[ad_1]
Barnard's Star, a red dwarf star located in a solar system about six light-years away from Earth, may have some company.
Researchers of the "exoplanet-hunting" group Red Dots have detected a planet-some 3.2 times the Earth's mbad and very cold-orbiting the star, Smithsonian carryforwards. Their findings were published in Nature on Wednesday.
Astronomers have finally revealed strong signs that Barnard's Star, only about six light-years away, has one or more planets orbiting around it. https://t.co/eokjFm3ljk
– Smithsonian Magazine (@SmithsonianMag) November 14, 2018
"We firmly believe the object is there," says lead researcher Ignasi Ribas. "The planet, Barnard's Star is the second-closest exoplanet (a planet outside of our solar system) to Earth , per USA Today.
Researchers looked at two decades of different telescopes to pick up the planet, according to Forbes. As for the possibility of life on Bernard's Star, the planet is "way too cold" to sustain liquid water, Ribas says, and whether life can be frozen beneath an ocean is just speculation at this point.
During the course of their study, Smithsonian notes, researchers found faint evidence of another planet, which would be Barnard's Star c. Several years ago, they thought that they had detected planets around the star. However, those ended up being the result of an instrument problem.
(Last year, scientists found the smallest possible star.)
[ad_2]
Source link
