The James Webb Space Telescope has begun to look into other worlds, and the data is not limited to specific experts. Indian researchers will sift through data to look for Exo-Moons in our universe.
Astronomers have created a novel model at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) in Bengaluru to track exo-moons that have eluded ground- and space-based observatories.
A mathematical model has been created by IIA professor Sujan Sengupta and graduate student Suman Saha using the radius and orbital characteristics of the host planet and its moon.
According to India Today, the model employs these characteristics and takes into account a variety of potential orientations of the moon-planet-star combination to simulate the photometric transit light curves of moon-hosting exoplanets.
The Department of Science and Technology stated in a statement that “a large number of exomoons can be found in the near future using these general models and the evaluation of photometric transit light curves of exoplanets that are currently gathered by JWST.”
They will simulate all potential orbital configurations for a star-planet-moon system using the planet’s and the moon’s orbits’ co-alignment and non-co-alignment as parameters.
There have been 500 exoplanets outside our solar system so far, and they range widely in terms of composition and features. Exo-moons are natural satellites that circle exoplanets, each of which is orbiting a star, in a manner similar to how planets in our own Solar System orbit the Sun.
Cover Image: NASA