1625b". Science Advances. 4 (10): eaav1784. arXiv: 1810.02362 . Bibcode:2018SciA....4.1784T. doi:10.1126/sciadv.aav1784. PMC   6170104 . PMID   30306135.
  6. Kipping, David; Bryson, Steve; et al. (13 January 2022). "An exomoon survey of 70 cool giant exoplanets and the new candidate Kepler-1708 b-i". Nature . 6 (3): 367–380. arXiv: 2201.04643 . Bibcode:2022NatAs...6..367K. doi:10.1038/s41550-021-01539-1. PMC   8938273 . PMID   35399159.
  7. 1 2 Bennett, D.P.; et al. (13 December 2013). "A Sub-Earth-Mass Moon Orbiting a Gas Giant Primary or a High Velocity Planetary System in the Galactic Bulge". The Astrophysical Journal. 785 (2): 155. arXiv: 1312.3951 . Bibcode:2014ApJ...785..155B. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/785/2/155. S2CID   118327512.
  8. 1 2 Miyazaki, S.; et al. (24 July 2018). "MOA-2015-BLG-337: A Planetary System with a Low-mass Brown Dwarf/Planetary Boundary Host, or a Brown Dwarf Binary". The Astronomical Journal. 156 (3): 136. arXiv: 1804.00830 . Bibcode:2018AJ....156..136M. doi: 10.3847/1538-3881/aad5ee . S2CID   58928147.
  9. Columbia University (16 September 2019). "New observations help explain the dimming of Tabby's Star". Phys.org . Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  10. Martinez, Miquel; Stone, Nicholas C.; Metzger, Brian D. (5 September 2019). "Orphaned Exomoons: Tidal Detachment and Evaporation Following an Exoplanet-Star Collision". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society . 489 (4): 5119–5135. arXiv: 1906.08788 . Bibcode:2019MNRAS.489.5119M. doi: 10.1093/mnras/stz2464 .
  11. Carlson, Erika K. (18 September 2019). "Shredded exomoon may explain weird behavior of Tabby's Star - Tabby's star may have kidnapped an icy "exomoon" from its parent planet and brought it close in, where the world evaporated, creating dust and debris". Astronomy . Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  12. "Official Working Definition of an Exoplanet". IAU position statement. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  13. 1 2 3 Limbach, Mary Anne; Vos, Johanna M.; Winn, Joshua N.; Heller, Rene; Mason, Jeffrey C.; Schneider, Adam C.; Dai, Fei (18 August 2021). "On the Detection of Exomoons Transiting Isolated Planetary-mass Objects". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 918 (2): L25. arXiv: 2108.08323 . Bibcode:2021ApJ...918L..25L. doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/ac1e2d . S2CID   237213523.
  14. 1 2 Canup, R.; Ward, W. (2006). "A common mass scaling relation for satellite systems of gaseous planets". Nature . 441 (7095): 834–839. Bibcode:2006Natur.441..834C. doi:10.1038/nature04860. PMID   16778883. S2CID   4327454.
  15. Exomoons: on the hunt for distant worlds. Mary Halton, BBC News. 5 July 2018.
  16. University of Bern (29 August 2019). "Hints of a volcanically active exomoon". EurekAlert! . Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  17. 1 2 Moon formation and orbital evolution in extrasolar planetary systems-A literature review Archived 14 March 2014 at the Wayback Machine , K Lewis – EPJ Web of Conferences, 2011 – epj-conferences.org
  18. Alvarado-Montes J. A.; Zuluaga J.; Sucerquia M. (2017). "The effect of close-in giant planets' evolution on tidal-induced migration of exomoons". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society . 471 (3): 3019–3027. arXiv: 1707.02906 . Bibcode:2017MNRAS.471.3019A. doi: 10.1093/mnras/stx1745 . S2CID   119346461.
  19. "The Exoplanet Catalogue". Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia . 7 January 1995. Archived from the original on 28 October 2023. Retrieved 11 November 2008.
  20. Limbach, Mary Anne; Edwin Turner (June 2013). "On the Direct Imaging of Tidally Heated Exomoons". The Astrophysical Journal. 769 (2): 98–105. arXiv: 1209.4418 . Bibcode:2013ApJ...769...98P. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/769/2/98. S2CID   118666380.
  21. Eggenberger, A (2 April 2009). "Detection and Characterization of Extrasolar Planets through Doppler Spectroscopy". EAS Publications Series. 41: 50. arXiv: 0904.0415 . doi:10.1051/eas/1041002. S2CID   14923552.
  22. "Follow the radio waves to exomoons, UT Arlington physicists say – UTA News Center". www.uta.edu. Archived from the original on 11 May 2017. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  23. Han C.; Han W. (2002). "On the Feasibility of Detecting Satellites of Extrasolar Planets via Microlensing". The Astrophysical Journal (Submitted manuscript). 580 (1): 490–493. arXiv: astro-ph/0207372 . Bibcode:2002ApJ...580..490H. doi:10.1086/343082. S2CID   18523550.
