The planet is small, hot, and orbits the star rapidly.
To find more small, rocky exoplanets, astronomers recently beganfocusingon red dwarfs.
Red dwarfs are much smaller and cooler than our sun.
Thus, planets orbiting them tend to be small and orbit closely and rapidly.
This behavior allows scientists to confirm their existence by watching those orbits over days or weeks instead of years.
However, Barnard b is still too close.
The furthest of these planets would orbit the star in just under a week.
Artist representation of Barnard b.
Image credit: ESO/M.
Kornmesser
