Astronomers have identified a quartet of small rocky planets orbiting Barnard's star - one of our closest stellar neighbors - though they concluded that all of them are too hot to harbor life, much like our solar system's innermost planet Mercury.

Astronomers have been looking for exoplanets orbiting Barnard's Star, the nearest solitary star to Earth at just 5.96 light-years away, since its discovery in 1916. Unconvincing signs of planets in the lonely star's orbit have been reported previously,

Barnard’s Star is our cosmic neighbor, and yet we know so little about it,” said Ritvik Basant, Ph.D student at the University of Chicago

Astronomers have revealed new evidence that there are not just one but four tiny planets circling around Barnard's Star, the second-nearest star system to Earth.The four planets, each only about 20 to 30% the mass of Earth,

Exciting new research suggests there are four miniature planets orbiting Barnard’s Star, each thought to be just 20 to 30% the mass of Earth.