Gliese 876 (pronounced /ˈɡliːzə/) is a red dwarf star approximately 15 light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Aquarius (the Water-bearer). As of 2008, it has been confirmed that three extrasolar planets orbit the star. Two of the planets are similar to Jupiter, while the closest planet is thought to be similar to a small Neptune or a large Earth.
Gliese 876 is located fairly close to our solar system. According to astrometric measure...
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Gliese 876 (pronounced /ˈɡliːzə/) is a red dwarf star approximately 15 light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Aquarius (the Water-bearer). As of 2008, it has been confirmed that three extrasolar planets orbit the star. Two of the planets are similar to Jupiter, while the closest planet is thought to be similar to a small Neptune or a large Earth.
Gliese 876 is located fairly close to our solar system. According to astrometric measurements made by the Hipparcos satellite, the star shows a parallax of 212.59 milliarcseconds, which corresponds to a distance of 4.70 parsecs (15.3 light years). Despite being located so close to Earth, the star is so faint that it is invisible to the naked eye and can only be seen using a telescope.
As a red dwarf star, Gliese 876 is much less massive than our Sun: estimates suggest it has only 32% of the mass of our local star. The surface temperature of Gliese 876 is cooler than our Sun and the star has a smaller radius. These factors combine...
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