Exomoon Formation Spotted for First Time!

Using ALMA, scientists detected a circumplanetary disk around exoplanet PDS 70c, which is a Jupiter-like planet orbiting a star about 400 light-years away.

IMAGE: This image, taken with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which ESO is a partner, shows wide (left) and close-up (right) views of the moon-forming disc surrounding PDS 70c, a young Jupiter-like planet nearly 400 light-years away. The close-up view shows PDS 70c and its circumplanetary disc centre-front, with the larger circumstellar ring-like disc taking up most of the right-hand side of the image. The star PDS 70 is at the centre of the wide-view image on the left. CREDIT: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/Benisty et al.

New observations published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters show that there is a potential exomoon forming around an exoplanet. And we have images!