Frozen ‘Earth’ could harbour life

A frozen “super-earth” has been discovered orbiting Barnard’s Star – the closest single star to the sun.

Despite surface temperatures of around -150C, scientists believe pockets of liquid water could lie beneath the ice capable of harbouring life.

Barnard’s Star is six light years from Earth – hardly any distance on astronomical scales.

The only closer star system is Alpha Centauri, which consists of three stars bound together by gravity.

The newly detected planet, Barnard’s Star b, is thought to be rocky and at least 3.2 times bigger than the Earth.

It circles a cool red-dwarf star, smaller and older than the sun, completing one orbit every 233 days.

Because of the lack of heat the planet remains deep frozen despite being much closer to its parent star than the Earth is to the sun.

But astronomers have not ruled out the chances of life evolving on the icy world.

Unlike many other red dwarfs, Barnard’s Star is relatively inactive and not so likely to blast nearby planets with radiation that would not give life a chance.