Astronomy:Exomoon

From HandWiki
Short description: Moon beyond the Solar System

File:Exomoon Kepler-1625b-i orbiting its planet (artist’s impression).tif

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

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

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]

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 a prospect a 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
  • Microlensing
  • Pulsar timing
  • Transit timing effects
  • Transit method

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 result 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.

Detection of radio wave emissions from the magnetosphere of host planet

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 passed 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 are 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 for a source of white dwarf pollution.[32] In 2021 Klein et al. 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 under-abundant in the universe, because they are destroyed in stars. 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

Artist's impression of the MOA-2011-BLG-262 system

It has been surmised that the star V1400 Centauri's ringed companion, 1SWASP J1407b may have a few moons.[35] The confirmed extrasolar planet WASP-12b may also possess a moon.[36]

In December 2013, a candidate exomoon of a free-floating planet MOA-2011-BLG-262, was announced, but due to degeneracies in the modelling of the microlensing event, the observations can also be explained as a Neptune-mass planet orbiting a low-mass red dwarf, a scenario the authors consider to be more likely.[37][38][39] This candidate also featured in the news a few months later in April 2014.

In October 2018, researchers using the Hubble Space Telescope published observations of the candidate exomoon Kepler-1625b I, which suggest that the host planet is likely several Jupiter masses, while the exomoon may have a mass and radius similar to Neptune. The study concluded that the exomoon hypothesis is the simplest and best explanation for the available observations, though warned that it is difficult to assign a precise probability to its existence and nature.[40][5] However, a reanalysis of the data published in April 2019 concluded that the data was fit better by a planet-only model. According to this study, the discrepancy was an artifact of the data reduction, and Kepler-1625b I likely does not exist.[41]

A paper by Chris Fox and Paul Wiegert examined the Kepler dataset for indications of exomoons solely from transit timing variations. Eight candidate signals were found that were consistent with an exomoon, however the signals could also be explained by the presence of another planet. Fox and Wiegert's conclusion was more and higher quality transit timing data would be required to establish whether these are truly moons or not.[42] However, in August 2020 David Kipping re-derived the timings of six of the eight targets (based on a pre-peer review version) and evaluated the TTV evidence as uncompelling. The same study finds that Kepler-1625b I remains an exomoon candidate.[43]

In August 2021, astronomers reported an habitable-zone 1.7 R exomoon candidate transiting one of the components in the planetary-mass binary 2MASS J1119-1137AB.[13]

In January 2022, an exomoon candidate was reported around the planet Kepler-1708b, and because it is orbiting a planet at approximately 1.6 AU from a star that is slightly more luminous than the Sun, it too could be within the habitable zone.[6] However, this candidate is based on limited observations (only two transits) and some consider the data to be non-convincing.[44]

In November 2022, another exomoon candidate was reported around the planet Kepler-1513b (KOI-3678.01). Unlike the previous giant exomoon candidates of Kepler-1625 and Kepler-1708, this exomoon would be terrestrial-mass, ranging from 0.76 Lunar masses to 0.34 Earth masses depending on the planet's mass and moon's orbital period.[45] However, a follow-up study by the same team in October 2023 found that the observed TTVs are caused by a second planet in the system, and not by a moon.[46]

The exomoon candidate around Kepler-1625b was again challenged, along with the Kepler-1708b candidate, in December 2023. This study argues that the statistical significance of these exomoon candidates is lower than previously claimed (with false positive probabilities of 10.9% and 1.6%, respectively) and that true giant exomoons would have stronger evidence. Evidence for exomoon transits may be caused by stellar activity in the Kepler light curves.[47] Kipping's team published a response arguing that these exomoon candidates remain possible.[48]

List

Host star
of the
host planet(s)
Planet designation Planet mass Planet
semimajor
axis (AU)
Exomoon
semimajor
axis
Exomoon
mass (M)
Notes
V1400 Centauri J1407b[49] 020 14–26
||J}}}}}}
3.9 2.2–5.6


