Cronomoon

Cronomoon is the name given to the satellite of a planet or exoplanet when that satellite has a ring system orbiting it. A cronomoon is not to be confused with a shepherd moon, which is a moon within a ring system. There are no known cronomoons in the Solar System.
Origin of the name
The term "cronomoon" comes from the name of the Greek god Chronos, the counterpart to Roman Saturn.
Detection of cronomoons around exoplanets
The presence of a moon around an exoplanet induces transit-timing variations and transit-duration variations. During transits, the presence of a ring system can make a moon appear larger than it actually is. An unusually low density could be an indication that the moon is actually a cronomoon.
Known or suspected cronomoons
The discovery of rings around Saturn's moon Rhea was announced in 2008. A subsequent article in 2010 disproved the existence of rings around Rhea by showing that this was inconsistent with the data from Cassini.
It is suspected that exomoon Kepler-1625b i might in fact be a cronomoon.<ref name="RAS/>
As of April 2022, no cronomoons have been confirmed.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu