After decades of searches, astronomers have discovered some of the most powerful evidence of the planets that orbit Barnard’s star, the nearest steal system of Earth, according to CNN.
The four exoplanets (the name given to the planets that orbit a star outside our solar system) are classified as sub-earths, because each has about 19% to 34% of the Earth’s mass, according to a new study.
“It is a truly interesting discovery – Barnard’s star is our cosmic neighbor and yet we know so little about it.”said the main author of the study, Ritvik Basant, PhD student in astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Chicago.
Discovered by American astronomer Ee Barnard in 1916, Barnard’s star is a red dwarf star, one of the most common types of stars.
In the last decade, astronomers have discovered that many of these small -table stars have several rocky planets that orbit them.
With the help of Maroon -X – an instrument mounted on the Gemini North Telescope in Hawaii, which is designed to look for planets that orbit around the red dwarves – the study team has observed the least massive exoplanet found. Astronomers hope that the discovery will lead to the identification of several sub-earth exoplanets in the cosmos.
Astronomers believe that smaller exoplanets could have a more varied composition than larger exoplanets so far.
The discovery of more lowercase worlds, thanks to the recent extremely sensitive instruments, could give specialists the chance to understand how the planets are formed – and which of they could be habitable.
The study detailing the discoveries was published on March 11 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
The four planets that orbite around Barnard’s star – animation. Photo Capture YouTube Science X.
Four tiny worlds
Ritvik Basant, says that recently discovered planets are so small that they are rather similar to Mars.
“Compared to our solar system, each of the four planets is within the distance of Mercury’s orbit”, said the bass.
The planets orbite the star of Barnard, surrounding their star host in a few days, compared to the year needed for the Earth to complete an orbit around the sun.
“Probably they have no atmosphere, water and life”
The largest of these planets needs less than seven days to complete an orbit, while the most inner planet has an orbital period of less than three days, Basant said.
The distance at which these planets are compared to Barnard’s star is so small that their surfaces are probably too hot to be habitable, which means they are not in the living area or at the right distance from the star, where liquid water can exist on the surface of the planet.
“The star threw these small planets with X-UV radiation, frequent rashes and dense winds. For this reason, these planets of the Sub-Equel size probably have no atmosphere, water and life “said Edward Guinan, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Villanova University in Pennsylvania.
Beyond our solar system, planets of this dimension are largely unexplored, which causes astronomers to look for planets with the mass of the Earth around the sun -like stars, Basant said.
