Wolf 359

Starbox begin
name=Wolf 359 Starbox image


caption= Wolf 359 is shown near the ecliptic in the southern region of Leo. It is invisible to the naked eye.Starbox observe
epoch=J2000
constell=Leo
ra=RA|10|56|28.99cite web
url=http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-id?protocol=html&Ident=Wolf+359
title=SIMBAD Query: V* CN Leo -- Flare Star
publisher=Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg
accessdate=2007-07-16 ]
dec=DEC|+07|00|52.0
appmag_v=13.54 Starbox character
class=M6.5 Ve
b-v=+2.01
u-b=+1.54
variable=Flare star Starbox astrometry
radial_v=+19±1
prop_mo_ra=-3842
prop_mo_dec=-2725
parallax=419.10
p_error=2.10
absmag_v=16.64 Starbox detail
age=1–3.5 × 10⁸cite journal
author=Pavlenko, Ya. V.; Jones, H. R. A.; Lyubchik, Yu.; Tennyson, J.; Pinfield, D. J.
title=Spectral energy distribution for GJ406
journal=Astronomy and Astrophysics
year=2006 | volume=447 | issue=2 | pages=709-717
url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2006A&A...447..709P
accessdate=2007-07-18
doi=10.1051/0004-6361:20052979]
metal=
mass=0.09 [cite web
author=Staff | date =June 8, 2007
url=http://joy.chara.gsu.edu/RECONS/
title=List of the Nearest 100 Stellar Systems
publisher=Research Consortium on Nearby Stars
accessdate=2007-07-16 ]
radius=0.16 [cite journal
author=Doyle, J. G.; Butler, C. J.
title=Optical and infrared photometry of dwarf M and K stars
journal=Astronomy and Astrophysics
year=1990
volume=235
issue=1-2
pages=335-339
url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1990A&A...235..335D
accessdate=2007-07-18 ]
rotation=<3.0 km/scite journal
last=Mohanty | first=Subhanjoy | coauthors=Basri, Gibor
title=Rotation and Activity in Mid-M to L Field Dwarfs
journal=The Astrophysical Journal
year=2003 | volume=583 | issue=1 | pages=451-472
url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2002astro.ph..1455M
accessdate=2007-11-29 ]
luminosity=0.0009 [cite journal
last = West | first = Frederick R.
title=Letter to the Editor: The Corona of CN Leonis (Gliese 406) and its Possible Detection at Radio Frequencies
journal=The Journal of the American Association of Variable Star Observers
year=2002 | volume=30 | issue=2 | pages=149-150
url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2002JAVSO..30..149W
accessdate=2007-07-18 ]
temperature=2,800 ± 100 Starbox catalog
names=CN Leonis, CN Leo, GJ 406, G 045-020, LTT 12923, LFT 750, LHS 36, GCTP 2553.

Wolf 359 is a star located approximately 2.4 parsecs or 7.7 light years from Earth. It is one of the nearest stars; 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 and too dim to be visible to the naked eye, with a visual magnitude of 13.54. It is a flare star that undergoes random increases in luminosity because of magnetic activity on its surface.

Properties

The star was discovered using astrophotography by German astronomer Max Wolf in 1918. [cite journal
last=Wolf | first=M.
title=Katalog von 1053 staerker bewegten Fixsternen
journal=Veroeffentlichungen der Badischen Sternwarte zu Heidelberg
year=1919 | volume=7 | issue=10 | pages=195–219
url=http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1919VeHei...7..195W
accessdate=2008-07-07 See p. 206.] Its closest neighbor is Ross 128, 1.16 pc or 3.79 ly away. [cite web
url=http://www.solstation.com/stars/wolf359.htm
title=Wolf 359
publisher=SolStation Company
accessdate=2006-08-10] In 2001 this became the first star other than the Sun to have the spectrum of its corona observed from a ground-based telescope. [cite journal
author=Schmitt, J. H. M. M. ; Wichmann, R.
title=Ground-based observation of emission lines from the corona of a red-dwarf star
journal=Nature | year=2001 | volume=412
issue=2 | pages=508-510
url=http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v412/n6846/abs/412508a0.html
accessdate=2007-07-18
doi=10.1038/35087513]

This is a red dwarf star of spectral class M6.5. The projected rotational velocity of this star's equator is less than 3 km/s; below the threshold of detection through spectral line broadening. The outer atmosphere of Wolf 359 is sufficiently cool that molecular lines appear in the spectrum. The space velocity of this star suggests that it belongs to the population of old disk stars. However, evolutionary models suggest that it is a relatively young star with an age of less than a billion years.

It is classified as a UV Ceti-type flare star, [cite journal
author=Gershberg, R. E.; Shakhovskaia, N. I.
title=Characteristics of activity energetics of he UV Cet-type flare stars
journal=Astrophysics and Space Science
year=1983 | volume=95 | issue=2 | pages=235-253
url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1983Ap%26SS..95..235G
accessdate=2007-07-18
doi=10.1007/BF00653631] and has a relatively high flare rate. Observations with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) detected 32 flare events within a two hour period, with energies of 10²⁷ ergs (10²⁰ joules) and higher. [cite journal
author=Robinson, R. D.; Carpenter, K. G.; Percival, J. W.; Bookbinder, J. A.
title=A Search for Microflaring Activity on dMe Flare Stars. I. Observations of the dM8e Star CN Leonis
journal=Astrophysical Journal
year=1995 | volume=451 | pages=795-805
url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/bib_query?bibcode=1995ApJ...451..795R
accessdate=2007-07-18
doi=10.1086/176266] The mean magnetic field has a strength of about 2.2 kG, but this varies significantly on time scales a short as six hours. [cite journal
last=Reiners | first=A.
coauthors=Schmitt, J. H. M. M.; Liefke, C.
title=Rapid magnetic flux variability on the flare star CN Leonis
journal=Astronomy and Astrophysics
year=2007 | volume=466 | issue=2 | pages=L13-L16
url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2007A&A...466L..13R
accessdate=2007-11-26 ] By comparison, the magnetic field of the Sun averages 1 Gauss, although it can rise as high as 3 kG in active sunspot regions. [cite news
author=Staff
date=January 7, 2007
title=Calling Dr. Frankenstein! : Interactive Binaries Show Signs of Induced Hyperactivity
publisher=National Optical Astronomy Observatory
url=http://www.noao.edu/outreach/press/pr07/pr0701.html
accessdate=2006-05-24]

A search of this star by the HST revealed no stellar companions. However this does not preclude the presence of smaller companions that are below the telescope's detection limit, such as a planet in a close orbit. [cite journal
author=Daniel J. Schroeder "et al"
title=A Search for Faint Companions to Nearby Stars Using the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2
journal=The Astronomical Journal
year=2000 | volume=119 | issue=2 | pages=906-922
url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2000AJ....119..906S
accessdate=2007-07-18 ] No excess infrared emission has been detected, which may indicate the lack of a debris disk in orbit around this star. [cite journal
last=Gautier | first=T. N.
coauthors=Beichman, C. A.; Bryden, G.; Chen, C. H.; Gordon, K. D.; Rieke, G. H.; Stansberry, J. A.; Stapelfeldt, K. R.; Trilling, D. E.; Werner, M. W.; MIPS
title=Far Infrared Properties of M Dwarfs
journal=Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society
year=2004 | volume=36 | pages=1431-
url=http://arxiv.org/abs/0707.0464v1
accessdate=2007-11-29 ]

ee also

* List of nearest stars
* Wolf 359 in fiction

References

External links

* [http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/W/Wolf_359.html The Encyclopedia of Astrobiology, Astronomy, and Spaceflight]