The closest single star to Earth is home to at least one planet, and it’s a rocky little world not so different from ours.
Astronomers spotted a small, rocky planet orbiting the red dwarf known as Barnard’s Star, which is about 6 light years away from Earth. While the Centauri system are our closest neighbors in space, Barnard’s Star is the nearest system that’s a single star instead of a complicated trio. Until now, astronomers weren’t sure whether it had any planets, but recent data from the Very Large Telescope (yes, that’s its real name) shows that there’s at least one small, rocky world zipping around the nearby star. The recent data also offers hints that there may be more planets around Barnard’s star, and at least one may be in the habitable zone.