  24. Lewis K. M.; Sackett P. S.; Mardling R. A. (2008). "Possibility of Detecting Moons of Pulsar Planets through Time-of-Arrival Analysis". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 685 (2): L153–L156. arXiv: 0805.4263 . Bibcode:2008ApJ...685L.153L. doi:10.1086/592743. S2CID   17818202.
  25. Simon, A. (2007). "Determination of the size, mass, and density of "exomoons" from photometric transit timing variations" (PDF). Astronomy and Astrophysics. 470 (2): 727. arXiv: 0705.1046 . Bibcode:2007A&A...470..727S. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20066560. S2CID   15211385.
  26. "Hunting for Exoplanet Moons". Centauri Dreams. Archived from the original on 19 May 2011. Retrieved 11 November 2008.
  27. Kipping D. M.; Fossey S. J.; Campanella G. (2009). "On the detectability of habitable exomoons with Kepler-class photometry". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society . 400 (1): 398–405. arXiv: 0907.3909 . Bibcode:2009MNRAS.400..398K. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.15472.x . S2CID   16106255.
  28. Simon A., Szatmary, K. & Szabo Gy. M. (2007). "Determination of the size, mass, and density of exomoons from photometric transit timing variations". Astronomy and Astrophysics . 480 (2): 727–731. arXiv: 0705.1046 . Bibcode:2007A&A...470..727S. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20066560. S2CID   15211385.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  29. 1 2 Cabrera J.; Schneider J. (2007). "Detecting companions to extrasolar planets using mutual events". Astronomy and Astrophysics . 464 (3): 1133–1138. arXiv: astro-ph/0703609 . Bibcode:2007A&A...464.1133C. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20066111. S2CID   14665906.
  30. Detecting extrasolar moons akin to solar system satellites with an orbital sampling effect Archived 25 April 2018 at the Wayback Machine , René Heller, (Submitted on 24 March 2014 (v1), last revised 30 April 2014 (this version, v2))
  31. Hadhazy, Adam (12 May 2014). "New Exomoon Hunting Technique Could Find Solar System-like Moons". Astrobiology Magazine. Archived from the original on 12 May 2014.
  32. Payne, Matthew J.; Veras, Dimitri; Holman, Matthew J.; Gänsicke, Boris T. (1 March 2016). "Liberating exomoons in white dwarf planetary systems". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 457 (1): 217–231. arXiv: 1603.09344 . Bibcode:2016MNRAS.457..217P. doi: 10.1093/mnras/stv2966 . ISSN   0035-8711.
  33. Klein, Beth; Doyle, Alexandra E.; Zuckerman, B.; Dufour, P.; Blouin, Simon; Melis, Carl; Weinberger, Alycia J.; Young, Edward D. (1 February 2021). "Discovery of Beryllium in White Dwarfs Polluted by Planetesimal Accretion". The Astrophysical Journal. 914 (1): 61. arXiv: 2102.01834 . Bibcode:2021ApJ...914...61K. doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/abe40b . S2CID   231786441.
  34. Doyle, Alexandra E.; Desch, Steven J.; Young, Edward D. (1 February 2021). "Icy Exomoons Evidenced by Spallogenic Nuclides in Polluted White Dwarfs". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 907 (2): L35. arXiv: 2102.01835 . Bibcode:2021ApJ...907L..35D. doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/abd9ba . ISSN   0004-637X. S2CID   231786413.
  35. Lozano, Sharon; Dunbar, Brian (30 January 2015). "NASA Supercomputer Assists the Hunt for Exomoons". NASA . Archived from the original on 1 February 2015. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  36. Nesvorny, David; et al. (June 2012). "The Detection and Characterization of a Nontransiting Planet by Transit Timing Variations". Science . 336 (6085): 1133–1136. arXiv: 1208.0942 . Bibcode:2012Sci...336.1133N. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.754.3216 . doi:10.1126/science.1221141. PMID   22582018. S2CID   41455466.
  37. Heller, René; Rory Barnes (January 2013). "Exomoon habitability constrained by illumination and tidal heating". Astrobiology. 13 (1): 18–46. arXiv: 1209.5323 . Bibcode:2013AsBio..13...18H. doi:10.1089/ast.2012.0859. PMC   3549631 . PMID   23305357.
  38. Heller, René (September 2012). "Exomoon habitability constrained by energy flux and orbital stability". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 545: L8. arXiv: 1209.0050 . Bibcode:2012A&A...545L...8H. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201220003. S2CID   118458061.
  39. http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/aa67ea/meta The Longevity of Water Ice on Ganymedes and Europas around Migrated Giant Planets
  40. Martínez-Rodríguez, Héctor; Caballero, José Antonio; Cifuentes, Carlos; Piro, Anthony L.; Barnes, Rory (December 2019). "Exomoons in the Habitable Zones of M Dwarfs". Astrophysical Journal. 887 (2): 261. arXiv: 1910.12054 . Bibcode:2019ApJ...887..261M. doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/ab5640 . ISSN   0004-637X. S2CID   204904780.