Gamma Canaris region? Adhara, or not?

[TJ Sinclair]

I've been thinking about the Gamma Canaris region, and planet Epsilon Canaris III. Since "Canaris" isn't part of any real world astromical nomenclature. The old FASA materials, and I think, Star Trek Maps, identified Epsion Canaris with Epsilon Canis Majoris or Adhara, assuming that by the 23rd century it had been shortened to "Canaris." This would put the Companion's little planetoid waaaay out in the Beta Quadrant, farther from Earth than even Canopus.

But other than an apparent similarity between the words Canaris and Canis, is there any reason to associate the "Metamorphosis" locations with Canis Major at all? I can't think of one. Perhaps "Canaris" is the name of a constellation known as "The Canary" as seen from a planet other than Earth. If that's the case, it could be anywhere.

 

[Timo]

Well, the "apparent similarity" between the words is pretty direct and blatant etymologically: the Canary Islands are where the canary bird and Wilhelm Canaris get their names, and "Canary" there refers to dogs.

But this is merely the origin, and the current usage definitely has "canary" exist separately from "canis". A constellation named after the former would make plenty of sense, especially since The Canary appears to be a teeny weeny thing, an asterism where the individual stars are real-world neighbors in 3D rather than merely appearing in the same part of the sky as viewed from wherever.

That is, Epsilon Canaris and Gamma Canaris appear to be very close to each other so that a shuttle sailing out from the former may consider the latter a reasonable destination or route marker after an (involuntary) course correction. Yet they aren't part of the same star system or they would be Epsilon Canaris A and B, respectively. A tight asterism might be something space travelers will "discover" and name, whereas audiences at Earth would not yet have seen the point of considering a point of light a constellation.

Starfarers might be establishing new constellations left and right, but probably generally only if they were "real", that is, asterisms that appeared clustered even when viewed from all sides, like a traveler in a warp-capable ship would observe them. (Or then if they were shaped especially amusingly, like that lady from Venus, say.)

The fictional constellation of The Canary could be located anywhere we wish, as the episode does not establish anything about the neighborhood. But having it fairly close to Earth would make it easier to accept that Cochrane could have retired there. Yes, ships from that era could travel all the way to the edge of the galaxy - presumably when riding on magnetic storms since Kirk considers the feat flat out "Impossible!" without such outside help. Cochrane never mentions outside help in getting there, though, other than the very short last leg where the Companion no doubt gave a boost. (The Companion wouldn't have hijacked Cochrane from afar as it seemed to depend on its home planetoid for power and sustenance.)

What does Kirk mean by saying that the planetoid is "a long way off the beaten path"? He could mean it is farther out than most things - but the wording is especially amenable to the interpretation that it is merely to the side of an oft-traveled route, an overlooked nook of not-so-distant space. Certainly it is not particularly distant by Kirk's own standards, as he's helping mediate a war there, between adventures. And when wondering about "long ways off beaten paths", he doesn't yet suspect that the castaway would be centuries old and only in (former) possession of grossly inferior means of propulsion. Indeed, the fact that Cochrane considers Kirk's shuttle advanced or "a beauty" is Kirk's first cue as to the true age of this Robinson Crusoe here.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[DEWLine]

There have been references scattered throughout several of the series suggesting that the list of Officially Approved Constellations has been expanded somewhat. And an authority in charge of such things seems to have been established.

Alpha Moab, Sigma Iotia, Beta Stromgren, Sigma Nelvana...

 

[Christopher]

Perhaps "Canaris" is the name of a constellation known as "The Canary" as seen from a planet other than Earth.

The Latin word for canary is Serinus, the genitive of which would be Serini.

Most of the constellation genitive forms that end in -ris are for constellations ending in -r -- Majoris for Major, Minoris for Minor, Crateris for Crater, Pictoris for Pictor, Sculptoris for Sculptor. The only exception is Leporis for Lepus.

As far as I can figure out, "Canaris" would have to be the genitive of a constellation named either Canar or Canare, neither of which is a real word.

