Barnard's Star
Image of Barnard's Star and its surroundings, c. 2006 (south is up) | |
| Observation data Epoch J2000.0 Equinox J2000.0 | |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Ophiuchus[1] |
| Right ascension | 17h 57m 48.49847s[2] |
| Declination | +04° 41′ 36.1139″[2] |
| Apparent magnitude (V) | 9.511[3] |
| Characteristics | |
| Spectral type | M4.0V[4] |
| Apparent magnitude (U) | 12.497[3] |
| Apparent magnitude (B) | 11.240[3] |
| Apparent magnitude (R) | 8.298[3] |
| Apparent magnitude (I) | 6.741[3] |
| Apparent magnitude (J) | 5.24[5] |
| Apparent magnitude (H) | 4.83[5] |
| Apparent magnitude (K) | 4.524[5] |
| U−B color index | 1.257[3] |
| B−V color index | 1.713[3] |
| V−R color index | 1.213[3] |
| R−I color index | 1.557[3] |
| Variable type | BY Draconis[6] |
| Astrometry | |
| Radial velocity (Rv) | −110.47±0.13[2] km/s |
| Proper motion (μ) | RA: −801.551 mas/yr[2] Dec.: 10362.394 mas/yr[2] |
| Parallax (π) | 546.9759±0.0401 mas[2] |
| Distance | 5.9629 ± 0.0004 ly (1.8282 ± 0.0001 pc) |
| Absolute magnitude (MV) | 13.21[3] |
| Details | |
| Mass | 0.162±0.007[7] M☉ |
| Radius | 0.187±0.001[8] R☉ |
| Luminosity (bolometric) | 0.00340±0.00006[8] L☉ |
| Luminosity (visual, LV) | 0.0004[9] L☉ |
| Surface gravity (log g) | 4.90±0.09[7] cgs |
| Temperature | 3,195±28[7] K |
| Metallicity [Fe/H] | −0.56±0.07[7] dex |
| Rotation | 114.06±2.30[10] days |
| Age | ≈ 10[11] Gyr |
| Other designations | |
| Proxima Ophiuchi[12], "Barnard's Runaway Star"[13], "Greyhound of the Skies"[14], V2500 Ophiuchi, BD+04°3561a, GJ 699, HIP 87937, LFT 1385, LHS 57, LTT 15309, 2MASS J17574849+0441405, GCTP 4098.00, Gl 140-024, Karmn J17578+046, Munich 15040,[15] Vyssotsky 799, Latin: Velox Barnardi[16] | |
| Database references | |
| SIMBAD | data |
| Exoplanet Archive | data |
| ARICNS | data |
Barnard's Star Location of Barnard's Star in the constellation Ophiuchus | |
Barnard's Star is a small red dwarf star in the constellation of Ophiuchus. At a distance of 5.96 light-years (1.83 pc) from Earth, it is the fourth-nearest-known individual star to the Sun after the three components of the Alpha Centauri system, and is the closest star in the northern celestial hemisphere.[17] Its stellar mass is about 16% of the Sun's, and it has 19% of the Sun's diameter. Despite its proximity, the star has a dim apparent visual magnitude of +9.5 and is invisible to the unaided eye; it is much brighter in the infrared than in visible light.
Barnard's Star is among the most studied red dwarfs because of its proximity and favorable location for observation near the celestial equator.[9] Historically, research on Barnard's Star has focused on measuring its stellar characteristics, its astrometry, and also refining the limits of possible extrasolar planets. Although Barnard's Star is ancient, it still experiences stellar flare events, one being observed in 1998.[18]
Barnard's Star hosts a system of four close-orbiting, sub-Earth-mass planets; Barnard's Star b was discovered in 2024 and another three were confirmed in 2025. Previously, it was subject to multiple claims of much larger planets that were subsequently disproven.[19]
- ^ Roman, Nancy G. (1987). "Identification of a constellation from a position". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 99 (617): 695. Bibcode:1987PASP...99..695R. doi:10.1086/132034. Constellation record for this object at VizieR.
- ^ a b c d e Cite error: The named reference
GaiaDR3was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b c d e f g h i j Koen, C.; Kilkenny, D.; Van Wyk, F.; Marang, F. (2010). "UBV(RI)C JHK observations of Hipparcos-selected nearby stars". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 403 (4): 1949. Bibcode:2010MNRAS.403.1949K. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.16182.x.
- ^ Gizis, John E. (February 1997). "M-Subdwarfs: Spectroscopic Classification and the Metallicity Scale". The Astronomical Journal. 113 (2): 806–822. arXiv:astro-ph/9611222. Bibcode:1997AJ....113..806G. doi:10.1086/118302. S2CID 16863021.
- ^ a b c Cutri, R. M.; Skrutskie, M. F.; Van Dyk, S.; Beichman, C. A.; Carpenter, J. M.; Chester, T.; Cambresy, L.; Evans, T.; Fowler, J.; Gizis, J.; Howard, E.; Huchra, J.; Jarrett, T.; Kopan, E. L.; Kirkpatrick, J. D.; Light, R. M.; Marsh, K. A.; McCallon, H.; Schneider, S.; Stiening, R.; Sykes, M.; Weinberg, M.; Wheaton, W. A.; Wheelock, S.; Zacarias, N. (June 2003). "VizieR Online Data Catalog: 2MASS All-Sky Catalog of Point Sources (Cutri+ 2003)". VizieR On-line Data Catalog: II/246. 2246. Bibcode:2003yCat.2246....0C.
- ^ Samus, N. N.; Kazarovets, E. V.; Durlevich, O. V.; Kireeva, N. N.; Pastukhova, E. N. (2009) [First published 2009]. "VizieR Online Data Catalog: General Catalogue of Variable Stars (Samus+, 2007–2017)". VizieR On-line Data Catalog: B/gcvs. 1: B/gcvs. Bibcode:2009yCat....102025S.
- ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference
GonzálezHernández2024was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
Pineda2021was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b Dawson, P. C.; De Robertis, M. M. (May 2004). "Barnard's Star and the M Dwarf Temperature Scale". The Astronomical Journal. 127 (5): 2909–2914. Bibcode:2004AJ....127.2909D. doi:10.1086/383289.
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Riedel2005was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
an230_77was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Lippincott, Sarah Lee (1960). "A Model of our Stellar Neighborhood". Astronomical Society of the Pacific Leaflets. 8 (377): 207. Bibcode:1960ASPL....8..207L.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
bis11_12_170was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Seeliger, Hugo; Bauschinger, Julius (1890). "Erstes Müchner Sternverzeichniss enthaltend die mittleren Örter von 33082 Sternen". Neue Annalen der Koeniglichen Sternwarte in Bogenhausen bei Muenchen. 1: 1. Bibcode:1890AnBog...1....1S.
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rukl1999was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Astronomy Survey Fall 2010". Archived from the original on 26 June 2013. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
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PaulsonFlarewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
Basant2025was invoked but never defined (see the help page).