Wolf 359

Wolf 359 was the primary of the Wolf system, located less than 20 light years from Sol in the Alpha Quadrant. This system was the site of the historic Battle of Wolf 359. 

On several occasions in 2364, viewscreen readouts aboard the USS Enterprise-D showed the location of Wolf 359, in the form of charts from the Enterprise-D library computer. 

Wolf 359 appeared in the starchart Data and Picard were studying in Stellar Cartography in 2371. (, display graphic)

Battle of Wolf 359

 * Main article: Battle of Wolf 359

Wolf 359 was the site of the first large-scale engagement between Starfleet and the Borg. In 2367, a fleet of forty ships under the command of Admiral Hanson engaged a Borg cube commanded by Locutus at the Battle of Wolf 359. Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) had been assimilated by the Borg, and as Locutus, unwillingly provided them with a decisive advantage through his knowledge of Starfleet technology and tactics. This led to the Federation fleet, tasked with preventing the advance of the Borg to Earth, being quickly overwhelmed and utterly destroyed. Of the forty vessels that engaged the Borg cube, thirty-nine were destroyed, resulting in approximately eleven thousand deaths. 

The Enterprise-D arrived late to the scene of the battle at Wolf 359 only to find the wreckage and debris of the starships destroyed by the Borg. Among the ships lost at Wolf 359 were the USS Melbourne, command of which had been offered to Commander William T. Riker, and which he had declined. Also lost was the USS Saratoga (NCC-31911), on which then Lt. Commander Benjamin Sisko was serving. Sisko lost his wife Jennifer in the destruction of the Saratoga, and Sisko long blamed and disliked Picard for his role in her death. 

Background information
The location of Wolf 359 was depicted in the chart naming stars within 20 light years of Sol. The chart was drawn by Rick Sternbach for the Star Trek Spaceflight Chronology in the late 1970s. Found on page 77, this chart showed Earth commercial and exploration routes after the use of warp drive began. Wolf 359 was located in the same general area as Alpha Centauri, Sol and, Sirius. This area of space was identified in "The Explored Galaxy" star chart as being between the Tholian Assembly and Romulus. Both were identified in as being located in the Alpha Quadrant.

According to Star Trek: Star Charts (Page 45), Wolf 359 was located in the Beta Quadrant. Wolf 359 was a M class star with a magnitude of +9.

Apocrypha
In non-canon sources, comics of the DC TNG volume 2 series mention Wolf 359 was maintained as a wreckyard of the doomed ships, as depicted in the stories "The Worst of Both Worlds, Part I!" and again in "And Death Shall Have No Dominion". Star Trek Online also depicted such a memorial.