Astronomers report evidence of possible first moon beyond our Solar System

The short version

• ScienceDaily reports astronomers found evidence of a possible first moon beyond the Solar System, in the CD-35 2722 system.[ScienceDaily]
• The candidate is at least as massive as Jupiter and orbits a brown dwarf, which itself circles a star with about half the Sun's mass.[ScienceDaily]
• The study, led by ESO student Kevin Hoy and published in Nature, used the radial velocity method on CRIRES+ data from ESO's Very Large Telescope.[ScienceDaily]
• Astronomers have not established a universally accepted definition of an exomoon, so the candidate's status as a moon remains unresolved.[ScienceDaily]

Key facts

• Astronomers reported evidence of a potential first moon beyond the Solar System in the CD-35 2722 system.[ScienceDaily]
• The candidate object is at least as massive as Jupiter and orbits a brown dwarf that circles a star.[ScienceDaily]
• The brown dwarf is more than 30 times as massive as Jupiter, and its host star has approximately half the Sun's mass.[ScienceDaily]
• Kevin Hoy, an ESO student based in Chile, is lead author of the study published in Nature and spent months examining the system.[ScienceDaily]
• Researchers used the CRIRES+ instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope and the radial velocity method to investigate the system.[ScienceDaily]
• Earlier in 2026, a team led by Quentin Kral reported possible signs of a satellite in the HD 206893 system without a definitive detection.[ScienceDaily]

Sources

Outlet counts describe coverage, not independent confirmation. Reports may share a wire service or original source.

• Astronomers may have discovered the first moon beyond our Solar SystemScienceDaily - Science