Newly discovered planet could be Spock's home world, astronomers say

Among the TV series Star Trek's many charms are its rich universe of characters and planets. Now, the Dharma Planet Survey, in a new study led by University of Florida (UF) astronomer Jian Ge and team including Tennessee State University (TSU) astronomers Matthew Muterspaugh and Gregory Henry, has shown that science fiction may be a little less so; the Dharma project has discovered what may be Star Trek's famed planet Vulcan.

"The new planet is a 'super-Earth' orbiting the star HD 26965, which is only 16 light years from Earth, making it the closest super-Earth orbiting another Sun-like star," says Ge. "The planet is roughly twice the size of Earth and orbits its star with a 42-day period just inside the star's optimal habitable zone." The discovery was made using the Dharma Endowment Foundation Telescope (DEFT), a 50-inch telescope located atop Mt. Lemmon in southern Arizona. The planet is the first "super-Earth" detected by the Dharma Survey.

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Researchers have discovered a planet that orbits 40 Eridani A, a star that Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry once claimed to be the parent star of his fictional planet Vulcan, home to the famous Mr. Spock character.

Eridanus is a constellation in the southern hemisphere. It is represented as a river; its name is a Latin name for the Po River and also the name of a minor river in Athens.

It was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations. It is the sixth largest of the modern constellations.

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