They think they’ve found a “super-Earth” orbiting Barnard’s Star, the closest single-star system to our sun. “Super-Earth” just means it’s big but not a gas giant. If it’s where they think it is, it gets about two percent of the energy from its star that the Earth gets from the sun, so while it might turn out to be a nice place to visit, you wouldn’t want to live there.

Share or save this article