page_title: Barnard's star
hierarchical_section_title: Barnard's star
caption_attribution_description: English: Barnard's Star, all positions since 1985.
context_page_description: Barnard's Star, also known as Barnard's Runaway Star, is a very low-mass red dwarf star approximately six light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Ophiuchus. It is very old, and moving relatively fast.
  In 1916, the American astronomer E. E. Barnard measured its proper motion as 10.3 arcseconds per year. This is the largest-known proper motion of any star relative to the Sun. At a distance of about 1.8 parsecs from the Solar System, or just under six light-years, Barnard's Star is the nearest known star in the constellation Ophiuchus, and the fourth-closest known individual star to the Sun, after the three components of the Alpha Centauri system. Despite its proximity, Barnard's Star, at a dim apparent magnitude of about nine, is not visible with the unaided eye; however, it is much brighter in infrared light than it is in visible light.
context_section_description: Barnard's Star, also known as Barnard's Runaway Star, is a very low-mass red dwarf star approximately six light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Ophiuchus (the Snake-holder). It is very old, and moving relatively fast.
  In 1916, the American astronomer E. E. Barnard measured its proper motion as 10.3 arcseconds per year. This is the largest-known proper motion of any star relative to the Sun. At a distance of about 1.8 parsecs from the Solar System, or just under six light-years, Barnard's Star is the nearest known star in the constellation Ophiuchus, and the fourth-closest known individual star to the Sun, after the three components of the Alpha Centauri system. Despite its proximity, Barnard's Star, at a dim apparent magnitude of about nine, is not visible with the unaided eye; however, it is much brighter in infrared light than it is in visible light.
caption: Barnard's Star, showing position every 5 years 1985–2005