As of November 2024 [update] , there have been no positive confirmations of satellites of extra-solar planets (exomoons); however, some evidence in favour of their existence has been produced.
Host star of the host planet(s) | Planet designation | Planet mass | Planet semimajor axis (AU) | Exomoon semimajor axis | Exomoon mass (ME) | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
N/A | J1407b | <6 MJ [2] | N/A | 0.396–0.421 AU | <0.8 | One possible exomoon residing in a 4 million km-wide gap in J1407b's circumplanetary disk. [22] Other ring gaps in J1407b's disk may also contain exomoons. |
Beta Pictoris | Beta Pictoris b | 9.3+2.6 −2.5MJ | 10.26 | 0.03 to 0.05 AU | ≳15 | Found via the predicted misaligment of the planet's obliquity, which is yet to be confirmed by JWST observations but is currently likely. [23] |
N/A | 2MASS J1119-1137A or B | 3.7 MJ | 3.6 ± 0.9 separation from each other | 0.004 - 0.009 AU | 0.5 - 1 | Found using the transit method. A habitable-zone exomoon candidate transiting a directly imaged free-floating planet or isolated planetary-mass object. [14] |
N/A | 2MASS J2117-2940 | 7 MJ | N/A | 0.005 AU | ~0.5 | Candidate exomoon transit detected in Spitzer observations of 2MASS J21171431-2940034. [24] |
DH Tauri | DH Tauri b | 10.6 MJ | 330 | 10 AU | 318 | Candidate Jupiter-mass satellite from direct imaging. If confirmed, it could also be considered a planet orbiting a brown dwarf. [25] |
HD 189733 | HD 189733 b | 1.13 MJ | 0.031 | 0.0087 AU | ? | Found by studying periodic increases and decreases in light given off from HD 189733 b. Outside of planet's Hill sphere. [26] |
<0.00112 AU | ~ 0.015 | Exo-Io candidate; [27] The sodium and potassium data [28] [29] at HD 189733b is consistent with evaporating exomoons and/or their corresponding gas torus. [30] | ||||
Kepler-409 | Kepler-409b | 1.00 ME | 0.320 | 0.222 R Hill | 0.300 | Possible exomoon from transit timing variations, [12] since deemed unlikely. [13] |
Kepler-517 | Kepler-517b | 7.59 ME | 0.298 | 0.278 R Hill | 0.499 | Possible exomoon from transit timing variations, [12] since deemed unlikely. [13] |
Kepler-809 | Kepler-809b | 38.02 ME | 0.308 | 0.289 R Hill | 2.931 | Possible exomoon from transit timing variations. [12] |
Kepler-857 | Kepler-857b | 14.13 ME | 0.376 | 0.208 R Hill | 1.636 | Possible exomoon from transit timing variations. [12] |
Kepler-1000 | Kepler-1000b | 19.95 ME | 0.534 | 0.235 R Hill | 1.551 | Possible exomoon from transit timing variations, [12] since deemed unlikely. [13] |
Kepler-1326 | Kepler-1326b | 24.55 ME | 0.2691 | 0.295 R Hill | 6.057 | Possible exomoon from transit timing variations, [12] since deemed unlikely. [13] |
Kepler-1442 | Kepler-1442b | 14.13 ME | 0.405 | 0.208 R Hill | 1.586 | Possible exomoon from transit timing variations, [12] since deemed unlikely. [13] |
Kepler-1625 | Kepler-1625b | <11.6 MJ [31] | 0.98 | 0.022 AU | 19.0 | Possible Neptune-sized exomoon or double planet, indicated by transit observations. [32] [9] |
Kepler-1708 | Kepler-1708b | <4.6 MJ | 1.64 | 0.005 AU (11.7 RP) | <37 | Possible Neptune-sized exomoon or double planet, indicated by transit observations. [15] |
KOI-268 | KOI-268.01 | 9.33 ME | 0.47 | 0.217 R Hill | 0.817 | Possible exomoon from transit timing variations, [12] since deemed unlikely. [13] |
N/A | MOA-2015-BLG-337L | 9.85 MJ | N/A | 0.24 AU | 33.7 | Found by microlensing; however it is unknown if the system is a super-Neptune-mass planet orbiting a free-floating planet, or a binary brown dwarf system. [33] |
WASP-12 | WASP-12b [34] | 1.465 MJ | 0.0232 | 0.57–6.4 (radius) [35] | ||
6 RP | Found by studying periodic increases and decreases in light given off from WASP-12b. Outside of planet's Hill sphere. [26] | |||||
WASP-49 | WASP-49b | 0.37 MJ | 0.0379 | < 1.74 RP | ~ 0.015 | Exo-Io candidate; The sodium exosphere around WASP-49b could be due to a volcanically active Io-like exomoon. [27] [21] |
WASP-76 | WASP-76b | 0.92 MJ | 0.033 | 1.125 RP | ~ 0.015 | Exo-Io candidate; Sodium detected via absorption spectroscopy around WASP-76b [36] is consistent with an extrasolar toroidal atmosphere [37] generated by an evaporating exomoon. [30] |
WASP-121 | WASP-121b | 1.184 MJ | 0.02544 | ~ 1.9 RP | ~ 0.015 | Exo-Io candidate; The sodium detected via absorption spectroscopy around WASP-121b [38] is consistent with an extrasolar gas torus possibly fueled by a hidden exo-Io. [30] |
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".
