Free Astronomy Magazine November-December 2024

6 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2024 ASTRO PUBLISHING cury is to the Sun. It orbits its star in 3.15 Earth days and has a surface temperature around 125 °C. “Barnard b is one of the lowest- mass exoplanets known and one of the few known with a mass less than that of Earth. But the planet is too close to the host star, closer T his wide-field image shows the surroundings of the red dwarf known as Barnard’s Star in the constellation of Ophiuchus (the Serpent-Bearer). This pic- ture was created from material forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The cen- tre of the image shows Barnard’s Star captured in three different exposures. The star is the fastest moving star in the night sky and its large apparent motion can be seen as its position changes between successive observations — shown in red, yel- low and blue. [ESO/DSS2 − Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin — E − Red Dots]