Wolf 359
Published on Sep 25, 2007 at 10:17 pm.
4 Comments.
Filed under stars.
Located in Leo, somewhat south of the classic figure of the Lion, almost on the ecliptic, is a very tiny star called Wolf 359.
Wolf 359 is not very impressive to look at. First of all, it is dim. Shining with a visual magnitude of about 13.46, Wolf 359 is nearly 1000 times dimmer than can be seen with the naked eye. With a color index (B-V) of 2.00, Wolf 359 is a very reddish star. It is a cool star, having a temperature of only 2800K (compared with about 5800K for the Sun). It not only appears dim, but it is, in fact, intrinsically a very dim star having only about 0.1% of the Sun’s luminosity. That means that if it were placed where the Sun is, then as seen from Earth, it would appear about as bright as a 100W light bulb as seen from a distance of about 2.3 meters. We call stars like this red dwarf stars.
Like many red dwarf stars, Wolf 359 is magnetically very active. This means that it has massive stellar flares. In fact, these flares can sometimes be so bright as to significantly alter the total light output of the star for a few moments. Stars of this sort are called flare stars (variable stars of the UV Ceti type). Wolf 359 has variable star designation CN Leonis. Wolf 359 has a rather high flare rate, and all of these flares tend to make the star’s corona very hot. Wolf 359’s corona is several times hotter than our own Sun’s corona.
Recently, Wolf 359 was imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope in a search for possible planetary or sub-stellar (brown dwarf) companions. None were found, but the images obtained from that search are here:
Wolf 359 is a very faint star, but it is also a very nearby star. It is only 7.79 lightyears away. That makes it the third nearest star system to the Sun. It is the third closest star system, but it is still extremely dim and hardly visible in amateur telescopes. That reinforces my earlier statements about how dim this star is. It is dim even compared with nearby red dwarf stars.
Now, if all that weren’t enough, it turns out that Wolf 359 has been featured in a handful of science fiction stories. One that comes to mind right away is that the Battle of Wolf 359 is where the Borg cube obliterated a fleet of starships during an episode of Star Trek Next Generation.
-Astroprof
Star chart created using Starry Night Enthusiast
Images courtesy of NASA, ESO
Astrolink [International Edition] » Blog Archive » Astrosphere for September 26th, 2007 on September 26, 2007 at 2:04 pm: 1
[…] You remember Wolf 359. Come on Star Trek geeks. It's actually a really close star that you can find in the night sky. Astroprof shows you how. […]
Astrogeek on September 27, 2007 at 10:24 am: 2
Another SciFi connection was an episode of ‘The Outer Limits’ in 1964.
From: http://membres.lycos.fr/tmcr/daystar/tol_s2/tol_eps40.shtml
“Professor Jonathan Meridith has built a miniature replica of a planet, from the distant solar system of Wolf 359, to study its evolution and calls it Dundee—the name of the financier. When the planet arrives at the present time, an evil entity comes out of the lab to punish the scientist. The wife of the professor is forced to destroy the planet to stop the being.”
Burzycki.org » Astrosphere for September 26th, 2007 on September 28, 2007 at 1:00 am: 3
[…] Astrosphere for September 26th, 2007 September 26th, 2007 | Category: Contributors, Astronomy Here’s your nice space photo for the day. You might not be aware, but when Venus is at its closest and brightest, it actually looks like a crescent. Here’s a photo captured two days ago by John Chumack. Got some money to burn? Astronomy.com is reporting that a large metal meteorite is up for sale. Cosmic Variance has some good advice to would-be graduate students. Here’s how to survive and thrive that grueling educational period. Popular Mechanics is reporting on a new proposal from Boeing to put a gas station in space. It could make getting to the Moon much easier. I love this blog. Aerospace worker Damaris B. Sarria really really wants to be an astronaut. Her blog chronicles her journey. And look at this, NASA just opened up applications for more astronauts. You remember Wolf 359. Come on Star Trek geeks. It’s actually a really close star that you can find in the night sky. Astroprof shows you how. […]
sahra on March 11, 2008 at 7:25 pm: 4
im learning about wolf 359 and doing a project o it too.