Astronomers Confirm Four Rocky Planets Orbiting Barnard's Star

The discovery, enabled by advanced instruments, resolves decades of uncertainty about the star's planetary system.

Four small, rocky exoplanets have been confirmed orbiting Barnard's Star, located just under six light-years from Earth.
The planets, among the smallest ever detected, range from 20% to 30% of Earth's mass and were identified using the MAROON-X and ESPRESSO instruments.
All four planets orbit very close to their host star, completing their orbits in 2 to 7 Earth days, making them too hot to support life.
This marks a breakthrough in the precision of radial velocity instruments, which measure stellar wobbles caused by orbiting planets.
The confirmation resolves a long-standing search for planets around Barnard's Star, a red dwarf long suspected of hosting planetary companions.