Gliese 876 facts for kids

Gliese 876 is a small, cool star called a red dwarf. It's about 15 light-years away from Earth. You can find it in the night sky in the constellation of Aquarius. What makes Gliese 876 special is that it's the closest star we know of that has many planets orbiting it. As of 2011, scientists have found four planets circling this star.

Gliese 876 is the third closest star to our Sun that has its own planetary system. The two stars closer to us with planets are Epsilon Eridani (about 10.5 light-years away) and Gliese 674 (about 14.8 light-years away).

What Kind of Star is Gliese 876?

Gliese 876 is a red dwarf star. These stars are much smaller and cooler than our Sun. Gliese 876 has only about 37% of the mass of our Sun. It also gives off much less light, making it too dim to see without a telescope. Its surface temperature is around 3,129 degrees Celsius. For comparison, the Sun's surface is about 5,500 degrees Celsius.

Planets Orbiting Gliese 876

Scientists have discovered four extrasolar planets orbiting Gliese 876. These planets are named Gliese 876 b, c, d, and e. This makes Gliese 876 a multiplanetary system.

Two of these planets, Gliese 876 b and c, are located in what scientists call the habitable zone. This is the area around a star where temperatures might be just right for liquid water to exist on a planet's surface. Liquid water is important because it's necessary for life as we know it. However, planets b and c are thought to be gas giants, similar to Jupiter in our own solar system. Gas giants don't have solid surfaces like Earth, so it's unlikely they could support life directly. Still, any large moons orbiting these gas giants might be interesting places to study.

Images for kids

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  A visual band light curve for IL Aquarii, adapted from Hosey et al. (2015)

See also

In Spanish: Gliese 876 para niños