{"id":789756,"date":"2024-10-01T08:32:52","date_gmt":"2024-10-01T13:32:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=789756"},"modified":"2024-10-01T08:32:52","modified_gmt":"2024-10-01T13:32:52","slug":"barnards-star-has-at-least-1-planet-and-maybe-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=789756","title":{"rendered":"Barnard\u2019s star has at least 1 planet \u2026 and maybe more"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"New planet discovered orbiting closest single star to our Sun\" width=\"1110\" height=\"624\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gaE_FDLXAz4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/><em>Discovery of the 1st known exoplanet orbiting Barnard\u2019s star. Video via ESO.<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Barnard\u2019s star is the closest single star to our sun<\/strong>, at only 6 light-years away. Only the Alpha Centauri system of three stars is closer.<\/li>\n<li><strong>There is at least one planet orbiting Barnard\u2019s star<\/strong>, an international team of astronomers has confirmed. It is about half the mass of Venus and orbits very close to its star. A previous candidate planet found in 2018 was never confirmed.<\/li>\n<li><strong>There may be at least three more planets orbiting Barnard\u2019s star<\/strong>. But more observations will be needed to confirm them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Exciting news! Six months ago, just as we were ending our spring fundraiser, EarthSky received a $50,000 gift, with a request that it be used to collect matching funds. Whoa! We were so thrilled and grateful. And now it\u2019s time to make good on our obligation. Please help us meet this match by donating to EarthSky today!<\/p>\n<h3>A new planet in the neighborhood!<\/h3>\n<p>Barnard\u2019s star is the closest single star to our sun, only 6 light-years away. Despite being so nearby, astronomers didn\u2019t know for sure if it had any planets orbiting it. But now, we know it has at least one. An international team of astronomers using the European Southern Observatory\u2019s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile said on October 1, 2024, that they have confirmed a planet about half the mass of Venus. The planet, dubbed Barnard b, completes an orbit around the red dwarf star in only 3.15 Earth days.<\/p>\n<p>The researchers published the peer-reviewed discovery in the journal <em>Astronomy &amp; Astrophysics<\/em> on October 1, 2024.<\/p>\n<h3>Discovery of 1st known planet orbiting Barnard\u2019s star<\/h3>\n<p>The discovery comes after five years of observations with the Very Large Telescope at Paranal Observatory in Chile. Astronomers had made a tentative detection of a small planet around Barnard\u2019s star back in 2018, orbiting once every 233 days, but it was never confirmed. The new observations, although they took five years to complete, were worth it. Lead author Jonay Gonz\u00e1lez Hern\u00e1ndez at the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands in Spain, said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Even if it took a long time, we were always confident that we could find something.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The astronomers were looking for possible planets in or close to the habitable zone around Barnard\u2019s star. That\u2019s the distance where temperatures could allow liquid water to exist. Such planets are easier to find around red dwarf stars \u2013 and indeed seem to be common \u2013 since those stars are less bright than stars like our sun.<\/p>\n<p>The astronomers also said the newly discovered exoplanet is not the same as the previous candidate from 2018.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_488499\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-488499\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-488499\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">View larger. | Artist\u2019s concept of the newly discovered exoplanet orbiting Barnard\u2019s star, only 6 light-years away. The planet is about half the mass of Venus with an estimated temperature of 257 degrees Fahrenheit (125 C). There is also tentative evidence for possibly 3 more planets as well. Image via ESO\/ M. Kornmesser.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_329623\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-329623\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2020\/01\/neighbors-closest-to-sun.jpg\" alt=\"Chart with rings around sun at 2, 4, and 6 light-years with labeled stars.\" width=\"800\" height=\"601\" class=\"size-full wp-image-329623\" srcset=\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2020\/01\/neighbors-closest-to-sun.jpg 666w, https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2020\/01\/neighbors-closest-to-sun-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2020\/01\/neighbors-closest-to-sun-640x480.jpg 640w, https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2020\/01\/neighbors-closest-to-sun-190x143.jpg 190w, https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2020\/01\/neighbors-closest-to-sun-140x105.jpg 140w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-329623\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Our sun\u2019s closest neighbors among the stars, including Barnard\u2019s star. Image via NASA PhotoJournal.