If it can observe for long enough, it may turn up more candidate exomoons.

如果TESS的观测时间够长，或许可以发现更多候选系外行星。

But only two exomoons, or moons beyond our solar system, have been found.

但目前只发现了两颗系外卫星，即太阳系以外的卫星。

This possible exomoon is located about 8,000 light-years from Earth.

这颗可能的地外月距离地球约8000光年。

In a way, this is not surprising. Few astronomers would have bet against the existence of exomoons.

在某种程度上，这一点也不意外。几乎没有宇航员会打赌外星系不存在卫星。

" Exomoons are terra incognita, " Kipping said, using a Latin term meaning unknown land.

" 外行星是未知的领域，" 基平说，他使用了一个拉丁语术语，意思是未知的土地。

The first exomoon candidate, described in 2018 by the same lead researchers and still awaiting confirmation, is even larger.

2018年，由同一组研究人员描述的第一个候选外行星规模更大，目前仍在等待确认。

They found evidence for the one new exomoon, whose size, they said, would earn it the description of being a " mini-Neptune" .

他们发现了一颗新的系外卫星的证据，他们说，它的大小可以被描述为" 迷你海王星" 。

If everything goes according to plan, the study of exomoons may follow the pattern seen with exoplanets, where an initial trickle turns rapidly into a flood.

如果一切按计划进行，系外行星的研究或许会遵循系外行星的模式—在这些系外行星上，最初的微妙移动迅速扩大。

If it were an exomoon, it would be about 3 million kilometers from its own planet. The astronomers also are not sure how this possible exomoon might have formed, given its size.

假若它是一颗系外月球，那它距其环绕的星球应大概有300万公里。天文学家目前也尚不能确定这种大小的月球是如何形成。

They observed a change in the brightness of the sun-like star around which the moon's planet orbits when the planet and the exomoon passed in front of it.

他们观察到，当这颗行星和这颗系外卫星从它前面经过时，这颗类似太阳的恒星的亮度发生了变化。

Teachey said the discovery of the first exomoon is, in his words, " an extraordinary claim and it requires extraordinary evidence" . He added, " We're not cracking open champagne bottles just yet on this one" .

蒂奇表示，用他的话说就是，第一颗太阳系外卫星月球的发现" 是一个非凡的论断，也需要非凡的证据证明。" 他还说：" 我们现在还没有到开香槟的时候。"