Gliese 876
system
Gliese 876 is a red dwarf 15.2 light-years away in Aquarius and a landmark of exoplanet science: in 1998 it became the FIRST M dwarf — the Galaxy's commonest kind of star — found to host a planet. Four are now known; the outer three are locked in a Laplace resonance, their orbital periods in a near-exact 1:2:4 ratio, the first such chain found beyond the Solar System.
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Key facts
Type
Red dwarf + 4 planets
Distance
15.2 light-years
Confirmed planets
4
First
M-dwarf planet host (1998)
Science
Classification
- Type
- Single red-dwarf system
- Central star
- Gliese 876 — M3.5V red dwarf (~3294 K, 0.32 M☉)
Planets
- Confirmed planets
- 4 · b, c, d, e — two giants, a super-Earth and a Neptune
- Notable
- Outer three in a 1:2:4 Laplace resonance
- Masses
- True dynamical masses (from the resonance)
Distance
- Distance
- 15.2 light-years · one of the nearest multi-planet systems
How we know
- Note
- Planet count follows the NASA Exoplanet Archive (checked 2026-07-05): four confirmed planets. Their masses are true dynamical masses set by the system's resonant dance, but none transits, so every radius is a model estimate and no density is quoted. On the map the system sits at a usable distance; the real gap is 15.2 light-years.
Discovery & history
- Name
- A catalogue designation (Gliese 876); also the variable star IL Aquarii.
In 1998 it became the first red dwarf known to have a planet; three more and their elegant resonance followed from Keck and HARPS.
Images
Images from open archives · credit shown per image