Wolf 359 is a star located approximately 2.4 parsecs or 7.7 light years from Earth. It is one of the nearest stars; 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 and too dim to be visible to the naked eye, with a visual magnitude of 13.54. It is a flare star that undergoes random increases in luminosity because of magnetic activity on its surface.