ESO astronomers, using the Very Large Telescope (VLT), have discovered a new exoplanet orbiting Barnard’s Star, the single star closest to our Sun. This discovery, the result of five years of meticulous observations, reveals a very particular world: Barnard ba planet that has at least half the mass of Venus and completes an orbit around its star in just 3.15 Earth days. But there is one detail that leaves us speechless: its surface reaches temperatures of around 125 °C, making it a decidedly inhospitable planet for life as we know it.
It’s not just Barnard’s existence that excites scientists. The data collected shows signs of three other possible exoplanets orbiting the star, although for the moment they are only candidates awaiting confirmation. This research has the flavor of a great scientific challenge, since exoplanets around red dwarf stars, such as Barnard, offer unique opportunities for studying rocky worlds.
Their habitable zones, in fact, are much closer to the star than those around stars like our Sun, allowing for more frequent and detailed observations. However, even though Barnard b is outside the habitable zone, its discovery represents an important step in the search for alien worlds.
A long wait
Barnard b’s story is a perfect example of how patient science can be. As he said Jonay González Hernándezresearcher at the Canary Islands Institute of Astrophysics and lead author of the study, the team knew that sooner or later something would turn up. And so it was.
This result was possible thanks to the use of EXPRESSEDan extremely precise instrument that measures the oscillation of stars due to the presence of planets. The data was then confirmed by other instruments specialized in exoplanet hunting, such as HARPS, which operates at ESO’s La Silla Observatory. But be careful, the new data disproves a previous announcement from 2018 that indicated the existence of another planet around Barnard. Nothing confirmed, for now.
Despite Barnard’s infernal heat and its narrow orbit, what fascinates us is precisely this diversity: it reminds us how full the universe is of worlds that challenge our imagination. The future of exoplanet research looks even more exciting, thanks to the new ELT telescope under construction, which could allow us to also study the atmosphere of these small rocky worlds, thus expanding our understanding of exoplanets.