![the battle of wolf 359 the battle of wolf 359](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D9843SgUEAAybZf.jpg)
I rewatched that too, and the overall plot was, um, interesting, in that they create a miniature version of a planet orbiting Wolf 359 in a lab and allow evolution to run on it, which of course it does superfast because… it's small. Incidentally, an episode of the old Outer Limits used the star in one episode. Bye-bye Borg cube (note: This exact (and I do mean exact) premise was used in the seventh season TNG episode "Descent, Part II"). Then it's just a matter of time… a good flare from Wolf 359 can emit as much energy as a hundred thousand one-megaton bombs. I wonder if any astronomers in the lower decks were desperately trying to tell their captain to lure the cube closer to the star, right over that huge sunspot they had scanned earlier.
![the battle of wolf 359 the battle of wolf 359](https://www.trekcc.org/2e/cardimages/st2e-en12039.jpg)
But I wonder… Federation starships have astrometrics labs. The TNG episode didn't mention planets around the star, which may be for the best. A planet orbiting Wolf 359 would be a not so great place to hang out. The flares are less energetic than the Sun's, but they happen all the time. Wolf 359 has been seen to blast these out many times per hour. These are called stellar flares, and they generate vast amounts of high-energy X-rays and gamma rays. When these magnetic field lines reach the surface they get tangled up, and they can snap, releasing a lot of energy. That's important because that gas has a strong magnetic field tied up in it, stronger even than the Sun's. Their convection zones start right above the core, so the gas moves a long way from the interior to the surface. The Sun's convection layer reaches all the way to the surface.īut red dwarfs aren't like that. That's where hot stuff is less dense than material around it so it rises, cools, and sinks back down.
![the battle of wolf 359 the battle of wolf 359](http://www.damianpeach.com/deepsky/redwarfs_2017_05_02dp.jpg)
At some distance above the core the density of the gas drops to a certain limit, and at that point it starts to rise via convection. The layer where this occurs is called the radiative layer. This hits the gas above it and heats it up, which responds by emitting light and heating up the stuff above it. That energy is transported away from the core radiatively that is, literally through radiating light. The core is where hydrogen fuses into helium, making energy. In stars like the Sun, there are three main layers. Stars as low mass as Wolf 359 have a weird property: They're fully convective. Just because it's small, low mass, and chilly as stars go, doesn't mean it can't be feisty. But things like carbon monoxide and iron hydride have been detected, and even water! Well, steam.īut have a care here. It's so cool that actual molecules can survive in its atmosphere for stars like the Sun that doesn't happen. You wouldn't want to stand on it or anything, but for a star that's lukewarm at best.
![the battle of wolf 359 the battle of wolf 359](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/shield-of-tomorrow/images/9/90/Battle_of_Wolf_359.jpg)
With a surface temperature of 2,500☌ it's only about half as hot as the Sun. Credit: ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2 / Phil PlaitĪnd when I said it's cool, and I meant it literally. I added an X to show the star’s location in Damian Peach’s images from 2017. Two images taken a few years apart show its motion (arrow). Wolf 359 is a high proper motion star, meaning its motion through space is large. I can prove it, too, with the help of master astrophotographer Damian Peach: We don't even get a glimpse of the star itself *. In "Best of Both Worlds," the episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation where the Borg came within minutes of infesting Earth with green nanites, we unfortunately didn't get to see the action at Wolf 359 by the time Enterprise gets there the day was already lost. Why now? Well, today is the -347th anniversary of the battle, so what better time to talk about it? Literally: Wolf 359 is a dinky red dwarf. The Battle of Wolf 359 was good for only two things: 1) It delayed the Borg enough to allow the Enterprise to stop them from assimilating Earth, and b) it gives me a chance to tell you about a really cool star. The location of that battle was the star Wolf 359, and the date, in the old non-relativistic pre-warp Earth calendar, was (is? Will be?) June 6, 2366.
#THE BATTLE OF WOLF 359 SOFTWARE#
Well, except for the Enterprise, and Data, and really bad security software coding in the Borg back systems. On Stardate 44002.3, the Federation was handed its worst defeat since the Battle of the Binary Stars that set off the first Klingon War - and despite a hellacious and damn-the-photon-torpedoes fight, the Borg easily wiped out 39 starships, leaving nothing between them and Earth.