Discussion: Searching for Moons Around ...

[Fraser]

SUMMARY: The European Space Agency is working on a new mission that could be able to detect moons orbiting planets in other star systems. In 2008, the ESA will launch Eddington, which will detect the drop in light as planets as small as Mars pass in front of their parent stars. Astronomers should theoretically be able to detect moons going around those planets because of their gravity - if the planet dims the star a few minutes earlier or later than expected, it will have one or more moons.


Comments or questions about this story? Feel free to share your thoughts.

[Planetwatcher]

Well there goes my idea for a novel again.
I keep trying to find a place unknown for it to take place. Lest I have somebody E-mail me in ten years and tell me that star xgy has six planets, not 4,
or that planet clopsetal has 14 moons not 11. h34r:

Maybe instead of writing a novel about people on some exo-planet's moon, I should be trying to help find some of those moons.

I suppose that might be better anyway.

[DippyHippy]

You know what would be cool? Finding an Earth-sized moon around a gas giant world... the mind boggles... :blink:

[Planetwatcher]

Yes, it would be nice, and I'll even forgo my novel to see it happen.

[DippyHippy]

LOL At the risk of going off-topic, about ten years ago I had the idea of writing a book whereby the central character lived in a computer-generated world but he didn't know it. His physical body was elsewhere. Alas, I never daydreamed enough about it to come up with a coherent storyline and then, as you know, the Matrix came along and the rest is history...

*kicking self*