Astronomers have made an exciting discovery, uncovering a new exoplanet orbiting the closest single star to our Sun, Barnard’s star. This sub-Earth-mass planet, named Barnard b, is located a mere six light-years away, making it one of the closest known exoplanets to Earth.
While Barnard b is too close to its host star to be considered habitable, this finding opens up new avenues for exoplanet research and the search for potentially Earth-like worlds in our cosmic backyard. The team’s observations also hint at the existence of three more exoplanet candidates around Barnard’s star, which will require further study using the upcoming Extremely Large Telescope to confirm.
Uncovering a Nearby Exoplanet
The new planet is the result of a joint campaign led by astronomers at the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC) and articulated through the Pale Red Dot project, since follows half a dozen sibling small planets around this star that have been declared over the last several years.
The Earth is the closest single star to our Sun, only six light years away and therefore a very attractive target in the search for exoplanets similar to ours. Although these are tantalizing signals they were also very weak and no planet orbiting Barnard’s star had been observed until now.
Gravitational pull of a planet causes the subtle wobble of a star and for that, the team used an instrument named as ESPRESSO, one of the most precise instruments». The researchers were able to confirm the existence of Barnard b through observations with the ESPRESSO spectrograph as well as data from other specialized exoplanet-hunting instruments like HARPS and CARMENES.
A Temperature Fitness World too close.
It’s known as a super-Earth–a rocky exoplanet with a mass higher than Earth’s but less than Neptune’s–but still, it represents one of the lowest mass planets ever discovered. The planet completes an orbit around its star in just over three Earth days, making it a very close neighbour to Barnard’s Star.
Despite its proximity, the planet is expected to have a surface temperature at around 125°C — which is warm enough for liquid water to exist. Barnard b is exciting because of where it is located around its planetary parent, but unfortunately, based upon what we know today, the world probably exists on the outer edge of the star’s habitable zone or well into the realm of cold outer space where liquid water wouldn’t stand a chance.
Though this makes it an unlikely home for life, its finding, like that of other nearby worlds such as Proxima b and d, show just how common low-mass planets are lurking out there beacons of humanity’s homes away from Earth. These findings will fuel future investigations with more powerful telescopes (including the Extremely Large Telescope) to detect and track down even smaller, possibly Earth-like planets around closer stars.
Peeking Into the Future of Exoplanet Exploration
The find of Barnard b is an exhilarating development on the hunt for exoplanets that could be habitable, but the observant team, however also suggest as many as three more planet candidates may be orbiting around this star.
Some of these candidate planets are sure to be false positives, and will need more observations to confirm their true nature, but the density of low-mass worlds so close to home suggests there must be many more just waiting for someone with a good telescope and creative mind to find them.
The next-generation Extremely Large Telescope — under construction now — is expected to revolutionize the study of exoplanets. ANDES scientists expect to see Earth-sized and smaller, rocky planets orbiting in the habitable zone of stars closer than ever possible with existing instruments. This would allow scientists to get a better look at what these worlds are made of and how hospitable they could be, which would bring us one step closer to determining if alien life exists.
