In an early beanbag, we explored how Rocky is from the same star system as Star Trek’s Spock (and all Vulcans, for that matter). This system is called 40 Eridani.

40 Eridani is a triple-star system in the large and snaking constellation Eridanus, the river. The three components of the 40 Eridani system are:

40 Eridani A, also known as Keid, an orange main-sequence star
40 Eridani B, a white dwarf
40 Eridani C, a red dwarf

While 40 Eridani A is the most massive component of the system as we observe it today, it is likely that 40 Eridani B was more massive during its earlier hydrogen-burning phase. 40 Eridani B is considered the easiest white dwarf to observe from Earth, clocking in at the relatively-bright-but-you-still-require-a-telescope magnitude of 9.5. Dwarfs B and C orbit one another as a pair that, in turn, orbits A.

The unconfirmed detection of a planet orbiting 40 Eridani A excited both astronomers and Trekkies in 2018. Wobbles were detected in the star using the radial velocity method for exoplanet detection, which potentially suggested the gravitational influence of a planet. Unfortunately for those of us wishing to make first contact with either Vulcans or Eridians, the stellar wobbles were later determined to result from properties of the star itself. To quote NASA, these findings “seem to have returned the planet Vulcan even more definitively to the realm of science fiction.”