More news on Spock's Planet

[TheMasterOfOrion]

http://www.universetoday.com/2008/10/27/spocks-solar-system-looks-like-ours/

Back in 2000, astronomers discovered a Jupiter-sized planet orbiting the nearby star Epsilon Eridani. Since that star system is listed in some Star Trek lore as the location of the fabled planet Vulcan, astronomers joked they had found Spock's homeworld. But enticing new discoveries of the Epsilon Eridani system implies it could be a younger twin to our own solar system. It has two rocky asteroid belts and an outer icy ring, making it a triple-ring system. The inner asteroid belt looks strikingly similar to the one in our solar system, while the outer asteroid belt holds 20 times more material. All of this material implies that unseen planets lie hidden, shaping the rings. But if another civilization possibly could have developed in this region, let's hope they are more like Spock than Kirk's evil twin….

 

[Christopher]

Actually Vulcan is generally assumed to be 40 Eridani (aka Omicron-2 Eridani or Keid), not Epsilon Eri. The Enterprise episode "Home" all but confirmed this by establishing that Vulcan is 16 light-years from Earth, which is consistent with 40 Eri but not with Eps Eri, which is 10.5 ly away.

 

[Candlelight]

Have they found the Great Machine as well?

 

[FredH]

Actually Vulcan is generally assumed to be 40 Eridani (aka Omicron-2 Eridani or Keid), not Epsilon Eri. The Enterprise episode "Home" all but confirmed this by establishing that Vulcan is 16 light-years from Earth, which is consistent with 40 Eri but not with Eps Eri, which is 10.5 ly away.

True now, but there had been differing views, back in the day. Fred & Stan Goldstein's since-overwritten-by-canon Spaceflight Chronology had it at Epsilon Eri, I seem to recall.

 

[Christopher]

Which is why I said "generally assumed," not "universally assumed." While there were differing opinions, 40 Eri was the first and more well-known candidate, initially mentioned as Vulcan's primary in James Blish's "Tomorrow is Yesterday" adaptation published in February 1968, and also referenced in Franz Joseph's Star Fleet Technical Manual and Alan Dean Foster's Star Trek Log Seven. Indeed, I daresay the occasional references to Epsilon Eridani (and even Alpha Eridani) as Vulcan's home star came about merely because people misremembered Blish's 40 Eridani reference.

By the way, according to Geoffrey Mandel's Star Trek Star Charts, Epsilon Eridani is actually Axanar.