Scientists have discovered tens of thousands of exoplanets lying dormant beyond our solar system, but have yet to find a moon orbiting one of them – yet. In a new study, they described a finding they say could change this. Researchers believe it may be a giant satellite orbiting a planet outside the Solar System. The Moon orbits an exoplanet the size of Jupiter, which, when confirmed by preliminary investigation, will become the first exomon.

Another candidate for Exomon was found four years ago, but that finding is still awaiting confirmation. In addition, many fear that the new candidate will face the same fate. Both candidates share several features, including orbiting similar planets, but the new one is a little smaller. Scientists believe that these two objects were made of gas, which at one time could have been their own planets, but were later thrown into the orbit of the larger worlds around them.

The new object is orbiting Kepler 1708b, an exoplanet 5,500 light-years from Earth, according to a study published in the journal Journal. Natural astronomy. Scientists have used NASA’s Kepler space telescope to look at 70 gas giants and find only one candidate who is an exomon. This candidate is 2.6 times larger than Earth.

Inspired by a recent discovery, researchers believe there may be more moons in distant worlds that could be similar to our moon. “It’s generally weird to be the first to find out in any survey,” said David Kipping, who led the research on new and old Exomon candidates. Free. “It’s easy to find big ones with our limited sensitivity.”

Both lunar candidates are located farther away from their host star, which means they are less likely to be ejected from their orbits.