New Planet Found Orbiting Closest Single Star to Our Sun

Head to https://www.odoo.com/r/Owq1 to start your business journey with Odoo today!

Barnard's Star, one of the oldest stars in our cosmic neighborhood, is often overshadowed by its famous neighbors in the Alpha Centauri system. Yet, this dim red dwarf is a record holder: it’s the closest single star to our Sun. For decades, astronomers have gazed at Barnard's Star, speculating whether it harbored planets, only to have their theories repeatedly disproven—until now.

Astronomers have finally confirmed a planet around Barnard’s Star, a sub-Earth exoplanet named Barnard b. With a mass around half that of Venus, Barnard b is one of the lowest-mass exoplanets known, and one of the very few with a mass smaller than Earth.

But in an era where we’ve cataloged over 5,000 exoplanets, why does the discovery of Barnard b still matter? What secrets could Barnard b hold about the formation of low-mass planets? Finally, and most importantly, could this discovery open a new chapter in our search for Earth-like worlds?

📄 REFERENCES:

Hernández et al., "A sub-Earth-mass planet orbiting Barnard’s star", Astronomy and Astrophysics (2024) — https://sou42.co/3XIGjAi

Lubin et al., "Stellar Activity Manifesting at a One-year Alias Explains Barnard b as a False Positive", The Astronomical Journal (2021) — https://sou42.co/41IUJBK

Ribas et al., "A candidate super-Earth planet orbiting near the
snow line of Barnard’s star", Nature (2018) — https://sou42.co/41VVXuJ

Choi et al., "Precise Doppler Monitoring of Barnard's Star", The Astrophysical Journal (2013) — https://sou42.co/3FjfHjb

Kürster et al., "The low-level radial velocity variability in Barnard’s star (= GJ 699)", Astronomy and Astrophysics (2003) — https://sou42.co/3R24zK0

Peter van de Kamp, "Astrometric Study of Barnard’s Star from Plates Taken with the 24-inch Sproul Refractor", The Astrophysical Journal (1963) —https://sou42.co/41SXIsF

🎼 MUSIC:

Midnight Evening
Without Saying
Bahamas
Particle Emission
Time (Softer)
Exhale With The Wind
Moonlit Serenity
Inner Strength

🎥 RESOURCES:
Epidemic Sounds, Pond5, iStock, NASA/ESA/ESO, StoryBlocks, Envato Elements

🧑🏻‍💻 Created By: Rishabh Nakra
🔍 Researched By: Simran Buttar
✍🏻 Written By: Simran Buttar and Rishabh Nakra
🎙️ Narrated By: Jeffrey Smith

CHAPTERS:
00:00 Introduction
01:21 Why Barnard's Star?
03:53 The Hunt
09:10 False Alarm
11:31 Eureka!