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STANDARDS
CCSS: 6.NS.B.3
TEKS: 6.3D, 6.3E
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Far Out Moon
Exoplanets and exomoons are named after the star they orbit. The possible exomoon’s home star is called Kepler-1625.
Since 2009, the Kepler space observatory has spotted more than 2,300 exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system. But for the first time, astronomers may have found evidence of a moon orbiting an exoplanet, called an exomoon. Using Kepler data, scientists from Columbia University in New York City found hints of a Neptune-sized moon 4,000 light-years away. The exo-moon appears to be circling a planet 10 times the size of Jupiter.
This exomoon candidate still needs to be confirmed. The researchers are now working with observations from the Hubble Space Telescope to verify their discovery.
The exomoon’s diameter is estimated to be 16 times larger than the diameter of Earth’s moon, which is 2,159 miles. What’s the diameter of the newly discovered exomoon? Record your work and answer on our Numbers in the News answer sheet.
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