Researchers detect moon-like object orbiting brown dwarf

5 min read

A team published in Nature describes a moon-like satellite orbiting a brown dwarf that itself orbits a star, forming a three-tiered hierarchical system; the candidate completes one orbit every 170 days and has a mass ratio of about 2.5% relative to its host, with an absolute mass just below Jupiter. Researchers used radio velocity analysis while monitoring the brown dwarf from October 2023 to February 2026 to detect the host wobble induced by the satellite. Because there is no agreed definition of exomoons and the host is a brown dwarf, the authors stop short of calling it a confirmed exomoon, but the technique offers a promising search path.

A moon-like object orbits a brown dwarf with a 170-day period.