Exolune Detected Around Brown Dwarf CD‑35 2722 B and ESA’s PLATO Telescope Set for 2026 Launch

An international team announced the most convincing exolune candidate to date, found orbiting the brown dwarf CD‑35 2722 B about 73 light‑years from Earth. The object has a mass just under that of Jupiter and completes an orbit in roughly 170 days. Detection was achieved by measuring subtle Doppler‑induced oscillations of the brown dwarf with the VLT’s CRIRES+ spectrograph, a method usually used for exoplanets. Researchers, including Kevin Hoy and Alice Zurlo, note that further observations are needed to confirm the signal and to address the lack of a clear definition for such massive moons.

Meanwhile, the European Space Agency is preparing to launch the PLATO (PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars) space telescope aboard an Ariane 6 from Kourou in late 2026. PLATO will carry 26 small cameras to monitor bright stars for transits of Earth‑size planets within their habitable zones, aiming to identify worlds that could host life. The mission builds on the legacy of earlier exoplanet missions such as CoRoT, Kepler, K2, TESS, and CHEOPS.