Wolf 359 is one of the faintest and smallest stars near the Sun, a cool red dwarf in Leo that flares often and is invisible without a large telescope.
At a glance
| type | red dwarf (class M) |
|---|---|
| distance from the Sun | 7.86 light-years (2.41 pc) |
| its light left it | 7.86 years ago |
| luminosity | 0.0014 × the Sun |
| radius | 0.16 × the Sun |
| surface temperature | 2,800 K |
Read off the piece’s own catalogue, the same values it draws with.
About Wolf 359
Wolf 359 is a very low-mass red dwarf, only just massive enough to burn hydrogen at all. Its surface is among the coolest of any true star nearby, and it puts out so little visible light that you need a sizeable telescope to see it, even though it is one of the closest stars. Max Wolf found it by comparing photographic plates and noticing a faint star that had moved.
It is a flare star, with frequent, sudden brightenings driven by its tangled magnetic field, and it spins quickly for a star of its kind. The name is familiar to many from science fiction as the site of a famous space battle.
What you see in the piece
Fly to it and you find a small, deep-red disc crowded with spots, flaring as you watch. From Earth, in HUMAN EYE, there is nothing to see where it lies in Leo.
Measured or modelled
Planets have been proposed around Wolf 359 but none are firmly established.
Questions
How far away is Wolf 359?
Wolf 359 is 7.86 light-years (2.41 pc) from the Sun.
What kind of star is Wolf 359?
A red dwarf (class M) with a surface temperature of 2,800 K and a radius of 0.16 × the Sun, which flares frequently.