Wolf 2

A faint and distant orange dwarf star in the constellation of Pisces, falling eastward of the Circlet formation in the sky. This is a star rather cooler and less massive than the Sun, emitting only about a fifth as much light. At a distance of some 188 light years, this makes it very faint indeed in the skies of Earth, reaching just tenth magnitude. The star's absolute magnitude is +6.46, which means that, even if it lay at a standardised distance of ten parsecs from the Sun, it would still be too faint to see with the naked eye.

A notable feature of the star, and the reason it gained a 'Wolf' number, is its unusually high proper motion against the background of stars: Wolf 2 is moving northward on the celestial sphere at a rate of some 240 milli-arcseconds per year. A milli-arcsecond represents a tiny fraction of a degree of arc, but this is still a significally higher proper motion than most stars in the sky. The star falls close to the First Point of Aries, with a right ascension of just 00h20, which accounts for its low 'Wolf' number (these numbers are assigned to stars based on ascending values of right ascension).

* The available data for this star is comparatively sparse, and certain values shown here are derived from the GAIA visual luminosity data (which gives this star a luminosity value of 0.279 compared to the Sun). Some sources prefer a higher figure, making the star several times more luminous than the Sun. These earlier figures would imply that Wolf 2 is rather more intrinsically luminous than described here, and would suggest in turn that it may be a subgiant rather than a dwarf star.