Proper motion is an object’s change in position over time when seen from the Earth. Just like anything else that moves, a star's proper motion is measured by looking towards the same place at different times and seeing how far the star has moved. The difference with stars is that, from Earth, they seem to move very slowly so we have to measure in arcseconds per year. When a star has a large proper motion, it usually means that it is nearby. Barnard’s Star, the star with the largest proper motion, only moves 1 degree across the sky (3600 arcseconds) in 348 years.