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Created page with 'Wolf 359 is the fourth closest star at only 7.7 light years; only Proxima Centauri, Alpha Centauri and Barnard's Star being closer. The star can be found in the cons...'
Wolf 359 is the fourth closest star at only 7.7 light years; only [[Proxima Centauri]], [[Alpha Centauri]] and [[Barnard's Star]] being closer. The star can be found in the constellation of Leo. One of the faintest known star's, it cannot be seen by the unaided eye and has a visual magnitude of only 13.54.
Discovered in 1918 by German astronomer Max Wolf, whom the star is named after, Wolf 359 is a dim [[red dwarf]] with a [[spectral class]] of M6.5. The star's mass is between 9 and 13 percent of Sol's, and has a diameter of approximately 16 to 19 of Sol's. The luminosity is a mere .002% of our own star, so dim if Wolf 359 replaced our sun, it would appear only 10 times brighter then the moon from our world. Like many [[red dwarf|red dwarfs]], Wolf 359 is a [[flare star]] and can violently flare and brighten on occasion<ref>http://www.solstation.com/stars/wolf359.htm</ref>.
At present there are no known companion bodies orbiting Wolf 359<ref>http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=2000AJ....119..906S&db_key=AST&high=38e0b7728707947</ref>. For an Earth like world to have liquid water on it's surface (within the [[habitable zone]]), it would have to be only .0042 Au from it's parent star. Such a world would be tidally locked to Wolf 359 and be repeated exposed to occasional intense radiation from the occasional flares.
[[Category:Astronomy]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
Discovered in 1918 by German astronomer Max Wolf, whom the star is named after, Wolf 359 is a dim [[red dwarf]] with a [[spectral class]] of M6.5. The star's mass is between 9 and 13 percent of Sol's, and has a diameter of approximately 16 to 19 of Sol's. The luminosity is a mere .002% of our own star, so dim if Wolf 359 replaced our sun, it would appear only 10 times brighter then the moon from our world. Like many [[red dwarf|red dwarfs]], Wolf 359 is a [[flare star]] and can violently flare and brighten on occasion<ref>http://www.solstation.com/stars/wolf359.htm</ref>.
At present there are no known companion bodies orbiting Wolf 359<ref>http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=2000AJ....119..906S&db_key=AST&high=38e0b7728707947</ref>. For an Earth like world to have liquid water on it's surface (within the [[habitable zone]]), it would have to be only .0042 Au from it's parent star. Such a world would be tidally locked to Wolf 359 and be repeated exposed to occasional intense radiation from the occasional flares.
[[Category:Astronomy]]
==References==
{{reflist}}