Barnard's Star

astronomy · red dwarf · nearby star · infrared

Fourth closest star. Barnard's Star is only 5.96 light-years away from Earth, making it the fourth nearest star to our Sun. Only the three stars in the Alpha Centauri system are closer to us.

Tiny red dwarf. This star is a red dwarf, which means it's much smaller and dimmer than our Sun. Barnard's Star has only about 16% of the Sun's mass and 19% of its diameter.

Invisible to eyes. Even though Barnard's Star is so close, you can't see it without a telescope because it's very dim in visible light. It only has an apparent magnitude of +9.5, far too faint for human eyes.

Infrared superstar. While Barnard's Star is dim in visible light, it shines much more brightly in infrared light, which we can't see with our eyes but special telescopes can detect.

Northern hemisphere neighbor. Barnard's Star is located in the constellation Ophiuchus and is the closest star you can find in the northern half of the sky from Earth.