In 1919 he published a catalog of over one thousand stars with high proper motions, including this one, that are still identified by his name. The proper motion of Wolf 359 was first measured in 1917 by German astronomer Max Wolf, with the aid of astrophotography. A high rate of proper motion can indicate that a star is located nearby, as more distant stars must move at higher velocities in order to achieve the same rate of angular travel across the celestial sphere. Wolf 359 first came to the attention of astronomers because of the relatively high rate of transverse motion against the background, known as the proper motion. One planetary companion is suspected, with another candidate planet having been found to be a likely false positive, but as yet no debris disks have been found. Wolf 359 is a relatively young star with an age of less than a billion years. These flares emit strong bursts of X-ray and gamma ray radiation that have been observed by space telescopes. As a result of magnetic activity caused by convection, Wolf 359 is a flare star that can undergo sudden increases in luminosity for several minutes.

The surface has a magnetic field that is stronger than the average magnetic field on the Sun. The absorption lines of compounds such as water and titanium(II) oxide have been observed in the spectrum. At the light-emitting layer called the photosphere, it has a temperature of about 2,800 K, which is low enough for chemical compounds to form and survive. Wolf 359 is one of the faintest and lowest-mass stars known.

Its proximity to Earth has led to its mention in several works of fiction. Wolf 359 is one of the nearest stars to the Sun only the Alpha Centauri system (including Proxima Centauri), Barnard's Star, and the brown dwarfs Luhman 16 (WISE 1049-5319) and WISE 0855−0714 are known to be closer. At a distance of approximately 7.9 light years from Earth, it has an apparent magnitude of 13.54 and can only be seen with a large telescope. Wolf 359 is a red dwarf star located in the constellation Leo, near the ecliptic. Wolf 359 is shown near the ecliptic in the southern region of Leo Wolf 359 is the orange-hued star located just above the center of this 2009 astrophotograph.

Wolf 359 by Gabriel Urbina