Barnard's star is a red dwarf, the smallest type of regular star and much smaller and less luminous than our sun. At about 6 light years away, it is the closest single star - one not orbiting with other stars - to our solar system.

Astronomers have discovered an exoplanet about half the size of Venus orbiting Barnard’s star, the closest single star to our sun at six light-years.

The exoplanet was discovered while searching for a hypothesized earth-like planet believed to be three times larger than Earth.