0.24 AU <0.3 Two possible exomoons residing in small ring gaps around J1407b.
0.25 AU
0.40 AU 00.8 <0.8 Possible exomoon residing in a large ring gap around J1407b.
N/A 2MASS J1119-1137A or B 3.7 [[Astronomy:Jupiter mass J}}}}}}]] 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.[13]
HD 189733 HD 189733 b 1.13 [[Astronomy:Jupiter mass J}}}}}}]] 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.[50]
<0.00112 AU ~ 0.015 Exo-Io candidate;[51] The sodium and potassium data[52][53] at HD189733b is consistent with evaporating exomoons and/or their corresponding gas torus.[54]
Kepler-409 Kepler-409b 1.00 M 0.320 0.222 RHill 0.300 Possible exomoon from transit timing variations,[42] since deemed unlikely.[43]
Kepler-517 Kepler-517b 7.59 M 0.298 0.278 RHill 0.499 Possible exomoon from transit timing variations,[42] since deemed unlikely.[43]
Kepler-809 Kepler-809b 38.02 M 0.308 0.289 RHill 2.931 Possible exomoon from transit timing variations.[42]
Kepler-857 Kepler-857b 14.13 M 0.376 0.208 RHill 1.636 Possible exomoon from transit timing variations.[42]
Kepler-1000 Kepler-1000b 19.95 M 0.534 0.235 RHill 1.551 Possible exomoon from transit timing variations,[42] since deemed unlikely.[43]
Kepler-1326 Kepler-1326b 24.55 M 0.2691 0.295 RHill 6.057 Possible exomoon from transit timing variations,[42] since deemed unlikely.[43]
Kepler-1442 Kepler-1442b 14.13 M 0.405 0.208 RHill 1.586 Possible exomoon from transit timing variations,[42] since deemed unlikely.[43]
Kepler-1708 Kepler-1708b 4.6 <4.6
||J}}}}}} || 1.64 || 0.005 AU 
(11.7 RP) || 37 <37
Possible Neptune-sized exomoon or double planet, indicated by transit observations.[6]
KOI-268 KOI-268.01 9.33 M 0.47 0.217 RHill 0.817 Possible exomoon from transit timing variations,[42] since deemed unlikely.[43]
WASP-12 WASP-12b[55] 1.465 [[Astronomy:Jupiter mass J}}}}}}]] 0.0232 6 RP 03.485 0.57–6.4


[citation needed] || Found by studying periodic increases and decreases in light given off from WASP-12b. Outside of planet's Hill sphere.[50]

WASP-49 WASP-49b 0.37 [[Astronomy:Jupiter mass J}}}}}}]] 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.[51]
WASP-76 WASP-76b 0.92 [[Astronomy:Jupiter mass J}}}}}}]] 0.033 1.125 RP ~ 0.015 Exo-Io candidate; Sodium detected via absorption spectroscopy around WASP-76b[56] is consistent with an extrasolar toroidal atmosphere[57] generated by an evaporating exomoon.[54]
WASP-121 WASP-121b 1.184 [[Astronomy:Jupiter mass J}}}}}}]] 0.02544 ~ 1.9 RP ~ 0.015 Exo-Io candidate; The sodium detected via absorption spectroscopy around WASP-121b[58] is consistent with an extrasolar gas torus possibly fueled by a hidden exo-Io.[54]

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.[59][60]

Habitability

Artist's impression of a hypothetical Earth-like moon around a Saturn-like exoplanet

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.[61]

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.[62]

