Wolf 359 (CN LEO) - Currently in 3rd place
CN LEO is the 3rd closest system to Sol. The system consists of a red dwarf of spectral class M6.0 with an estimated mass of only 9% that of the Sun.
Note how much brighter the M6.0 dwarf is in the IR rather than V band and how well this is shown in this 120 second animated exposure of IR and V band images.
UV CETI - Currently in 6th place
Luyten 726-8 AB or UV CETI is the sixth closest system to Sol located only about 8.7 light-years away in the southwestern part (01 39 01.3 -17 57 01) of Cetus, the Whale. UV Ceti is an extreme example of a flare star - that is one that can boost its brightness by a factor of five in less than a minute!
Again note how much brighter UV CETI is in the IR rather than V band - this is typical of a red dwarf.
This page was last updated on May 17th 2010.