Moons are the norm in our Solar System. The International Astronomical Union recognizes 288 planetary moons, and more keep being discovered. Saturn has a whopping 146 moons. Every planet except Mercury and Venus has moons, and their lack of moons is attributed to their small size and proximity to the Sun. <\/p>\n
It seems reasonable that there are moons around exoplanets in other Solar Systems, and now we\u2019re going to start looking for them with the James Webb Space Telescope. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n The Cool Worlds Lab is part of the Columbia University Astronomy Department and is led by assistant professor David Kipping, a well-known British\/American astronomer. The Lab focuses on cool exoplanets with wide orbits around stars. \u201cIn this regime, orbital dynamics and atmospheric chemistry diverge from their hot counterparts, and the potential for satellites, rings, and habitability become enhanced,\u201d the Lab\u2019s website says. Exomoons around these planets are part of the Lab\u2019s focus, and Kipping is an author and co-author of several papers about exomoons.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a lot of active discussion in the astronomy world about exomoons, how to find them, and how to confirm them. Currently, there are no confirmed exomoons, only a list of candidates, some of which should be in habitable zones if they\u2019re real. <\/p>\n Kipping and his team have succeeded in getting some JWST observation time to look for an exomoon. Back in February, his proposal was selected. \u201cWe have been hoping to find exomoons for a very long time,\u201d Kipping says in a YouTube video announcing the beginning of their JWST observations, adding that exomoons have been \u201ca continuous thread in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n Now, Kipping and the Cool Worlds Lab is being given a chance to use the world\u2019s most powerful space telescope to observe an exoplanet named Kepler-167e. Kipping himself found this planet about 10 years ago, and there\u2019s something special about it. It\u2019s a Jupiter analogue and a very rare example of a long-period transiting gas giant. Because Jupiter has so many moons, Kipping and others argue that Kepler-167e is a strong candidate to also have moons. <\/p>\n The planet only transits its star once every three years, and the next transit is happening right now. In fact, it started yesterday morning, and the JWST was watching on behalf of the Cool Worlds Lab. The JWST has given the Lab 60 hours\u20142 and a half days\u2014 of observing time. Those observations are happening right now, and if all goes well, we may have our first strong detection of an exomoon. <\/p>\n The data from these observations is exclusive to the Cool Worlds Lab for one year. \u201cWe have a year before the data goes public, and that\u2019s fairly normal with JWST data,\u201d Kipping said. <\/p>\n Kipping says they have to be cautious when they get their initial results. \u201cI\u2019ve been in this situation many times. You get the data on the first day. You see a dip and you\u2019re like \u2018That\u2019s it. We\u2019re there. We\u2019ve got a moon.\u2019 \u201d But a few weeks or months later, it could turn out to not be real. \u201cSo we don\u2019t want to get people\u2019s excitement up prematurely,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Looking for exomoons is extremely challenging and Kipping led an effort to find some in Kepler\u2019s data. \u201cWe surveyed probably on the order of 300 or 350 exoplanets during our time, and only two real candidates popped up over this entire analysis,\u201d Kipping said in an interview with Fraser Cain earlier this year. One of the candidates was Kepler-1625 b, and even then, they only had the \u201csmallest of hints from the Kepler data that there was something there,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Kipping told Universe Today that \u201cwe\u2019re really pushing these data sets to their limits to even get these signals.\u201d<\/p>\n But the JWST\u2019s data should be more robust than Kepler\u2019s. Kepler was an automated survey, while the JWST is a different beast. Kepler had a fixed field of view and a primary mirror only 0.95 meters in diameter. Its sole job was to detect exoplanets that transited in front of their stars. The JWST has a 6.5-meter mirror, multiple instruments, including cameras and spectrographs, and a system of filters. It\u2019s far more capable than Kepler, as almost everyone knows. <\/p>\n Kipping is hopeful that the JWST will be able to detect moons as small as Ganymede and Callisto. There\u2019s a chance that the JWST will detect a slam-dunk exomoon and that it\u2019ll be clear to everyone. \u201cThat\u2019s the dream scenario,\u201d Kipping says. However, this set of observations will be scientifically rich whether they detect an exomoon or not because the JWST will be able to measure other things about the planet. <\/p>\n \u201cBut there\u2019s also a scenario where we don\u2019t see anything,\u201d Kipping said. If that happens, it would also be a significant finding. \u201cWe would essentially have to rip up the textbook,\u201d Kipping said. \u201cIf we don\u2019t see a Titan, if we don\u2019t see a Ganymede, we don\u2019t see a Callisto, that is telling us something quite profound about Moon formation, maybe that our Solar System\u2019s kind of special.\u201d<\/p>\n This mirrors what we used to say about exoplanets. Prior to the Kepler mission, which found over 2,500 exoplanets, we weren\u2019t certain if our Solar System\u2019s planet population was normal or extraordinary. Now we know that exoplanets are likely orbiting every star. (Though our Solar System is still special.) <\/p>\n We may be on the verge of an age of exomoon discovery, just as we were prior to Kepler\u2019s launch. The Cool Worlds Lab exomoon observations are just one of five exomoon observing efforts the JWST has approved, and the JWST isn\u2019t the only telescope that will be searching for them. The ESA\u2019s upcoming PLATO (PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars) mission will study exoplanets in habitable zones around Sun-like stars, and it will also discover exomoons. <\/p>\n Kipping is boiling over with enthusiasm about the JWST\u2019s observations of Kepler-167e. He discovered the planet, and if he and his team were able to find the first confirmed exomoon around it, it would be quite an achievement. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an amazing opportunity that we have to potentially test some long-standing theories,\u201d Kipping said, adding that it\u2019s also a \u201cdream I\u2019ve had for my entire career.\u201d <\/p>\n For updates on the observations, follow Cool Worlds on YouTube. <\/p>\n![\"In](\"https:\/\/www.universetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/lossy-page1-1200px-Exomoon_Kepler-1625b-I_orbiting_its_planet_artists_impression.tiff-1024x614.jpg\")
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