Barnard's Star is a small, dim star of the type that astronomers call red dwarfs. Consequently, even though it is one of the closest stars to Earth, such that its light takes only six years to get here,

Astronomers have confirmed the existence of four planets orbiting a star less than 6 light-years away with help from some of the world's most powerful telescopes.

A quartet of small, rocky exoplanets likely circle Barnard's Star, around 6 billion light-years from Earth, putting them in contention as targets of missions for future human generations.