An exomoon or extrasolar moon is a natural satellite that orbits an exoplanet or other non-stellar extrasolar body.
HD 189733 b is an exoplanet in the constellation of Vulpecula approximately 64.5 light-years away from the Solar System. Astronomers in France discovered the planet orbiting the star HD 189733 on October 5, 2005, by observing its transit across the star's face. With a mass 11.2% higher than that of Jupiter and a radius 11.4% greater, HD 189733 b orbits its host star once every 2.2 days at an orbital speed of 152.0 kilometers per second, making it a hot Jupiter with poor prospects for extraterrestrial life.
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.
Kepler-90g is a super-puff exoplanet orbiting the early G-type main sequence star Kepler-90, one of eight planets around this star discovered using NASA's Kepler space telescope. It is located about 2,840 light-years (870 pc) 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. It orbits its parent star about every 210.5 days at a distance of 0.71 astronomical units.
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.
Kepler-1625 is a 14th-magnitude solar-mass star located in the constellation of Cygnus approximately 7,200 light-years away. Its mass is within 5% of that of the Sun, but its radius is approximately 70% larger reflecting its more evolved state. A candidate gas giant exoplanet was detected by the Kepler Mission around the star in 2015, which was later validated as a real planet to >99% confidence in 2016. In 2018, the Hunt for Exomoons with Kepler project reported evidence for a Neptune-sized exomoon around this planet, based on observations from NASA’s Kepler mission and the Hubble Space Telescope. Subsequently, the evidence for and reality of this exomoon candidate has been subject to debate.
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.
Kepler-1625b I is a possible moon of exoplanet Kepler-1625b, which may be the first exomoon ever discovered, and was first indicated after preliminary observations by the Kepler Space Telescope. A more thorough observing campaign by the Hubble Space Telescope took place in October 2017, ultimately leading to a discovery paper published in Science Advances in early October 2018. Studies related to the discovery of this moon suggest that the host exoplanet is up to several Jupiter masses in size, and the moon is thought to be approximately the mass of Neptune. Like several moons in the Solar System, the large exomoon would theoretically be able to host its own moon, called a subsatellite, in a stable orbit, although no evidence for such a subsatellite has been found.
WASP-49 is a binary star system about 636 light-years away in the constellation Lepus. The two stars are separated by 443 AU. The primary is a G-type main-sequence star, with a surface temperature of 5,600 K. WASP-49 is depleted of heavy elements relative to the Sun. It has a metallicity Fe/H index of –0.23, meaning it has 59% the iron level of the Sun.
WASP-69, also named Wouri, is a K-type main-sequence star 164 light-years away from Earth. Its surface temperature is 4782±15 K. WASP-69 is slightly enriched in heavy elements compared to the Sun, with a metallicity Fe/H index of 0.10±0.01, and is much younger than the Sun at 2 billion years. The data regarding starspot activity of WASP-69 are inconclusive, but spot coverage of the photosphere may be very high.
Kepler-1708b is a Jupiter-sized exoplanet orbiting the Sun-like star Kepler-1708, located in the constellation of Cygnus approximately 5,600 light years away from Earth. It was first detected in 2011 by NASA's Kepler mission using the transit method, but was not identified as a candidate planet until 2019. In 2021, a candidate Neptune-sized exomoon in orbit around Kepler-1708b was found by astronomer David Kipping and colleagues in an analysis using Kepler transit data. However, subsequent research has raised discrepancies about the possible existence of an exomoon, similar to that of Kepler-1625b, but even more recent research still find the existence of an exomoon likely.
Kepler-1513 is a main-sequence star about 1,150 light-years away in the constellation Lyra. It has a late-G or early-K spectral type, and it hosts at least one, and likely two, exoplanets.
Mamajek thinks his team could be either observing the late stages of planet formation if the transiting object is a star or brown dwarf, or possibly moon formation if the transiting object is a giant planet