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There’s a planet where Star Trek said Vulcan should be

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thoughtbeast
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21 Sep 2018, 8:33 am

There’s a planet exactly where Star Trek said Vulcan should be

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Astrophysicists just found a planet orbiting the star HD 26965, 16 light years away from Earth. Finding exoplanets is always fun, and the fact that this one is in the star’s habitable zone (where liquid water could exist on its surface) is a bonus. But that’s not why people are particularly psyched about the announcement.

See, HD 26965 also goes by 40 Eridani A—the star orbited by Spock's homeworld in Star Trek. That means they found Vulcan. Ok, fine, they found a real-world analog to a completely fictional world, but you can't blame Star Trek fans for being excited.Astrophysicists just found a planet orbiting the star HD 26965, 16 light years away from Earth. Finding exoplanets is always fun, and the fact that this one is in the star’s habitable zone (where liquid water could exist on its surface) is a bonus. But that’s not why people are particularly psyched about the announcement.

See, HD 26965 also goes by 40 Eridani A—the star orbited by Spock's homeworld in Star Trek. That means they found Vulcan. Ok, fine, they found a real-world analog to a completely fictional world, but you can't blame Star Trek fans for being excited...

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An artist's impression of a planet orbiting HD 26965. University of Florida



Fnord
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21 Sep 2018, 8:46 am

Not unusual - planets seem to be the norm, and not the exception. What Star Trek failed to mention is that 40 Eridani is actually a triple star system.

The primary star of the system, designated 40 Eridani A (a K0.5-V star), also named Keid, is easily visible to the naked eye. It is orbited by a binary pair whose two components are designated 40 Eridani B (a DA4-VII star) and Eridani C (an M4.5e-V star).

Too bad the planet is likely to be hostile to life (as we know it): Eridani B puts out too much UV radiation, and Eridani C is a flare star. The planet itself has a minimum mass that is 8.5 times that of Earth - its crushing gravity alone would make the world inhospitable to human life.

:(