Barnard's Star
Barnard's Star is the second-closest star system to the Sun (after Alpha Centauri), 5.96 light-years away in Ophiuchus. It is a single, dim, very old red dwarf, famous for having the largest proper motion of any star — it crosses a full Moon's width of sky every ~180 years. In 2024–2025 ESO's ESPRESSO spectrograph revealed a compact family of four confirmed sub-Earth planets, all orbiting closer than Mercury.
Key facts
Science
Classification
- Type
- Single red-dwarf system
- Central star
- Barnard's Star — M4V red dwarf (~3195 K, 0.16 M☉)
Planets
- Confirmed planets
- 4 · b, c, d, e — all sub-Earth, all closer than Mercury
- Masses
- Radial-velocity minimum masses (0.19–0.34 Earth)
Distance & age
- Distance
- 5.96 light-years · the closest single star; 2nd-closest system
- Age
- ~7–12 billion years · estimated — one of the oldest stars near the Sun
How we know
- Note
- Planet count follows the NASA Exoplanet Archive (checked 2026-07-04): four confirmed planets (b, c, d, e), all detected by radial velocity, so their listed masses are MINIMUM masses and their radii are model estimates — no world here has transited or been imaged. Earlier astrometric 'planets' claimed by Peter van de Kamp in the 1960s–70s were spurious and are not shown. On the map the system sits at a usable distance; the real gap is 5.96 light-years.
Discovery & history
- Name
- Named for Edward Emerson Barnard, who measured its record proper motion in 1916. Too faint for the naked eye, it has only catalogue designations (GJ 699).
In 1916 Edward Emerson Barnard measured this faint red star's record proper motion — 10.3 arcseconds a year, the fastest of any star. A century of false planet claims (van de Kamp's spurious 1960s 'planets') followed, until ESO's ESPRESSO confirmed a real planet in 2024 and a four-planet family in 2025.
Images
Images from open archives · credit shown per image