A newly discovered cosmic object is unlike any seen before. It’s not a planet. It’s not a moon, either. It’s a third thing we don’t have a name for yet.
The newfound object is about as massive as Jupiter and orbits a brown dwarf. That’s an object much bigger than a planet, but too small to burn hydrogen and shine as a true star. The brown dwarf, in turn, loops around a star called CD-35 2722.
This star system is the first known to host an “exosatellite,” researchers say. They shared the discovery July 22 in Nature.
The team coined the term “exosatellite” for the new object because no existing word is quite right. It’s not exactly an “exoplanet,” a planet around another star. Nor is it an “exomoon,” a moon around an exoplanet.
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