Barnard's Star
What is Barnard's Star?
Stars· Distance 6.0 ly · size 0.2× Sun. The nearest star to the Sun after the three stars of Alpha Centauri. A small, dim red dwarf that needs a telescope, it is famous for moving across the sky faster than any other star. In 2024 a small planet was confirmed orbiting it.
📍 Visible from where you are right now — computed in your browser
Stellar figures
| Distance | 5.96 ly — 4th-nearest star |
|---|---|
| Magnitude | 9.5 — telescope only |
| Proper motion | 10.4″ per year — a full-moon width in 180 years |
| Constellation | Ophiuchus |
Figures are representative approximations. Source: compiled from NASA and IAU public data.
Barnard's Star and the planets that were not there
In 1963 Peter van de Kamp of Swarthmore College in the United States made a striking announcement. Barnard's Star, he said, wobbled very slightly as it moved across the sky because a Jupiter-sized planet was tugging on it; later he said there were two planets. The claim became widely known as a discovery of planets around another star. But in 1973 data from other telescopes showed no such wobble. On closer study, the 'wobble' matched the times when the Swarthmore telescope's lens had been adjusted. The cause was the equipment, not planets.
Van de Kamp never withdrew his claim before he died in 1995. Real planets were confirmed only in 2024, more than fifty years later: a small planet about a third of Earth's mass, orbiting close to the star every three days or so. Three more were announced in 2025, giving a picture of four small planets. It also became clear that the Jupiter-sized planets van de Kamp described do not exist.
The mistaken claim left its mark in the meantime. In the 1970s the British Interplanetary Society studied Project Daedalus, a design for an uncrewed probe to another star. The destination it chose was Barnard's Star, because a large planet was then believed to orbit it. The design used nuclear fusion to reach 12 percent of the speed of light and arrive in about fifty years. It was never built, but it remains a serious study of how a probe might reach another star.
The star in depth
Barnard's Star is a red dwarf 5.96 light-years away, in the direction of Ophiuchus. It is the fourth-nearest star to the Sun, after the three stars of Alpha Centauri. It has about a sixth of the Sun's mass and a fifth of its width, and the visible light it gives off is only 0.04 percent of the Sun's. So despite being so close, it shines at just magnitude 9.5 and needs a telescope to see.
The star was discovered in 1916 by the American astronomer Edward Barnard. It moves across the sky by 10.4 arcseconds a year. At that rate it shifts by the width of a full Moon in about 180 years, faster than any other known star. It seems to move so quickly because it is both close to us and truly travelling fast.
Barnard's Star is heading toward the Solar System at about 110 km/s. In about 10,000 years it will come within 3.8 light-years. Even then it will not be the nearest star, because Proxima Centauri will have moved closer still. In 2024 a small planet was confirmed orbiting it every three days or so. In 2025 three more planets were announced, so four small planets are now known to orbit close to the star.
Look around the Sun in the 3D neighbourhood view to see what a close neighbour Barnard's Star is. Select it in the Sky view to see its place in Ophiuchus. To see it in the real sky takes a dark site, a telescope and a good star chart. Photographs taken a few years apart and laid over each other show the surrounding stars staying put while this one has moved north.
Frequently asked
- How far is Barnard's Star from Earth?
- The distance of Barnard's Star is 5.96 ly — 4th-nearest star.
- How bright is Barnard's Star (apparent magnitude)?
- The magnitude of Barnard's Star is 9.5 — telescope only.
- In one line, what is Barnard's Star?
- Stars — The nearest star to the Sun after the three stars of Alpha Centauri.
Related
Figures are representative approximations. Simulated positions use J2000 mean elements.