Scientists discovered four new planets in the orbit of the Barnard Star, the closest singular star to the Earth.
All of these newly identified planets are smaller than Earth. The Barnard star has been examined by celestial scientists for the search for planets since it was discovered in 1916. Previously, in the orbit of the star, the existence of planets were found uncertain signs.
The research team, led by the Ritvik Basant of the University of Chicago, announced that the number of planets revolving around the Barnard star has risen to four. Basant said, “This is a really exciting discovery. Although the Barnard star is our cosmic neighbor, we know very little about it. ”
Researchers have observed the movements of the star for 112 nights for three years with the Maroon-X planetary hunter device of Gemini North Telescope in Hawaii. The data obtained confirmed the presence of four planets and provided important information about their masses and orbit time. However, these planets are not livable because they are very close to the stars.
Although there is no definite information about the structure of the planets, they are considered to be the most likely scenario that they are rocky planets similar to Mercury because of their low masses.
