Wolf 359 was discovered by German astronomer Max Wolf in 1918. It has no known celestial or planetary bodies in orbit.

In 2366, when a Borg cube destroyed the outpost of Juret VI and after a series of engagements with the USS Enterprise-D in which the Borg captured Captain Picard, was quickly discovered to be on a direct course for Earth. Starfleet massed an armada of forty starships at Wolf 359 commanded by Admiral J. P. Hanson.

Among the vessels to intercept the Borg cube at Wolf 359 were:

• Cheyenne-class USS Ahwanee NCC-73620

• Nebula-class USS Bellerophon NCC-62048

• Oberth-class USS Bonestell NCC-31600

• Challenger-class USS Buran NCC–57580

• Springfield-class USS Chekov NCC–53702

• Nebula-class USS Endeavor NCC-71805

• Freedom-class USS Firebrand NCC–68723

• New Orleans-class USS Kyushu NCC–65491

• Unknown class USS Liberator NCC–67016

• Excelsior-class USS Melbourne NCC–62043

• Miranda-class USS Saratoga NCC–31911

• Unknown class USS Tolstoy NCC–62095

• Ambassador-class USS Yamaguchi NCC–26510

Admiral Hanson's flagship was an unknown Galaxy-class starship.

What ensued was a massacre that cost 39 starships and over 11,000 Federation lives. With the knowledge and experience of an assimilated Captain Picard (now Locutus of Borg), the Borg decimated, destroyed or otherwise crippled nearly every ship in the Federation armada. Only the USS Endeavor managed to survive the encounter.

Among the survivors of the battle are Commander Benjamin Sisko and his son, Jake, having lost Jake’s mother, Jennifer at the battle. Sisko became obsessed with the battle and the loss of his wife, even blaming Captain Picard for the losses suffered that day. Something Sisko made evident when he later met Picard as Sisko took command of Station Deep Space Nine.

In the aftermath of the battle, the Borg ship was destroyed near Earth by only the desperate measures taken by the Enterprise crew. Sisko spent years assisting in the rebuilding of Starfleet and overseeing the Defiant project. For years afterward, he spent days in holodecks creating computer models to use unorthodox tactics and strategies against the Borg at the Battle of Wolf 359. He finally found peace when the Prophets of the Bajoran faith helped him and showed him that he was their Emissary.

In 2371 the Borg attacked again and the Borg cube was met with an upgraded armada near Earth at the battle of Sector 001. The cube was destroyed by the USS Enterprise-E.

DC Comics put out a 3 issue story-arc called "The Worst of Both Worlds" detailing an alternate universe where Picard was never rescued from the Borg and Earth was assimilated. It was also said in the proper universe that Wolf 359 was maintained as wreckyard of the doomed ships.