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| Barnard's Star | |
|---|---|
| Name | Barnard's Star |
| Epoch | J2000 |
| Constellation | Ophiuchus |
| Apparent magnitude | 9.5 |
| Spectral type | M4V |
| Distance | 1.834 pc |
| Radial velocity | -110 km/s |
| Proper motion | 10.3 arcsec/yr |
| Mass | 0.144 M☉ |
| Radius | 0.196 R☉ |
| Luminosity | 0.0004 L☉ |
| Names | BD+04°3561a; Gliese 699; HIP 87937 |
Barnard's Star is a nearby red dwarf in the constellation Ophiuchus notable for its exceptional proper motion and proximity to the Solar System. It has been a subject of observational campaigns by astronomers associated with institutions such as the Harvard College Observatory, the Royal Observatory, and observatories at Mount Wilson, Lick, Palomar, and Keck. Its role in stellar kinematics, exoplanet searches, and proposals for interstellar probes has linked it to projects and figures spanning the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.
Discovered by the American astronomer Edward Emerson Barnard during photographic surveys at the Yerkes Observatory and later reported in publications associated with the Harvard College Observatory, the star was followed up by teams at the Royal Astronomical Society, Mount Wilson Observatory, and the Lick Observatory. Historical work involved photographers and astronomers connected to the Astrophysical Journal, the Royal Astronomical Society (experience) and figures such as Edward Charles Pickering, Percival Lowell, Walter Sydney Adams, and Ejnar Hertzsprung. Early parallax and proper motion measurements were refined through collaborations including the US Naval Observatory, the Carnegie Institution, and Caltech astronomers working with plates from the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey and later CCD campaigns led by observers at the European Southern Observatory and Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias.
Spectroscopically classified as an M dwarf by investigators affiliated with the Mount Stromlo Observatory and the Geneva Observatory, its properties have been cataloged in resources like the Gliese Catalogue, the Hipparcos Catalogue, and the Two Micron All Sky Survey. Stellar parameters were refined by teams from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory using instruments at the W. M. Keck Observatory, the Very Large Telescope, and the Subaru Telescope. Mass and radius estimates informed models developed by researchers at the University of Arizona and the Institute for Advanced Study, while metallicity and photospheric models drew on work from the Royal Society, Princeton University, and the University of Cambridge astrophysics groups.
Its record proper motion was first quantified in reports to the American Astronomical Society and featured in atlases produced by the United States Naval Observatory. Follow-up astrometry was conducted by teams associated with the Hipparcos mission, the Hubble Space Telescope programs managed by the Space Telescope Science Institute, and later the Gaia mission teams at the European Space Agency. Long-baseline interferometry and radial-velocity studies were undertaken by groups at the Palomar Observatory, Keck Observatory, ESO, and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory. Important contributors included scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, Cornell University, Harvard University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Searches for companions have been prominent in programs by the Carnegie Institution for Science, the SETI Institute, and the California Institute of Technology radial-velocity teams. Claims and refutations involved researchers from the University of Geneva, the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, and survey teams behind instruments such as HIRES at Keck and spectrographs at the European Southern Observatory. Announced candidate detections prompted follow-up by groups at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Space missions including the Spitzer Space Telescope and facilities like the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array participated in characterization efforts, with theoretical interpretation by researchers at the University of Tokyo, MIT, and the University of Cambridge.
Studies of flares, chromospheric lines, and photometric variability were carried out by teams affiliated with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the European Southern Observatory, and the Royal Astronomical Society. Instruments and surveys from the Las Cumbres Observatory network, the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae, and observatories such as Kitt Peak National Observatory contributed data. Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder, University of California, Irvine, Pennsylvania State University, and the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research analyzed magnetic activity and rotation, while archive work was undertaken by scientists at the National Science Foundation-supported centers and the Space Telescope Science Institute.
Precise parallax and radial-velocity determinations came from campaigns tied to the Hipparcos mission, the Gaia mission, and the US Naval Observatory; proper-motion catalogs were produced in collaboration with the International Astronomical Union working groups. Kinematic analyses referencing the Local Standard of Rest and comparisons with associations like the Ursa Major moving group or the Hyades cluster involved modelers at the University of Leiden, the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, and the University of Cambridge. Dynamical histories tying the star to the Galactic thin disk and studies by researchers at the Royal Astronomical Society and the European Southern Observatory constrained its orbit in the Milky Way.
Barnard’s Star inspired science-fiction authors associated with publishers in New York City, and featured in works by writers connected to the Science Fiction Writers of America, the British Science Fiction Association, and magazines like Astounding Science Fiction and Analog Science Fiction and Fact. Proposals for flyby probes and interstellar missions involved organizations such as the Planetary Society, the Breakthrough Initiatives, the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and concepts discussed at conferences held by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the International Astronautical Federation. Outreach and public engagement efforts have been supported by institutions including the Smithsonian Institution, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.
Category:Stars