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>A hot world<\/h3>\n<p>Barnard b is a bit too close to its star to be habitable by earthly standards, however. It orbits its star 20 times closer than Mercury orbits the sun. It takes only 3.15 days to orbit the star. Even though Barnard\u2019s star is a lot cooler than the sun, that is still too close for comfort. Barnard b has an estimated surface temperature of 257 degrees Fahrenheit (125 C). As Hern\u00e1ndez noted:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Barnard b is one of the lowest-mass exoplanets known and one of the few known with a mass less than that of Earth. But the planet is too close to the host star, closer than the habitable zone. Even if the star is about 2,500 degrees cooler than our sun, it is too hot there to maintain liquid water on the surface.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The researchers used an instrument on the telescope called ESPRESSO to find the planet. ESPRESSO detects exoplanets using the radial velocity method. In this method, a telescope measures the tiny \u201cwobble\u201d a star makes as the planets\u2019 gravitational pull tugs at the star. In addition, three other instruments elsewhere helped to confirm the planet: HARPS at ESO\u2019s La Silla Observatory, HARPS-N and CARMENES.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Animation of a sub-Earth-mass planet orbiting Barnard\u2019s star\" width=\"1110\" height=\"624\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rRcqPul5xbo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/><em>Animation of a sub-Earth-mass planet orbiting Barnard\u2019s star. Video via ESO\/ M. Kornmesser.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>More planets?<\/h3>\n<p>Intriguingly, there may be more planets in the Barnard\u2019s star system as well. The research team found hints of at least three more planets orbiting Barnard\u2019s star. These, however, will require more observations to confirm if they really are planets. Co-author Alejandro Su\u00e1rez Mascare\u00f1o, also at the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands, said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>We now need to continue observing this star to confirm the other candidate signals. But the discovery of this planet, along with other previous discoveries such as Proxima b and d, shows that our cosmic backyard is full of low-mass planets.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The paper stated:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Confirming the presence of a compact four-planet system orbiting Barnard\u2019s star, similar to other planetary systems orbiting nearby stars, would require many more ESPRESSO observations.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The discovery, along with other planets \u2013 both small and large \u2013 around other nearby stars, shows that smaller rocky worlds are common in our galaxy. Could any of them support life? We don\u2019t know yet, but the more we find, the closer we get to answering the long-standing question: <em>\u201cAre we alone?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Bottom line: Astronomers have confirmed a small exoplanet orbiting Barnard\u2019s star, the closest single star to our sun. There are hints of at least 3 more planets as well.<\/p>\n<p>Source: A sub-Earth-mass planet orbiting Barnard\u2019s star<\/p>\n<p>Via ESO<\/p>\n<p>Read more: The enduring mystique of Barnard\u2019s Star<\/p>\n<p>Read more: Primitive life at Barnard\u2019s Star?<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"cp-load-after-post\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"post-author\">\n<h4>Paul Scott Anderson<\/h4>\n<p>                    View Articles\n                  <\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"post-tags\">\n<h6 data-udy-fe=\"text_7c58270d\">About the Author:<\/h6>\n<p>Paul Scott Anderson has had a passion for space exploration that began when he was a child when he watched Carl Sagan\u2019s Cosmos. He studied English, writing, art and computer\/publication design in high school and college. He later started his blog The Meridiani Journal in 2005, which was later renamed Planetaria. He also later started the blog Fermi Paradoxica, about the search for life elsewhere in the universe.&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\nWhile interested in all aspects of space exploration, his primary passion is planetary science and SETI. In 2011, he started writing about space on a freelance basis with Universe Today. He has also written for SpaceFlight Insider and AmericaSpace and has also been published in The Mars Quarterly. He also did some supplementary writing for the iOS app Exoplanet.&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\nHe has been writing for EarthSky since 2018, and also assists with proofing and social media.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/space\/barnards-star-exoplanets-very-large-telescope\/?rand=772280\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Discovery of the 1st known exoplanet orbiting Barnard\u2019s star. Video via ESO. Barnard\u2019s star is the closest single star to our sun, at only 6 light-years away. Only the Alpha&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":789757,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-789756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-earth-sky"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=789756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789756\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/789757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=789756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=789756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=789756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}