The massive frozen planet, which is 3.2 times the size of Earth, orbits around Barnard’s Star – the closest red dwarf star to our sun in the Milky Way “just” six light-years away. Experts have dubbed the planet Barnard’s Star b, and despite the fact that it’s surface temperature is minus 150 degrees Celsius, it could have pockets of liquid lakes beneath the icy exterior. These lakes could be warmed by geothermal activity – warmth coming from the planet’s core – which could keep the water in a liquid state and allow life to exist.
Professor Carole Haswell, head of astronomy at the Open University and a member of the international team that announced the discovery in the journal Nature, said: “While the starlight from Barnard’s Star is too feeble for Barnard’s Star b to have liquid water on its surface, Barnard’s Star b probably has a similar temperature to Jupiter’s moon Europa.
“Famously, Europa has a sub-surface ocean which has been considered as a potential habitat for life. It is possible Barnard’s Star b may offer similar niches for life.
“Tantalisingly, super-Earths like Barnard’s Star b probably sustain geothermal activity for longer than their lower mass counterparts.
“This could be helpful to life by providing sustained heat and the chemicals needed to build complex organic molecules.
vCard.red is a free platform for creating a mobile-friendly digital business cards. You can easily create a vCard and generate a QR code for it, allowing others to scan and save your contact details instantly.
The platform allows you to display contact information, social media links, services, and products all in one shareable link. Optional features include appointment scheduling, WhatsApp-based storefronts, media galleries, and custom design options.
“This new discovery offers exciting prospects to learn more about the galaxy‘s diversity of planetary systems, starting with our own solar system’s near neighbours.”
Team member Guillem Anglada Escudé, from Queen Mary University, said it it was “possibly a mostly rocky planet with a massive atmosphere. It’s probably very rich in volatiles like water, hydrogen, carbon dioxide – things like this”.
He added: “Many of them are frozen on the surface.
“The closest analogue we may have in the Solar System might be the moon of Saturn called Titan, which also has a very thick atmosphere and is made of hydrocarbons. It has rain and lakes made of methane.”
Scientists took two decades to confirm the existence of Barnard’s Star b.
They did this by using observations by the Calar Alto Observatory in Spain using the radial velocity technique.
This technique sees scientists look for a “wobble” in the light frequency coming from the star as the planet transitions across the face of it.