Barnard's Star is the fourth closest star to the Sun and the closest visible from the northern hemisphere. Hold your mouse cursor over the image to see its location in the frame.

It is located just 5.97 light-years away.

Only Proxima Centauri, at 4.24 light-years, and the A and B components of Alpha Centauri, at 4.36 light-years, are closer.

Barnard's Star is a low-mass red dwarf star that shines at magnitude 9.54. It is now located in the constellation of Ophiuchus 42.65 arcminutes northwest of 4.5 magnitude 66 Ophiuchi, the brightest star in the frame at lower left.

Barnard's Star was discovered by E. E. Barnard in 1916 by comparing photographic plates taken that year and others taken in 1894. The discovery was announced in a paper in the Astronomical Journal, vol. 29, iss. 695, p. 181-183, titled A Small Star With Large proper-Motion..

With a proper motion of 10.29 arcseconds per year, Barnard's Star can be seen to move in relation to other background stars that are farther away. Barnard's Star has the largest proper motion of all known stars. It is also apparently moving at a high velocity towards us and appears to be moving north in the sky from our perspective.

At an estimated age of 7 to 12 billion years, Barnard's Star may be one of the oldest stars in our Milky Way Galaxy.

North is to the top in the above image.

Barnard's Star Catalogs: TYC 425-2502-1 HIP 87937 BD +4 3561a Common Name: Barnard's Star Object Type: Star Magnitude: 9.54 Constellation: Ophiuchus Image Field Centered At: RA: 17h 58m 05s Dec: +04° 43' 39"