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An artistic representation of what the newly discovered planet orbits around 40 Eridani A, a star made famous by the "Star Trek" series, might look like.
Credit: Don Davis
The Vulcan planet of "Star Trek", ancestral home of Spock and his kind, has become a little more real thanks to a team of exoplanet scientists.
Because the creators of "Star Trek" have finally linked the Vulcan planet to a real star, called 40 Eridani A, scientists have wondered for years whether a factual equivalent of the beloved science-fiction planet exists, with or without sharp inhabitants. And now, a team of scientists has said that the star actually hosts at least one planet.
"This star can be seen with the naked eye, unlike the host stars of most known planets discovered so far," said Bo Ma, lead author of the new research and astronomer at the University of Florida. "Now, anybody can see 40 Eridani A on a clear night and be proud to show Spock's house." [The Top 10 Best ‘Star Trek’ Episodes Ever]
This star, located about 16 light-years from Earth, is also called HD 26965. It is a little orange, because it is a little smaller and fresher than our sun. But there are also obvious similarities with the star of the Earth: it is about the same age and has a similar sunspot pattern. This is good news for people who hope to live in real life in Vulcan. "HD 26965 could be an ideal host star for an advanced civilization," said Matt Muterspaugh, an astronomer from Tennessee State University and co-author of the new study.
Two additional stars accompany the HD 26965, and they would be visible from the surface of the planet. The planet itself does not seem as attractive as the star because this world seems to orbit a little too close to its sun to find itself in the habitable zone where liquid water can be restrained to the surface. However, scientists still define precisely what other characteristics determine the livability of a planet. The new planet is about twice as big as Earth and its year lasts about 42 days.
The researchers behind the discovery are excited about more than just connecting "Star Trek", however, they said. The new discovery is also the first so-called super-Earth discovered by Dharma Planet Survey, designed to hunt relatively small planets around relatively bright stars.
The new research is described in a document published on the July 18 preprint server ArXiv.org, which is expected to be published next month in the Royal Astronomical Society's Monthly Notices.
Email Meghan Bartels at [email protected] or follow her @meghanbartels. follow us @ Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+ Original article on Space.com.
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