[ad_1]
"It's about seven light-years away," Guinan said.
This super-Earth has a mass at least 3.2 times that of the Earth and completes a revolution around the Barnard star in 233 days.
Its mass exceeds the Earth by about 3.2 times; Barnard's surface temperature at about -170 degrees Celsius: "The planet is not a very good candidate for the search for extraterrestrial life.
After 20 years of careful scientific observation around one of Earth's closest stars, scientists now have reason to believe that there could be a "super-Earth" at six years -light of our planet.
As part of a historic discovery, a global team of astronomers led by Ignasi Ribas of the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC) and the Institute of Space Science (IEEC-CSIC) has discovered a candidate planet revolving around Barnard's star. Subtle changes in data – the use of existing scientific instruments can be recorded with great accuracy.
In the past, other efforts have been made to identify a planet that gravitates around the Barnard star, but these tests have resulted in failures.
Despite its relative proximity to the Barnard star (0.4 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun), the exoplanet receives only a little energy from its faded host: only 2% of what the Sun provides to our Earth.
This breakthrough, announced in an article published by the journal Nature, is part of the projects Red Dots and CARMENES, which had already discovered Proxima Centauri.
Exoplanets so small and so far from their parent star had not been discovered before the use of the radial velocity technique.
But since Barnard's star is a red dwarf, a small cooling star, probably about twice as old as the Sun, it produces relatively little light, making it difficult to distinguish bodies from its orbit. It is the single star closest to our own solar system.
Back to back: The exoplanet is the second known exoplanet closest to the Earth, reports CNN. "Follow-up observations are already underway in different observatories around the world". These flickering affect the light coming from the star.
It may be cold, inhospitable and almost invisible, but the new planet has one goal: it's really close.
"Fortunately, our long-standing Keck planetary research program has provided us with the years necessary to collect sufficient precision radial velocity data with HIRES to begin to detect the presence of a planet."
[ad_2]
Source link