 

[TJ Sinclair]

The Latin word for canary is Serinus, the genitive of which would be Serini.

Most of the constellation genitive forms that end in -ris are for constellations ending in -r -- Majoris for Major, Minoris for Minor, Crateris for Crater, Pictoris for Pictor, Sculptoris for Sculptor. The only exception is Leporis for Lepus.

As far as I can figure out, "Canaris" would have to be the genitive of a constellation named either Canar or Canare, neither of which is a real word.

Thank you, Christopher, I appreciate that. Though I am aware "Canaris" isn't a Latin word, and wasn't assuming it was, it is helpful to lay this out.

You know what made me realize that Gamma Canaris and Epsilon Canaris could be named for a non-Terran constellation? The Buried Age and your decision that Maxia Zeta was so named for "the Berengarian constellation Maxia." I suppose the original colonists looked up from their new home and thought they saw a moth in the stars. Which made me think of the end of Rex Harrison's Doctor Doolittle, and made me smile when I read it.

"Canaris" doesn't have to be Latin, or even some futuristic form of pseudo-Latin. Not necessarily. We have plenty of examples in Trek of Greek letters paired with "made up" or non-Latin words in star system names. Beta Lankal, Beta Thoridor, Beta Stromgren... they like using Beta a lot, don't they?

My example of "The Canary" was meant to be more tongue-in-cheek than serious, but Timo ran with it, and that's fine. Humans in Trek have a tendency to "corrupt" language into something more familiar, so an asterism officially named "Canaris" could be nicknamed "The Canary." Or it could have gone the opposite way and what 22nd century space boomers named "The Canary" got was formalized into "Canaris" by officious astronomers.

Or forget "The Canary" entirely, and the region is simply Canaris for whatever reason.

I was trying to gather info on whether there's more evidence for the region being as far out as Adhara, or if that association has only been made because of the Canaris/Canis Majoris assumption, and whether that assumption holds water.

To me, it doesn't make sense that since the Companion can only survive away from her world for "a tiny march of days," that she would have been able to drag Cochrane's vessel almost 500 light years out that way, and it's unlikely his ship got very far out of the "local neighborhood" under its own power given that it was probably not going much faster than warp 2 at best.

Speaking of not making sense, I've always wondered why Star Charts gave the route it for Cochrane's final journey.

The shown course has him leaving Alpha Centauri, passing through (or by) Wolf 359 and then to Vulcan, which is fine, but then it gets weird to me. Andoria? Lorillia? Deneva? Orion? and then Beta Rigel?

Was he following intel he got from the Vulcans? Unlikely given their attitudes in Enterprise. Did he just get exceptionally lucky and make his own private first contacts with species that humans wouldn't officially encounter for another 30+ years? How does anyone in-universe even know that was his course? Did he file that zig-zagging flightplan before he left Alpha Centauri? Or did he report back somehow after each leg of the journey, while hiding the fact that he met or at least knew of intelligent life in those systems?

If we knew that was Cochrane's course, then certainly Beta Rigel, at least, wouldn't have been "unknown" to Archer in "Broken Bow," and there would have been official knowledge of all the species who made these systems home prior to 2151.

Given the events of Enterprise, what Star Charts and Stellar Cartography present as Cochrane's final journey just doesn't make any sense to me, but maybe I'm missing something major.

 

[TJ Sinclair]

The Explored Galaxy map from "Conspiracy" puts Gamma Canaris N down at the far left, near Tholia, so some other fan-generated maps tend to put it near the border of Tholian space, but again, that seems really far out to me. That map, though, is kind of all over the place and unhelpful, and Memory Alpha seems to make some arbitrary assumptions about it.

 

[Timo]

You know what made me realize that Gamma Canaris and Epsilon Canaris could be named for a non-Terran constellation? The Buried Age and your decision that Maxia Zeta was so named for "the Berengarian constellation Maxia."

