40 Eridani | |
Aliases: | Vulcan System; Omicron2 Eridani; Keid |
Category: | Stellar System |
Galaxy: | Milky Way Galaxy |
Region: | Eridanus Constellation |
Suns: | 3 |
40 Eridani is a triple star system less than 16.5 light years away from Earth. It is in the constellation Eridanus. The primary star of the system, 40 Eridani A, is easily visible to the naked eye. The pair 40 Eridani B/C was discovered on January 31st, 1783, by William Herschel. In 1910, it was discovered that although component B was a faint star, it was white in color. This meant that it had to be a small star; in fact it was a white dwarf, the first discovered.
In the realm of science fiction, 40 Eridani is analogous to the fictional Vulcan system featured in the Star Trek mythos. One planet, Vulcan, exists within the 40 Eridani system and revolves around the star 40 Eridani A.
The star system is also featured in the 1986 tabletop roleplaying game 2300 AD by Game Designers' Workshop under the name Omicron2 Eridani. In the game, explorers from Argentina and Mexico established a joint-colony on a planet which was named MontaƱa.
40 Eridani also plays a minor role in the Silicon Dreams interactive computer games, developed by Level 9 Computing during the 1980s. In the first game installment, Snowball, a colony ship is en route to the planet Eden, but is put on a collision course with 40 Eridani A.
Points of Interest[]
Stars[]
- 40 Eridani A
- 40 Eridani B
- 40 Eridani C
Planets[]
Notes[]
- Vulcan's location in the 40 Eridani system was first established by author James Blish in the adaptation of the "Amok Time" episode of Star Trek featured in the 1968 novel Star Trek 2. Since the information was never actually stated in the episode, it was initially considered non-canon material, but subsequent sources both official and non-canon have substantiated Vulcan's location in the 40 Eridani system.
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