Using the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have discovered an exoplanet orbiting Barnard’s Star, the closest star to the Sun.
The exoplanet is at least half the mass of Venus, and a year here lasts just over three Earth days. The team’s new observations suggested there could be three more exoplanets, all in various orbits around the star.
At just 6 light-years away, Barnard’s star is the second closest star system – after Alpha Centauri – and single. Given its short distance, the star is a perfect target for the study of rocky, Earth-like exoplanets. Despite some promising detections in 2018, no planets orbiting Barnard’s star could be confirmed so far.
“Even if it took a long time, we were always confident”
The discovery of the new exoplanet was announced in a study published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics and is the result of observations carried out over the past five years with ESO’s Very Large Telescope, located at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. “Even though it took a long time, we were always confident that we would find something,” said Jonay González Hernández, a researcher at Spain’s Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias and lead author of the study.
The scientists were looking for signals from possible exoplanets in the star’s habitable or temperate zone, meaning where liquid water can exist on the planet’s surface. Red dwarfs such as Barnard’s star are preferred by astronomers because low-mass rocky planets are easier to find here than around stars similar to our Sun, shows a remis DESCOPERĂ.ro.
Barnard b is ‘too close to host star’
Exoplanet Barnard b is 20 times closer to its star than Mercury is to the Sun. The planet orbits the star in 3.15 Earth days and has a surface temperature of 125 degrees Celsius. So Barnard b is “too close to the host star, closer than the habitable zone,” the researchers explained, adding that “although the star is about 2,500 degrees cooler than , it is too hot to support liquid water on the surface.” .
Apart from the confirmed planet, the international team also found clues that suggest the presence of others orbiting the same star. However, more observations will be needed.