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


References

  1. "Hubble finds compelling evidence for a moon outside the Solar System – Neptune-sized moon orbits Jupiter-sized planet". https://www.spacetelescope.org/news/heic1817/. 
  2. 2.0 2.1 Woo, Marcus (27 January 2015). "Why We're Looking for Alien Life on Moons, Not Just Planets". Wired. https://www.wired.com/2015/01/looking-alien-life-moons-just-planets/. Retrieved 27 January 2015. 
  3. 3.0 3.1 Kipping D. M. (2009). "Transit timing effects due to an exomoon". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 392 (3): 181–189. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13999.x. Bibcode2009MNRAS.392..181K. 
  4. Heller, René (2014). "Detecting Extrasolar Moons Akin to Solar System Satellites with an Orbital Sampling Effect" (in en). The Astrophysical Journal 787 (1): 14. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/787/1/14. ISSN 0004-637X. Bibcode2014ApJ...787...14H. http://stacks.iop.org/0004-637X/787/i=1/a=14. 
  5. 5.0 5.1 Teachey, Alex; Kipping, David M. (4 October 2018). "Evidence for a large exomoon orbiting Kepler-1625b". Science Advances 4 (10): eaav1784. doi:10.1126/sciadv.aav1784. PMID 30306135. Bibcode2018SciA....4.1784T. 
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 Kipping, David 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. doi:10.1038/s41550-021-01539-1. PMID 35399159. Bibcode2022NatAs...6..367K. 
  7. 7.0 7.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named bennett2014
  8. 8.0 8.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named miyazaki2018
  9. Columbia University (16 September 2019). "New observations help explain the dimming of Tabby's Star". Phys.org. https://phys.org/news/2019-09-dimming-tabby-star.html. 
  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. doi:10.1093/mnras/stz2464. Bibcode2019MNRAS.489.5119M. 
  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. http://www.astronomy.com/news/2019/09/evaporating-exomoon-could-explain-weird-light-patterns-of-tabbys-star. 
  12. "Official Working Definition of an Exoplanet". IAU position statement. https://www.iau.org/science/scientific_bodies/commissions/F2/info/documents/. 
  13. 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 Limbach, Mary Anne; Vos, Johanna M.; Winn, Joshua N.; Heller, Rene; Mason, Jeffrey C.; Schneider, Adam C.; Dai, Fei (2021-08-18). "On the Detection of Exomoons Transiting Isolated Planetary-mass Objects" (in en). The Astrophysical Journal Letters 918 (2): L25. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ac1e2d. Bibcode2021ApJ...918L..25L. 
  14. 14.0 14.1 Canup, R.; Ward, W. (2006). "A common mass scaling relation for satellite systems of gaseous planets". Nature 441 (7095): 834–839. doi:10.1038/nature04860. PMID 16778883. Bibcode2006Natur.441..834C. 
  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!. https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-08/uob-hoa082919.php. 
  17. 17.0 17.1 Moon formation and orbital evolution in extrasolar planetary systems-A literature review , 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. doi:10.1093/mnras/stx1745. Bibcode2017MNRAS.471.3019A. 
  19. "The Exoplanet Catalogue". Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia. 7 January 1995. https://exoplanet.eu/home/. 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. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/769/2/98. Bibcode2013ApJ...769...98P. 
  21. Eggenberger, A (2 April 2009). "Detection and Characterization of Extrasolar Planets through Doppler Spectroscopy". EAS Publications Series 41: 50. doi:10.1051/eas/1041002. 
  22. "Follow the radio waves to exomoons, UT Arlington physicists say – UTA News Center". http://www.uta.edu/news/releases/2014/08/exomoon-research.php. 
  23. Han C.; Han W. (2002). "On the Feasibility of Detecting Satellites of Extrasolar Planets via Microlensing". The Astrophysical Journal 580 (1): 490–493. doi:10.1086/343082. Bibcode2002ApJ...580..490H. https://cds.cern.ch/record/570962. 
  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. doi:10.1086/592743. Bibcode2008ApJ...685L.153L. 
  25. Simon, A. (2007). "Determination of the size, mass, and density of "exomoons" from photometric transit timing variations". Astronomy and Astrophysics 470 (2): 727. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20066560. Bibcode2007A&A...470..727S. https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/pdf/2007/29/aa6560-06.pdf. 
  26. "Hunting for Exoplanet Moons". Centauri Dreams. http://www.centauri-dreams.org/?p=3856. 
  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. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.15472.x. Bibcode2009MNRAS.400..398K. 
