Stellar Dossier: Barnard's StarCopy Anchor Link

"'Excuse me?' said Arthur. 'Are you trying to tell me that we just stuck out our thumbs and some green bug-eyed monster stuck his head out and said, Hi fellas, hop right in, I can take you as far as the Basingstoke roundabout?'

'Well,' said Ford, 'the Thumb's an electronic sub-etha signalling device, the roundabout's at Barnard's Star six light-years away, but otherwise, that's more or less right.'"

— The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Chapter 5

Barnard's Star is a dim M-type red dwarf star situated approximately six light-years from Sol in the Western Spiral Arm. Along with Alpha Centauri (four light-years from Sol, where the local Galactic Hyperspace Planning Council office is located), Barnard's Star serves as one of the primary local astrogation waypoints in the immediate neighborhood of Earth.

The Six-Light-Year Interstellar Roundabout & Refit DocksCopy Anchor Link

In the sub-etha shipping network of Sector ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha, Barnard's Star functions as the cosmic equivalent of the Basingstoke roundabout:

• Local Junction: Long-haul commercial freighters, Vogon Constructor Ships, and auxiliary supply barges clearing the outer backwaters routinely route through the Barnard's Star junction six light-years from Earth before transitioning onto major hyperspatial express routes toward the Galactic Core or the Megabrantis Cluster.
• Hitchhiking From Sol: When Ford Prefect used his Electronic Thumb and the Dentrassi catering loophole to beam himself and Arthur Dent aboard Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz's flagship moments before Earth was demolished, he explained the rescue to a bewildered Arthur by comparing Barnard's Star to the Basingstoke roundabout—confirming that while the Thumb was electronic and the roundabout lay six light-years away, the bug-eyed monster at the helm was indeed green.
• The Seventy-Two-Hour Vogon Refit: Immediately after vaporizing Earth, Captain Jeltz announced over the flagship Tannoy that the vessel was jumping into hyperspace for the six-light-year journey to Barnard's Star, where it would remain in dock for a seventy-two-hour refit—with all planet leave cancelled because Jeltz had just had an unhappy love affair and didn't see why anybody else should have a good time. Arriving at Barnard's Star after the hyperspace jump left Arthur Dent six light-years from the place that Earth would have been if it still existed.