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The nearest single star to Earth has four small planets

This is the second study in six months to find planets around Barnard’s star

A red sun and three planets hang over the horizon of a red rocky planetary surface.

Four small, probably rocky planets orbit Barnard’s star (illustrated). The planetary system is the nearest one to the sun centered on a single star.

R. Proctor and J. Pollard/International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/AURA/NSF

By Lisa Grossman

The nearest single star to the sun, Barnard’s star, has a brood of planets all its own. The red dwarf star, about six light-years from Earth, hosts four close-in planets each about two to three times the mass of Mars, astronomers report in the March 20 Astrophysical Journal Letters.