  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. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20066560. Bibcode2007A&A...470..727S. 
  29. 29.0 29.1 Cabrera J.; Schneider J. (2007). "Detecting companions to extrasolar planets using mutual events". Astronomy and Astrophysics 464 (3): 1133–1138. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20066111. Bibcode2007A&A...464.1133C. 
  30. Detecting extrasolar moons akin to solar system satellites with an orbital sampling effect , René Heller, (Submitted on 24 March 2014 (v1), last revised 30 April 2014 (this version, v2))
  31. Hadhazy, Adam (2014-05-12). "New Exomoon Hunting Technique Could Find Solar System-like Moons". Astrobiology Magazine. http://www.astrobio.net/exclusive/6170/new-exomoon-hunting-technique-could-find-solar-system-like-moons. 
  32. Payne, Matthew J.; Veras, Dimitri; Holman, Matthew J.; Gänsicke, Boris T. (2016-03-01). "Liberating exomoons in white dwarf planetary systems". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 457 (1): 217–231. doi:10.1093/mnras/stv2966. ISSN 0035-8711. Bibcode2016MNRAS.457..217P. 
  33. Klein, Beth; Doyle, Alexandra E.; Zuckerman, B.; Dufour, P.; Blouin, Simon; Melis, Carl; Weinberger, Alycia J.; Young, Edward D. (2021-02-01). "Discovery of Beryllium in White Dwarfs Polluted by Planetesimal Accretion". The Astrophysical Journal 914 (1): 61. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/abe40b. Bibcode2021ApJ...914...61K. 
  34. Doyle, Alexandra E.; Desch, Steven J.; Young, Edward D. (2021-02-01). "Icy Exomoons Evidenced by Spallogenic Nuclides in Polluted White Dwarfs". The Astrophysical Journal Letters 907 (2): L35. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/abd9ba. ISSN 0004-637X. Bibcode2021ApJ...907L..35D. 
  35. "Saturn-like ring system eclipses Sun-like star". https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120109115830.htm.  – "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"
  36. Российские астрономы впервые открыли луну возле экзопланеты (in Russian) – "Studying of a curve of change of shine of WASP-12b has brought to the Russian astronomers unusual result: regular splashes were found out.<...> Though stains on a star surface also can cause similar changes of shine, observable splashes are very similar on duration, a profile and amplitude that testifies for benefit of exomoon existence."
  37. Bennett, D.P. (2014). "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. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/785/2/155. Bibcode2014ApJ...785..155B. 
  38. Clavin, Whitney (10 April 2014). "Faraway Moon or Faint Star? Possible Exomoon Found". NASA. http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-109. 
  39. "First exomoon glimpsed – 1800 light years from Earth". New Scientist. https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24773-first-exomoon-glimpsed--1800-light-years-from-earth.html. 
  40. Teachey, Alex et al. (2017). "HEK VI: On the Dearth of Galilean Analogs in Kepler and the Exomoon Candidate Kepler-1625b I". The Astronomical Journal 155 (1): 36. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/aa93f2. Bibcode2018AJ....155...36T. 
  41. Laura Kreidberg; Rodrigo Luger; Megan Bedell (24 April 2019), "No Evidence for Lunar Transit in New Analysis of HST Observations of the Kepler-1625 System", The Astrophysical Journal 877 (2), doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ab20c8, Bibcode2019ApJ...877L..15K 
  42. 42.0 42.1 42.2 42.3 42.4 42.5 42.6 42.7 42.8 Fox, Chris; Wiegert, Paul (23 November 2020). "Exomoon Candidates from Transit Timing Variations: Eight Kepler systems with TTVs explainable by photometrically unseen exomoons". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 501 (2): 2378–2393. doi:10.1093/mnras/staa3743. Bibcode2021MNRAS.501.2378F. 
  43. 43.0 43.1 43.2 43.3 43.4 43.5 43.6 Kipping, David (8 August 2020). "An Independent Analysis of the Six Recently Claimed Exomoon Candidates". The Astrophysical Journal 900 (2): L44. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/abafa9. Bibcode2020ApJ...900L..44K. 
  44. "Astronomers may have found a huge moon around a Jupiter-like exoplanet". https://www.newscientist.com/article/2304546-astronomers-may-have-found-a-huge-moon-around-a-jupiter-like-exoplanet/. 
  45. Kipping, David; Yahalomi, Daniel A. (January 2023). "A search for transit timing variations within the exomoon corridor using Kepler data". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 518 (3): 3482–3493. doi:10.1093/mnras/stac3360. Bibcode2023MNRAS.518.3482K. 