...And Ceti Alpha is Alpha Ceti. Yeah, I don't like the arbitrary reversal a bit. At least <omittedredundantname> Ceti A works just fine, the way so many Trek locations tend to: the name of the constellation would indeed be redundant for our heroes who happen to be in that constellation for perhaps weeks or months at an end.

But while reading out A phonetically as "alpha" is problem-free, interpreting "zeta" as a phonetic Z is a bit iffy especially as the heroes still think star systems with mere eight stars warrant a special gasp...

Speaking of not making sense, I've always wondered why Star Charts gave the route it for Cochrane's final journey.

No idea, I'm afraid. But it makes for fun speculation, even though there's no obligation till somebody slaps those maps on a canon wall or console...

Was he following intel he got from the Vulcans? Unlikely given their attitudes in Enterprise. Did he just get exceptionally lucky and make his own private first contacts with species that humans wouldn't officially encounter for another 30+ years? How does anyone in-universe even know that was his course?

A bit of research sounds plausible: the locations he's quoted as visiting would have the records, or at least the not-utterly-hostile civilizations with the capacity for keeping such records. (Perhaps Deneva had a native population before being established as a human freight hub, too? Or at least a human settlement that preceded that establishing.)

Perhaps this research hadn't been completed by Kirk's time yet, or then it hadn't yet been accepted as the one truth, out of the fifty likely historical courses pushed by the various researchers at the time. Getting it right after Kirk, even without input from Kirk, might well be doable. Or then there could remain gaps in the putative late 2370s when the Charts are made. Cochrane's final resting place might remain unknown, or might be redacted from the data. And indeed many of his earlier pit stops might remain unknown, and he in fact zigzagged a lot more than shown.

The one quality of warp drive that remains fairly consistent throughout Trek is that "maximum specs" mean nothing: the ship can dash at half a dozen warp factors above the top recommended dash factor, or cruise at dash with nary an effect, as long as the stars align right for the daring skipper. Cochrane might well have taken risks with warp (indeed, he'd be the one to do it!) and traveled more than all the boomers of the day put together. And he'd have had little reason to report back to folks he owed nothing much.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Christopher]

Maybe it's a Cardassian constellation representing a flask of kanar.

 

[TJ Sinclair]

Maybe it's a Cardassian constellation representing a flask of kanar.

Cute, but unlikely given the timing.

 

[Christopher]

That's the part you find unlikely?

 

[TJ Sinclair]

That's the part you find unlikely?

Sometimes it's hard to tell when you're joking, or seriously trying to pour cold water on an idea.

A while back, I posted a similar thread about trying to figure out some other locations, and your reply basically boiled down to "Star Trek is inconsistent, and a lot of places are beyond the scope of Star Charts, so why bother?" And it's not the only time you've come off that way, so yeah... I appreciate you and try to give you the benefit of the doubt, but it can be a real buzzkill.

 

[Christopher]

"The benefit of the doubt?" Then why do I feel so gratuitously attacked right now? It was obviously a joke and you're the one who mistook it for something warranting a serious response, so don't try to push that onto me.

 

[TJ Sinclair]

"The benefit of the doubt?" Then why do I feel so gratuitously attacked right now? It was obviously a joke and you're the one who mistook it for something warranting a serious response, so don't try to push that onto me.

Christopher, this was not meant as an attack.

Your first reply came in this thread came off as dismissive and condescending, and lecturing me on Latin, as if you were telling me I was simply flat out wrong. I bit my tongue from my first instinct to respond in kind, and gave you the benefit of the doubt because I know you generally mean well.

Your kanar joke also struck me as dismissive, as if to say, "Well, here's something even more absurd than 'Canary' if you insist on pursuing this."

But I gave you the benefit of the doubt, again, and treated it as nothing more than a well-meaning joke. And my "Cute but unlikely" response was not serious. You took it that way.

And then, your last response felt like you were saying "everything you've postulated is unlikely." So yeah, here we are.

None of this was meant as an attack, or putting anything on you, but a simple statement of how now, and many times in the past, you and I seem to miss each other's social cues.

 

[DEWLine]

*looking uneasily around this room now*