Wolf 359 - Definition and Overview

The position of Wolf 359 in the Leo constellation; the star is not visible to the naked eye.

Wolf 359 is a star located approximately 2.4 pc or 7.80 ly from Earth's Solar System. It is one of the nearest stars to the Sun; only the Alpha Centauri system and Barnard's Star are known to be closer. Its celestial position is in the constellation Leo, near the ecliptic. It is an extremely faint red dwarf, too dim to be visible to the naked eye.

The star was discovered using astrophotography by German astronomer Max Wolf in 1918. It is also known as CN Leonis, LTT 12923, LHS 36, GCTP 2553.00 and G 045-020.

Its closest neighbour is Ross 128, 1.16 pc or 3.79 ly away.

Some facts about Wolf 359

• Parallax: 0.418 arcsec
• Spectral type: M6 V
• Radial velocity: 13 km/s
• Proper motion: 4.689 arcsec/a
• Apparent Visual Magnitude: 13.45
• Absolute Visual Magnitude: 16.6
• Luminosity: 3.5e-4 Solar Luminosities

In fiction

• Wolf 359 was the location of a fictional confrontation between the United Federation of Planets and the Borg in Star Trek: The Next Generation. See Battle of Wolf 359.

• Wolf 359 is also the name of an Outer Limits episode.

See also

• List of nearest stars

External links

• SolStation.com: Wolf 359 (http://www.solstation.com/stars/wolf359.htm)
• The Encyclopedia of Astrobiology, Astronomy, and Spaceflight (http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/W/Wolf_359.html)