by Saleem Khan, CBC News Online

We were surprised today at news from NASA: "Mission could seek out Spock's home planet." That's right, Trekkies I mean, astronomers think NASA's upcoming planet-finding mission might be able to "detect an earth-like planet around the star 40 Eridani" a three-star solar system that dedicated Star Trek fan(atic)s know as the location of Mr. Spock's homeworld, Vulcan.

Caltech astronomer Angelle Tanner wondered whether the SIM PlanetQuest probe could detect a planet should one be able to form around 40 Eridani A, the red-orange K dwarf star. "Vulcan is thought to orbit that dwarf star," according to NASA (which neglected to include the crucial qualifier "in Make-believe Land" in that sentence).

Upon examining the data, planetary theorist Sean Raymond of the University of Colorado, Boulder, said a planet that could sustain life could form there as long as its orbit was a distance equivalent to about three-fifths the earth's distance from our own sun.

The SIM PlanetQuest probe, which aims to detect planets around distant stars, would be able to find a planet with a mass similar to the earth's Tanner calculated. Her results [Quicktime movie] have been submitted to the Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.

But Star Trek or the show's information site gets a important few details wrong. Its entry on Vulcan says 40 Eridani about 16 light-years from earth is "located roughly in the same region as Alpha Centauri." Alpha Centauri is the closest stellar system to our own and 4.37 light years away. In other words, not even close. Trekkies really ought to know that.

But what we want to know after today's odd announcement is: When NASA is going to get serious and start looking for Caprica?

[And yes, the title and sprinkling of mockery in this post is all light-hearted. Who among the readers of this blog hasn't enjoyed Star Trek?]

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