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This large proper motion was discovered by the astronomer E. E. Barnard in 1916.
Lying at a distance of about 6 light years, Barnard's Star is the fifth closest known star to Earth. Only the Sun and the three components of the Alpha Centauri system are closer. But Barnard's Star is a red dwarf ( spectral type M4), so despite its proximity it is too faint to see without a telescope or powerful binoculars. Its apparent magnitudeThe apparent magnitude m of a star, planet or other heavenly body is a measure of its apparent brightness; that is, the amount of light received from the object. Hundred times less bright (e. the same object ten times as far) corresponds to an apparent ma is 9.54.
The proper motion at this distance corresponds to a relative lateral speed of 90 km/s.
For many years from 1963Events January-March January 11 The Whisky A Go-Go night club in Los Angeles, the first disco in the USA, is opened. January 14 George Wallace becomes governor of Alabama. January 22 Elysee treaty between France and Germany January 28 Black student Harvey onwards, a substantial number of astronomers accepted a claim by Peter van de KampPiet van de Kamp ( December 26, 1901 May 18, 1995), known as Peter van de Kamp in the United States, was a Dutch-American astronomer. He specialized in astrometry, studying parallax and proper motions of stars. In the 1960s he announced that Barnard's sta that he had detected a perturbation in the proper motion of Barnard's star consistent with its having one or more planets comparable in mass with Jupiter. When independent data were collected in the 1980sMillennia: 1st millennium 2nd millennium 3rd millennium Centuries: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s Years: 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 Events and trends, this conclusion came to be disputed and the consensus is now that van de Kamp's claim was erroneous. During the period that the claim was accorded credibility, it contributed to the star's fame among the science fictionScience fiction generally speaking, is a form of speculative fiction which deals principally with the impact of imagined science and/or technology upon society or individuals. There are, perhaps, exceptions to (or at least, some very unusual examples of) community and the star's adoption as a target for Project DaedalusProject Daedalus was a study conducted between 1973 and 1978 by the British Interplanetary Society to design a plausible interstellar unmanned spacecraft. A dozen scientists and engineers led by Alan Bond worked on the project. The design criteria were th (a plan for a prototype interstellar space probe).
Barnard's Star is also known as BD+04°3561a, HIP 87937, Munich 15040, Vyssotsky 799, LHS 57, GCTP 4098.00, G 140-024 and various other technical names.