Observations with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) have revealed evidence for a moon-like object in the CD-35 2722 system. This object does not orbit a planet but instead circles a brown dwarf, which itself orbits the star CD-35 2722. If confirmed, this would be the first 'moon' discovered outside our Solar System.

Lead author Kevin Hoy described the system as “super weird” compared to our own. The newly discovered object is at least as massive as Jupiter, while the brown dwarf it orbits is over 30 times the mass of Jupiter. This challenges conventional astronomical labels, as the object orbits a substellar companion rather than a planet directly.

"The satellite we report is a giant gaseous body orbiting a highly massive companion, itself several times the mass of Jupiter," explained Alice Zurlo, a collaborator on the study. While astronomers have been searching for satellites outside our Solar System for years, with only a few exomoon candidates spotted previously, this detection represents a potential breakthrough in understanding planetary object diversity.