Researchers have looked at our nearest stellar neighbor and made a remarkable discovery.The Latest Tech News, Delivered to Your Inbox

Astronomers have identified a quartet of small rocky planets orbiting Barnard's star - one of our closest stellar neighbors - though they concluded that all of them are too hot to harbor life, much like our solar system's innermost planet Mercury.

Considered a solitary star for its lack of stellar companions, Barnard's Star is notoriously lonely—signs of any exoplanets in its orbit have come and gone without reliable evidence. But today, astronomers know the star is in good company.

Star is a small, dim red dwarf star located in the constellation Ophiuchus. It’s distance was first measured by the astronomer E.E. Barnard in 1916 and has the highest proper motion of any known star,

Exciting new research suggests there are four miniature planets orbiting Barnard’s Star, each thought to be just 20 to 30% the mass of Earth.

Barnard's Star is the second-nearest star system to Earth, and four tiny planets have been discovered around it

Consequently, even though it is one of the closest stars to Earth, such that its light takes only six years to get here, it is too faint to be seen with the naked eye. Now, four small planets have been found orbiting the star.

Astronomers have discovered not one, but four tiny planets orbiting Barnard’s Star, our cosmic neighbor. These planets, each about a fifth the mass of Earth, whip around their host star in just days—likely too hot for life but a major milestone in detecting smaller planets.