WASHINGTON — Barnard's star is a red dwarf, the smallest type of regular star and much smaller and less luminous than our sun. At about six light years away, it is the closest single star — one not orbiting with other stars — to our solar system. It is, in cosmic terms, in our neighbourhood.

Because of this, scientists eager to study nearby potentially habitable worlds are excited by the discovery of the first confirmed planet orbiting Barnard's star, a rocky one with a mass about 40 per cent that of Earth.

While this planet, orbiting very close to Barnard's star, has a surface temperature too high to be suitable for life, the researchers found what they called "strong hints" of three other planets around Barnard's star that might be better candidates.

The confirmed planet, called Barnard b, has a predicted diameter about three-quarters that of Earth, so about 6,000 miles (9,700 km).

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