Astronomers just discovered Spock's home planet, Vulcan

[left-of-center2012]

Newfound exoplanet orbits a star identified with the famed science officer from "Star Trek."

No one is saying that any pointy-eared aliens live there, but astronomers have discovered an exoplanet orbiting 40 Eridani A, a star known to "Star Trek" fans as the host star of Spock's home planet, Vulcan.

The newfound exoplanet is 16 light-years from Earth in the Constellation Eridanus. It orbits its host star — a sunlike star with the formal designation of HD 26965 — just inside the habitable zone, where water could exist in liquid form and where life as we know it could be possible.

"It came as a total surprise to us," Jian Ge, a professor of astronomy at the University of Florida and co-author of a new paper about the discovery ... The exoplanet is about twice the size of Earth and is considered the closest "super-Earth" orbiting a sunlike star. For now, it's known as HD 26965b, in keeping with naming guidelines set forth by the International Astronomical Union. But Ge said he planned to contact the Union to ask that the exoplanet be named Vulcan.

Ge said the exoplanet is likely to have an atmosphere and to be tidally locked to its host star. That means one side perpetually faces the star while the other side points away. If this is the case, the side facing the host star would likely be very hot — "probably too hot to be habitable," Seager said. But Ge said the surface of the dark, cooler side could be habitable, adding, "On the other hand, life can also survive underground. Like what Star Trek imagines, Vulcans stay in the caves."

https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/astronomers-just-discovered-spock-s-home-planet-vulcan-ncna911136
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“The Vulcan homeworld, also named Vulcan, was mentioned in the original series, and in the script-adaptation anthology Star Trek 2,
author James Blish put the planet in orbit around the star 40 Eridani A, 16 light years from Earth, an identification later adopted by Roddenberry.”

https://tinyurl.com/l8e5mag

[Fred Sanders]

1. Tidal locked planets in the habitable zone are interesting objects for the possibility of life.

The sunward side too hot. Other side too cold. But what about the twilight zone banding the middle zone all around the globe? Habitable?

A civilization in perpetual twilight but able to live in on the surface in a narrow planet wide swath of stable temperature...I suppose the polar areas would still be tool cold...and imagine the storms as air circulates perpetually around from the permanent cold front and warm fronts bearing down on the middle from each side.

Fascinating...

[Fullduplexxx]

2. 16 light years. At the speed of the fastest human made object it will take 68.5k years

[left-of-center2012]

3. warp speed !

?1