Wolf 359 is a star located approximately 2.4 parsecs or 7.80 light years from Earth's solar system. The real Wolf 359 is a flare star that modern scientists have determined is a red dwarf, spectral class M6, massing 0.093 of Sol with absolute magnitude +16.56. It is one of the nearest stars to the Sun; only the Alpha Centauri system and Barnard's star are known to be closer. Its celestial position is in the constellation Leo, near the ecliptic. It is an extremely faint red dwarf, too dim to be visible to the naked eye, and it is a flare star.

This extremely faint star is the third closest to Earth after Alpha Centauri 3 and Barnard's Star. It is located only about 7.8 light-years away in the east central part of Constellation Leo, the Lion -- south of Chertan or Coxa (Theta Leonis). However, the star is much too dim to be visible to the naked eye.

In Star Trek, Wolf 359 is most notable as the site of the first major engagement between Starfleet and the Borg. In 2367, a fleet of 39 ships under the command of Admiral Hanson was destroyed in the Battle of Wolf 359 by a Borg cube commanded by Locutus. Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Enterprise-D had been assimilated by the Borg, and as Locutus, unwillingly provided them with a decisive advantage through his knowledge of Starfleet technology and tactics.

This led to the Federation fleet, tasked with preventing the advance of the Borg to Earth, being quickly overwhelmed and utterly destroyed. Approximately 11,000 lives were lost in the battle (TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II").

After the disasterously one-sided engagement, the Borg cube advanced towards Earth. It quickly breeched the Mars Defense Perimiter by defeating the much smaller and weaker force available there and took up position over the Earth as it prepared to assimilate Humanity.

The Enterprise-D had been disabled in a previous contact with the Borg that took place shortly before the battle at Wolf 359. Had she been able to join the fleet there as planned, it is very likely that she, too, would have been destroyed. Ultimately, the Enterprise was able to destroy the Borg cube and end the threat by turning Picard's knowledge of the Borg, gained as Locutus, against them.

Among the ships lost at Wolf 359 were the USS Melbourne, command of which had been offered to Commander William Riker, and which he had declined.

Also lost was the USS Saratoga, where then Lt. Commander Benjamin Sisko was serving. Sisko lost his wife Jennifer in the destruction of the Saratoga, and Sisko long blamed and hated Picard for his role in her death. (DS9: "Emissary")

In reality, Wold 359 is a very cool, main sequence red dwarf (M5.8Ve), Wolf 359 is our Sun's dimmest stellar neighbor within 10 ly, with less than 2/100,000th of Sol's luminosity. If our Sun, Sol, were replaced by Wolf 359, then an observer on Earth would need a telescope to see its round shape clearly, and daylight would be very dim with only ten times the brightness of full moonlight with Sol.

On the other hand, Wolf 359 is a Flare Star (that has been designated with the variable star name CN Leonis) and so can brighten dramatically from time to time. Flares on Wolf 359, however, are rarer and not as violent as those observed on Proxima Centauri, Kruger 60 B, or UV Ceti.

The star has a mass around 9.2 to 13 percent of Sol's about 16 to 19 percent of Sol's diameter and only around 2/100,000th of its luminosity. It may be less than 10 billion years old. The distance from the star where an Earth-type planet would be comfortable with liquid water is located around 0.005 AU, but at that distance, the rotation of the planet would be tidally locked with the star so that one side would have eternal daylight and the other would be in eternal darkness.

Earth-type life around flare stars may be unlikely because their planets must be located very close to dim red dwarfs to be warmed sufficiently by star light to have liquid water (about 0.0042 AU for Wolf 359 with an orbital period of around 8 hours), which makes flares even more dangerous around such stars. In any case, the light emitted by red dwarfs may be too red in color for Earth-type plant life to perform photosynthesis efficiently.