Teegarden's Star

Teegarden's Star

system

Teegarden's Star is a tiny ultracool red dwarf 12.5 light-years away in Aries, so faint it was overlooked until 2003. Despite its feeble light it hosts three confirmed planets, two in the temperate zone.

Open in 3D viewSee Teegarden's Star in the live, interactive 3D map

Key facts

Type
Ultracool red dwarf (M7V)
Distance
12.50 light-years
Confirmed planets
3

Science

Classification

Type
Single ultracool red-dwarf system
Central star
Teegarden's Star — M7V (~3030 K, ~0.10 M☉)

Planets

Confirmed planets
3 (b, c temperate; d cooler)
Masses
Radial-velocity minimum masses ~0.8-1.2 Earth

Distance

Distance
12.50 light-years

How we know

Note
Three confirmed planets (radial-velocity minimum masses; radii unmeasured); b and c are among the more promising nearby temperate worlds. Real distance 12.50 light-years.

Discovery & history

Name
Named for the astrophysicist Bonnard J. Teegarden.

Discovered in 2003 by Bonnard Teegarden's team from archival survey images; its planets were found by CARMENES from 2019.

Images

Where to find it — in Aries, the Ram (IAU constellation chart). To the eye it is a single point of light; no telescope has imaged its surface.
IAU / Sky & Telescope, R. Sinnott & R. Fienberg (CC BY 3.0) · Wikimedia Commons

Images from open archives · credit shown per image