The Moon has played a huge role in the development of Earth. It stabilizes the planet, tempered dramatic climate swings, and possibly even provided the tidal heating that might have led to the first life forms. So it’s natural we would want to find a similar Earth/Luna system somewhere else in the cosmos. But astronomers have been searching for one for years at this point to no avail. And a new paper from Emily Pass and her colleagues at MIT, Harvard, and the University of Chicago describes using the James Webb Space Telescope to track some of the most promising exomoon candidates - only to be foiled by the star they were orbiting.
  • Cocodapuf@lemmy.world
    4·
    2 months ago

    I’m really glad this story ends with a silver lining. I’d say that it’s a near certainty that they’ve successfully collected the data they needed. Over time our tools for analysis only get better. Sometimes we sit on data for years before we develop the ability to properly analyze it, but we get there.