A group of astronomers claim to have found the possibility of their finding for the first time "exomoon" or a moon orbiting a planet outside the solar system. However, the object, the team of astronomers said, it could be a large planet orbiting a small star and faint, as set out in the report of the Astrophysical Journal.
"We will not have another chance to observe the candidates 'exomoon' in the future," said David Bennett, the head researcher of the University of Notre Dame through a press release the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) that was reported by the Xinhua News Agency.
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| Researchers have detected the first potential "exomoon" candidate, a moon orbiting an alien planet beyond our solar system. This artist's illustration shows a possible view of the exomoon (left) and a version of the system if it is actually a star and planet. (Picture from: http://www.space.com/) |
Objects suspected 'exomoon' was found during the research that led the team "Microlensing Observations in Astrophysucs" (MOA) of Japan, New Zealand and the United States and "Probing Lensing Anomalies NETwork" (PLANET), which uses a telescope from New Zealand and Australia.
The astronomers used a technique called gravitational microlensing, where the observations were made through one of the passes other stars, from the view of the Earth. Stars are closer can act as a magnifying glass to focus and describe distant starlight for a few days or weeks.
If the foreground star has orbiting planet, the planet acts as a second lens to illuminate or dim light. From the observation when the incident light, astronomers can see how much of the foreground star than the planet. But note, in some cases, the foreground object can be a free-floating planet, not a star. The researchers can only detect the large size of the planet compared to objects around it.
In a recent study funded by NASA, astronomers discovered a planet size ratio larger than the size of the companion by the ratio of 2000 to 1, even though the environment of foreground objects, and objects into the media lens is still not definitive.
That means that two objects can be small and faint stars, which dikelelilingi planet 18 times larger than Earth. Even planets that orbit it is estimated larger than Jupiter, plus, a month whose mass is lighter than Earth, astronomers said. However, researchers have not been able to conclude which one is correct and valid in between the two scenarios, given these events can only be observed at a time.
"The possibility of the use of the technique as it is a lens that finding palent and month (exomoon). If it will be a spectacular discovery," said Wes Traub, chief scientist for exoplanet exploration program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at NASA, who was not involved in the research . "The conclusions of the research model used is the month, but if you look at the scenario in nature, the conclusion that the object could be a star," he said. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | XINHUA | SPACE]
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