Astronomers have announced the possible discovery of the first known moon outside our Solar System.天文学家日前宣告，他们有可能在我们的太阳系外找到了第一颗未知的月球。This exomoon is not like any in our cosmic neighbourhood: its the size of Neptune and orbits a planet the size of Jupiter -- but with 10 times the mass.这颗“系外月球”与我们宇宙里的任何东西都有所不同：它的体型有海王星那么大，绕着一颗木星大小的行星转动--但这颗行星的质量是木星的10倍。The object was spotted in data from Nasas Kepler spacecraft, and later observed using the Hubble telescope.在该星体划入美国宇航局开普勒探测器的数据后，天文学家用于哈勃望远镜展开了观测。

Astronomers David Kipping and Alex Teachey have published their results in Science Advances journal.天文学家戴维·恩祥和阿莱克斯·提彻一并他们的成果公开发表在《科学进展》杂志上。But they say that further observations are needed to understand the distant planetary system.但是他们回应，必须更进一步的仔细观察才能解读这个很远的行星系。

Weve tried our best to rule out other possibilities such as spacecraft anomalies, other planets in the system or stellar activity, but were unable to find any other single hypothesis which can explain all of the data we have, said Dr Kipping, from Columbia University in New York.来自纽约哥伦比亚大学的基平博士称之为：“对所观测到的现象，我们已竭力回避其他可能性，如探测器出现异常、太阳系中的其他行星或恒星活动，但我们无法寻找任何其他单一假设来说明我们的数据。”To date, astronomers have discovered more than 3,500 exoplanets -- worlds orbiting stars other than the Sun.迄今为止，天文学家已找到多达3500颗系外行星--即环绕着除太阳以外运营的星体。

A hunt for exomoons -- bodies that orbit these distant planets -- has proceeded in parallel. But so far, these natural satellites have lingered at the limits of detection with current techniques.天文学家也在同时找寻“系外月球”--即环绕很远行星的星体。但到目前为止，这些天然星体很难被现有技术的观测到。

The researchers monitored a planet known as Kepler 1625b as it passed in front of its parent star.研究人员是在这颗被命名为开普勒1625b的星体环绕着其母星运营的时候，对其展开的监测。

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