Four Sub-Earth Planets Discovered Orbiting Barnard’s Star

Astronomers confirm the existence of four rocky exoplanets around our closest lone star using advanced instruments.

The discovery was made using the MAROON-X instrument on the Gemini North telescope and confirmed with ESPRESSO on the Very Large Telescope.
Barnard’s Star, located 6 light-years away, is the closest single star system to Earth and has been studied for over a century.
The four planets are rocky, with masses only 20-30% that of Earth, and orbit their star in just a few days, making them too hot to support life.
This breakthrough demonstrates the precision of modern planet-hunting tools, marking a milestone in the search for smaller exoplanets.
The findings, published in *The Astrophysical Journal Letters*, represent one of the most confident confirmations of exoplanets around Barnard’s Star to date.