![Artist's impression of the view from one of the planets orbiting Barnard's Star. [International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/R. Proctor/J. Pollard; CC BY 4.0]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Barnards-Star-Hosts.jpg?resize=1200%2C714&ssl=1)
Just 6 light-years away, Barnard’s Star is a well-studied 10-billion-year-old M dwarf with a mass of 0.16 solar mass. Finding exoplanets around Barnard’s Star has been something of a white […]
M-dwarf
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
No Robust Statistical Evidence for a Population of Water Worlds in a 2025 Sample of Planets Orbiting M Stars
The study of exoplanets has led to many surprises, one of which is the discovery of planets larger than Earth yet smaller than Neptune, super Earths and gas dwarfs.
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
TOI-6324b: An Earth-Mass Ultra-Short-Period Planet Transiting a Nearby M Dwarf
We report the confirmation of TOI-6324 b, an Earth-sized (1.059 ± 0.041 R⊕) ultra-short-period (USP) planet orbiting a nearby (∼20 pc) M dwarf.
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Stellar Cartography
Radial Velocity Homogeneous Analysis of M Dwarfs Observed With HARPS. I. Exoplanet Detection and Candidates
The census of planets around M dwarfs in the solar neighbourhood meets two challenges: detecting the best targets for the future characterisation of planets with ELTs, and studying the statistics […]
![Normalised observed spectrum of the star GJ 880 as black dashed line, and best-fit model (synthetic spectrum predicted by the Payne’s ANN for the parameters given in Table 2) as orange solid line. Grey shaded areas indicate the location of the line mask we used. Derived parameters for this star are Teff: 3649 K, log g: 4.8 dex, and [Fe/H]: 0.25 dex -- astro-ph.SR](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Performance-of-the-Stellar-Abundances.png?resize=1200%2C720&ssl=1)
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Stellar Cartography
Performance of the Stellar Abundances and Atmospheric Parameters Pipeline Adapted for M Dwarfs I. Atmospheric Parameters from the Spectroscopic Module
M dwarfs are important targets in the search for Earth-like exoplanets due to their small masses and low luminosities. Several ongoing and upcoming space missions are targeting M dwarfs for […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
KOBE 1: The First Planetary System From the KOBE survey. Two Planets Likely Residing in the sub-Neptune Mass Regime Around a Late K-dwarf
K-dwarf stars are promising targets in the exploration of potentially habitable planets. Their properties, falling between G and M dwarfs, provide an optimal trade-off between the prospect of habitability and […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Status Report
Updated Mass, Eccentricity, and Tidal Heating Constraints for the Earth-sized Planet LP 791-18 d
LP 791-18 d is a temperate Earth-sized planet orbiting a late M dwarf, surrounded by an interior super-Earth (LP 791-18 b, RP = 1.2 R⊕, P=0.95 days) and an exterior […]
Posted inAstrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
Evidence For A Volcanic Atmosphere On The Sub-Earth L98-59b
Assessing the prevalence of atmospheres on rocky planets around M-dwarf stars is a top priority of exoplanet science. High-energy activity from M-dwarfs can destroy the atmospheres of these planets, which […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Status Report, Stellar Cartography
A Data-Driven M Dwarf Model and Detailed Abundances for ∼17,000 M Dwarfs in SDSS-V
The cool temperatures of M dwarf atmospheres enable complex molecular chemistry, making robust characterization of M dwarf compositions a long-standing challenge.
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Brown Dwarfs, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
11 New Transiting Brown Dwarfs and Very Low Mass Stars from TESS
We present the discovery of 11 new transiting brown dwarfs and low-mass M-dwarfs from NASA’s TESS mission: TOI-2844, TOI-3122, TOI-3577, TOI-3755, TOI-4462, TOI-4635, TOI-4737, TOI-4759, TOI-5240, TOI-5467, and TOI-5882.