NASA Finds Vulcan

[T'Aerwynd]

right so all civilisations throughout the universe take exactly the same amount of time to evolve and advance technologically.

No, that's not what he said or implied, nor what I said or implied. Age is entirely relative, particularly when discussing the age of planets, stars, nebulae, galaxies and even the universe. In this case, as in many cases, we make things relative to what we understand -- or, relative to our own Sun and its planetary system. With that in mind, our scientists say 850 million years is a young age for a star and its planetary system. Comparatively, Sol is thought to be nearly 4.6 billion years old (and as I recall, about smack-dab in the middle of the star aging sequence). Our planetary system is slightly younger than that, having formed around Sol. Comparatively, the Eridani system is just a young'un.

Life (and I mean life in even its most elemental forms) can certainly evolve in different ways and at different speeds elsewhere in the universe.

 

[Finn]

^Also, in the trek universe, it is known that there were ancient races that seeded different worlds (Starfleet did at least two times). So some of them may have terraformed a planet orbiting a star that would be otherwise too young to have an Earth-like planet. I don't think it is much of a stretch to believe that we might find civilizations in star systems much younger than our own, in the trekverse.

 

[Sector 7]

Which one is 16 light years away? That distance was stated in Enterprise, I think the one when Trip visited Vulcan with T'Pol.

Yep, 40 Eridani A is about 16 and a half LY from Earth, and confirmed as Vulcan in Enterprise season 4's "Home"

So since it was only on Enterprise does that even make it canon?

 

[QCzar]

At last, we'll get to meet real life Vulcans. Rejoice...

Mister Spock

 

[T'Aerwynd]

Oh Lord, lol. What is that even a picture of?

 

[Sector 7]

^
^^Yeah what he/she said?!

 

[Skywalker]

40 Eridani itself is not fictional (although 40 Eridani is just the Flamsteed number for the star; the star's actual name I believe is Keid A or sometimes Omicron-2 Eridani in Eridanus). The idea of it being Vulcan is.

Um, I hate to burst your bubble, but the idea of any planet in the universe being Vulcan is fictional. It's a fictional world.

And 40 Eridani = Vulcan is canon, as already stated in this thread.

 

[Sector 7]

40 Eridani itself is not fictional (although 40 Eridani is just the Flamsteed number for the star; the star's actual name I believe is Keid A or sometimes Omicron-2 Eridani in Eridanus). The idea of it being Vulcan is.

Um, I hate to burst your bubble, but the idea of any planet in the universe being Vulcan is fictional. It's a fictional world.

And 40 Eridani = Vulcan is canon, as already stated in this thread.

Umm... that's what he said. I understood it.

 

[Biggshow]

It's "only" 850 million years old, about a fifth the age of our Sun and I think I read that it's 62 trillion miles away. What interests me most is Eridani's similarities to our own system.

From USA Today:
Jokes Marengo: "Of course there is disagreement among Star Trek fans about whether the planet of Mr. Spock could be at Epsilon Eridani, because it is such a young star and Vulcans are supposed to be an advanced civilization." (Marengo is astronomer Massimo Marengo of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass.)

right so all civilisations throughout the universe take exactly the same amount of time to evolve and advance technologically.

Wow that article stinks of ignorance.

I hope the "ignorance" comment is you being ironic.

 

[Skywalker]

40 Eridani itself is not fictional (although 40 Eridani is just the Flamsteed number for the star; the star's actual name I believe is Keid A or sometimes Omicron-2 Eridani in Eridanus). The idea of it being Vulcan is.

Um, I hate to burst your bubble, but the idea of any planet in the universe being Vulcan is fictional. It's a fictional world.

And 40 Eridani = Vulcan is canon, as already stated in this thread.

Umm... that's what he said. I understood it.

Well, I didn't!

 

[Sheliak]

Non Sequitur

The Romulan Empress is not Asian.

 

[Sector 7]

Non Sequitur

The Romulan Empress is not Asian.

 

[Maurice]

Let's not forget that it would take a long time for a planet in a forming solar system to a) cool down and b) develop an environment. For Earth, estimates are that the very first life forms didn't show up until the planet was the age the supposed "Vulcan" could be now. That's not to say it's the rule, but less than a billion years seems short for a planet to form, cool down, and develop an environment rich with flora and fauna. Not impossible, but less likely.