  46. Yahalomi, Daniel A. et al. (January 2024). "Not So Fast Kepler-1513: A Perturbing Planetary Interloper in the Exomoon Corridor". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 527 (1): 620–639. doi:10.1093/mnras/stad3070. Bibcode2024MNRAS.527..620Y. 
  47. Heller, René; Hippke, Michael (December 2023). "Large exomoons unlikely around Kepler-1625 b and Kepler-1708 b". Nature Astronomy. doi:10.1038/s41550-023-02148-w. Bibcode2023NatAs.tmp..258H. 
  48. Kipping, David; Teachey, Alex (January 2024). "A Reply to: Large Exomoons unlikely around Kepler-1625 b and Kepler-1708 b". Nature Astronomy. 
  49. "1SWASP J1407 b". Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia. https://exoplanet.eu/catalog/1swasp_j1407_b--2330/. Retrieved 1 February 2015. 
  50. 50.0 50.1 Ben-Jaffel, Lotfi; Ballester, Gilda (3 April 2014). "Transit of Exomoon Plasma Tori: New Diagnosis". The Astrophysical Journal 785 (2): L30. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/785/2/L30. Bibcode2014ApJ...785L..30B. 
  51. 51.0 51.1 Oza, Apurva V.; Johnson, Robert E.; Lellouch, Emmanuel; Schmidt, Carl; Schneider, Nick; Huang, Chenliang; Gamborino, Diana; Gebek, Andrea et al. (2019-08-28). "Sodium and Potassium Signatures of Volcanic Satellites Orbiting Close-in Gas Giant Exoplanets". The Astrophysical Journal 885 (2): 168. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab40cc. Bibcode2019ApJ...885..168O. 
  52. Wyttenbach, A.; Ehrenreich, D.; Lovis, C.; Udry, S.; Pepe, F. (5 May 2015). "Spectrally resolved detection of sodium in the atmosphere of HD 189733b with the HARPS spectrograph". Astronomy & Astrophysics 577: A62. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201525729. Bibcode2015A&A...577A..62W. https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2015/05/aa25729-15/aa25729-15.html. 
  53. Keles, Engin; Mallonn, Matthias; von Essen, Carolina; Carroll, Thorsten; Alexoudi, Xanthippi; Pino, Lorenzo; Ilyin, Ilya; Poppenhager, Katja et al. (October 2019). "The potassium absorption on HD189733b and HD209458b". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters 489 (1): L37-L41. doi:10.1093/mnrasl/slz123. Bibcode2019MNRAS.489L..37K. 
  54. 54.0 54.1 54.2 Gebek, Andrea; Oza, Apurva (29 July 2020). "Alkaline exospheres of exoplanet systems: evaporative transmission spectra". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 497 (4): 5271–5291. doi:10.1093/mnras/staa2193. Bibcode2020MNRAS.497.5271G. https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article-abstract/497/4/5271/5877918?redirectedFrom=fulltext. Retrieved 8 December 2020. 
  55. "WASP-12 b". Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia. https://exoplanet.eu/catalog/wasp_12_b--459/. Retrieved 1 February 2015. 
  56. Seidel, J.V.; Ehrenreich, D.; Wyttenbach, A.; Allart, R.; Lendl, M.; Pino, L.; Bourrier, V.; Cegla, H.M. et al. (27 March 2019). "Hot Exoplanet Atmospheres Resolved with Transit Spectroscopy (HEARTS)★ II. A broadened sodium feature on the ultra-hot giant WASP-76b". Astronomy & Astrophysics 623: A166. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201834776. Bibcode2019A&A...623A.166S. 
  57. Johnson, Robert E.; Huggins, Patrick (August 2006). "Toroidal Atmospheres around Extrasolar Planets". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 118 (846): 1136–1143. doi:10.1086/506183. Bibcode2006PASP..118.1136J. 
  58. Hoeijmakers, H.J.; Seidel, J.V.; Pino, L.; Kitzmann, D.; Sindel, J.P.; Ehrenreich, D.; Oza, A.V.; Bourrier, V. et al. (18 September 2020). "Hot Exoplanet Atmospheres Resolved with Transit Spectroscopy (HEARTS) - IV. A spectral inventory of atoms and molecules in the high-resolution transmission spectrum of WASP-121 b". Astronomy & Astrophysics 641: A123. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202038365. Bibcode2020A&A...641A.123H. 
  59. Lozano, Sharon; Dunbar, Brian (30 January 2015). "NASA Supercomputer Assists the Hunt for Exomoons". NASA. http://www.nasa.gov/ames/nasa-supercomputer-assists-the-hunt-for-exomoons. 
  60. Nesvorny, David (June 2012). "The Detection and Characterization of a Nontransiting Planet by Transit Timing Variations". Science 336 (6085): 1133–1136. doi:10.1126/science.1221141. PMID 22582018. Bibcode2012Sci...336.1133N. 
  61. http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/aa67ea/meta The Longevity of Water Ice on Ganymedes and Europas around Migrated Giant Planets
  62. Martínez-Rodríguez, Héctor; Caballero, José Antonio; Cifuentes, Carlos; Piro, Anthony L.; Barnes, Rory (December 2019). "Exomoons in the Habitable Zones of M Dwarfs" (in en). Astrophysical Journal 887 (2): 261. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab5640. ISSN 0004-637X. Bibcode2019ApJ...887..261M. 

External links