Barnard's Star
What is Barnard's Star?
Stars· Distance 6.0 ly · size 0.2× Sun. After the Alpha Centauri triple, the closest star to the Sun. A small, dim red dwarf that needs a telescope, yet famous as the fastest-moving star in the sky. In 2024 a planet smaller than Earth was confirmed orbiting it.
📍 Visible from where you are right now — computed in your browser
bearing · altitude · rise time · best time tonight
Where Barnard's Star is in your sky right now: https://nowsky.org/solar/sky?sel=barnard — location and time set automatically, no login.
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.
Frequently asked
- How far is Barnard's Star from Earth?
- 5.96 ly — 4th-nearest star.
- How bright is Barnard's Star (apparent magnitude)?
- 9.5 — telescope only.
- In one line, what is Barnard's Star?
- Stars — After the Alpha Centauri triple, the closest star to the Sun.
- Where is Barnard's Star in the sky right now?
- Open the sky view for your location and time and it shows the position in the sky right now.
Van de Kamp's planets — an error believed for fifty years
In 1963 Peter van de Kamp of Swarthmore College announced that Barnard's Star wobbled slightly, betraying a Jupiter-sized planet — later two. It entered textbooks as the first exoplanet. But data from other telescopes in 1973 showed no wobble, and the "planet signal" turned out to coincide exactly with a refit of the Swarthmore telescope's lens. The planets were an instrumental artefact.
Van de Kamp never retracted his result before his death in 1995. Real planets were confirmed only in 2024 — Barnard b, 0.4 Earth masses in a 3.15-day orbit, among the smallest ever found by radial velocity. Three more were announced in 2025, drawing a picture of four small planets huddled close to the star, and it is now certain that the Jupiter-class planets van de Kamp claimed do not exist.
The star in depth
Barnard's Star is a red dwarf about 6 light-years away in Ophiuchus. With a sixth of the Sun's mass, a fifth of its diameter and only 0.04% of its light, it is invisible without a telescope. Yet it is the nearest star after the three of Alpha Centauri, and the closest star of all for northern-hemisphere observers.
Discovered by E. E. Barnard in 1916, it is defined by its enormous proper motion: 10.4 arcseconds a year, a full-moon width every 180 years — faster than any other star. It is approaching at 110 km/s and will pass within 3.8 light-years about 10,000 years from now. A 1960s claim of giant planets proved mistaken; only in 2024 was a planet, Barnard b, confirmed, with roughly a third of Earth's mass.
Open the 3D neighbours view and look around the Sun to appreciate just how close this star is. Selecting it in the Sky view marks its spot within Ophiuchus, though seeing it for real takes a mid-sized telescope and a good chart.
Related
Figures are representative approximations. Simulated positions use J2000 mean elements.