Lead author Kevin Hoy and colleagues, including Alice Zurlo, publish the find in Nature.

Future observations with the ELT planned by the European Southern Observatory are anticipated to reveal more exomoon candidates and broaden understanding of complex planetary systems.

The study raises questions about how common exomoons might be and how many exotic multi-body systems exist beyond our solar system.

Published July 22 in Nature, the findings underscore the challenge of defining moons beyond the solar system and the need for updated terminology as discoveries grow.

An object detected around the brown dwarf CD-35 2722 B is interpreted as an exosatellite or exomoon, a moon-like body in a hierarchical system rather than a planet orbiting a star.

The discovery used radial velocity measurements with the Very Large Telescope, tracking the brown dwarf’s periodic wobbles over more than two years and across 23 observations.

Researchers emphasize that nature’s classifications don’t always align with human-defined categories, suggesting we may soon identify true exomoons or similarly complex worlds as techniques improve.

The Nature paper notes this method could enable future exomoon detections around less massive targets as instrumentation advances.

The wobble signal is considered a robust candidate, clearer and harder to dismiss than similar signals in other systems, though confirmation awaits additional data and analysis.

The upcoming Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) is expected to enhance the search for exomoons by about 20 times in light-collecting power, enabling deeper surveys.

Hoy states the ELT will help uncover more exomoons and refine discovery methods through its greater light-gathering capability.

If confirmed, this would potentially be the first documented exomoon, though further observations are required for formal confirmation.