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Notimex / La Voz de Michoacán
Mexico. A group of researchers from the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) have discovered a superior orbit around the star Barnard, the second closest star system on earth.
It is the first time astronomers discover this type of exoplanet by the radial velocity method. "After a meticulous analysis, we are 99% sure that the planet exists," said the director of the study published in the journal Nature, Ignasi Ribas.
Red Star dwarf star Barnard is six light years away from the "blue planet."
However, to confirm the discovery, the scientist said that more information should be collected because the natural variations in the stellar luminosity caused by the solar spaces could produce similar effects to those detected.
Using high precision spectrometers, such as CARMENES, at the Calar Alto Observatory, scientists have used the technique that uses the effect of starlight to measure how the speed of an object in the view line changes over time.
When an object moves away from us, the light we observe becomes a little more energetic and redder. On the contrary, when the star approaches, the light becomes more energetic and blue, "Ignasi Ribas said.
He explained that after reconsidering all the combined measurements, a clear signal appeared within a period of 233 days, which means that Barnard's star is approaching and moving away at about 1.2 meters per second.
The best explanation for this phenomenon is that a planet orbits around the star, "he said in a statement by the CSIC.
The candidate's planet was called Barnard b or GJ 699 b, a superterrae with at least 3.2 masses of earth, orbiting the host every 233 days near the snow line, at a distance where water freezes.
Lack of atmosphere, probably the temperature of this exoplanet is minus 170 degrees Celsius; This makes it unlikely that the planet has liquid water on the surface.
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