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When one looks in the box, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the cat.

Real-Life Vulcan Found? First Exoplanet Confirmed Around the Star That Hosts Vulcan in Star Trek

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Real-Life Vulcan Found? First Exoplanet Confirmed Around the Star That Hosts Vulcan in Star Trek

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Published on September 19, 2018

Astronomers at the University of Florida, Tennessee State University, and the University of Arizona, have detected a “super-Earth” around the star 40 Eridani A, the real-life star that also has the honorable distinction of being the home solar system of Vulcan from the Star Trek franchise.

But it’s not all good first-contact-that-propels-humanity-into-post-scarcity news. The paper detailing the discovery notes that the super-Earth is orbiting extremely closely to its star (its orbital period is only 42.4 days) and is thus entirely too hot to support life. Still, astronomers are only just now forming a detailed study of the system, and typically if there’s one confirmed exoplanet around a distant star, there tend to be multiple planets still awaiting discovery.

So anyway. Star Trek is real. Spock is real. Love is real.

Some fun facts:

How many decades until first contact? Time to get around to living long and prosper…

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