The hunt for DR EMILY BALDWIN Posted: September 4, 2009 While
astronomers keenly await the discovery of Earth-like planets
around other stars, the possibility of habitable moons should
not be ruled out either, say scientists at University College
London. NASA's Kepler spacecraft launched earlier this year with
the hunt for Earth-like planets the primary goal of the mission.
It will make detections using the transit method – by looking
for the characteristic dips in stellar brightness as a planet
passes in front of its parent star.New simulations predict that
Kepler could find exomoons orbiting exoplanets. Image: Dan
Durda. David Kipping of University College London and colleagues
have created computer simulations based on the sensitivity of
Kepler's instruments to suggest that the spacecraft may also be
able to seek out exomoons. An exomoon’s gravity tugs on the
planet it orbits, making the planet wobble during its orbit
around its host star. Kepler should be able to record the
resulting changes in the positi