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Extrasolar planets in fiction

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The planetary systems of stars other than the Sun and its Solar System are a staple element in much science fiction.

Overview

The notion that there might be inhabited planets near stars other than the Sun may be traced at least as back as Giordano Bruno, who, in his De l'infinito universo e mondi ("Concerning the Infinite Universe and Worlds", 1584), declared that "Innumerable suns exist; innumerable Earths revolve about these suns ... Living beings inhabit these worlds". Allusions to inhabitants of other stars' planetary systems remained rare in literature for many centuries afterwards. One of these is Voltaire's Micromégas (1752), which features a traveller from Sirius.

As science fiction became established in the early twentieth century, destinations such as the Moon, Mars, Venus or other bodies within the Solar System became stereotyped. Authors began to invoke a variety of mechanisms for superluminal travel and placed their stories on planets in systems around other stars, a move giving them freedom to construct more exotic fictional worlds and themes. This tendency became predominant once exploration of the Solar System showed that it was increasingly unlikely that any highly-developed form of extraterrestrial life existed in the Solar System.

Although some of the stars named in works of science fiction are purely imaginary, many authors and artists have preferred to use the names of real stars which are well known to astronomers, either through being notably bright in the sky as seen from Earth or being relatively near to Earth.

Some of these stars appear to be unsuitable for planets with advanced life, assuming that Earth is typical. The solar system was already a billion years old before life appeared on Earth. Complex life appeared three billion years later, in the 'Cambrian explosion'. Inherently bright stars like Sirius and Vega have total life-times of only about 1 billion years, so they are relatively unsuitable for development of complex life. Red giant stars are a relatively short phase near the end of a star's lifetime and are some 100 times brighter than the original star. Except for a few unusually close stars, those stars which are not intrinsically so bright as to raise this short lifetime constraint, appear so inconspicuous in the Earth's sky that they lack the proper names that would make them attractive to science fiction authors.

General uses of star names

Stars may be referred to in fictional works for their metaphorical or mythical associations, but not as locations in space or centers of planetary systems:

  • Oedipus the King, play by Sophocles. The Corinthian Shepherd references 'the rising of Arcturus' as a time marker while trying to jog the memory of the Theban Shepherd about their acquaintance prior to the Theban's entrusting the child Oedipus to the Corinthian rather than killing him as he had been instructed.
  • Polaris, short story by H.P. Lovecraft. Describes a lost polar civilization on which the star Polaris always shines.
  • Doorways in the Sand, novel by Roger Zelazny. Phecda along with the other stars of Ursa Major is mentioned during the protagonists' jaunts atop the steeples of Old Europe.
  • Children of Dune, novel by Frank Herbert. Fomalhaut is called Foum al-Hout, the polar star of the south.
  • The Truelove (1992) the fifteenth in the series of Aubrey-Maturin novels by Patrick O'Brian. Jack Aubrey establishes his ship's longitude in the Pacific ocean by taking a lunar distance on Fomalhaut

List of planetary systems in fiction

Planetary systems appearing in fiction are:

36 Ophiuchi

40 Eridani

  • Star Trek film and television franchise. 40 Eridani A is the location of the planet Vulcan, home of the Vulcan species. Although this was never stated on any TV show or film, both the authorized Star Trek book Star Trek: Star Charts and Gene Roddenberry[1] give this location. In addition, Commander Tucker's statement in Star Trek: Enterprise that Vulcan is 16 light years from Earth supports this as 40 Eridani A is 16.39ly from Sol.

47 Ursae Majoris

61 Cygni

  • The Foundation Series, novels by Isaac Asimov. 61 Cygni is one of the planets where the human race might have originated, mentioned by the Imperial politician Lord Dorwin.
  • Time and Again (1951), novel by Clifford D. Simak. 61 Cygni is a mysterious system whose planets are impossible to approach.
  • Mission of Gravity, novel, and other stories (1953-) by Hal Clement. 61 Cygni A is the sun around which the planet Mesklin revolves.
  • Danny Dunn and the Voice from Space (1967), children's book. A modulated radio signal coming from 61 Cygni turns out to be a pictogram from aliens.
  • Revelation Space stories (2000-) by Alastair Reynolds. 61 Cygni (or 'Swan') is the sun of the planet Sky's Edge.
  • Blake's 7, television program. The region around 61 Cygni is the only area near Earth that has not been surveyed, since it is home to an alien race which is hostile to mankind, going so far as to release a virus on a Federation base via a piece of space debris.
  • Earth & Beyond, online role-playing game. 61 Cygni is a system in the outskirts of the universe.
  • Frontier: Elite II and Frontier: First Encounters, computer games. 61 Cygni has a terraformed planet (named Scott) that is notorious for its harsh, icy environment. Surprisingly, it has a successful tourism industry to go along with its renowned fishing industry. Its pool of tourists is derived from the populations of nearby mining systems, who would never otherwise experience a true outdoor environment where it not for the planet Scott being nearby. 61 Cygni is also a member of the Federation.

70 Ophiuchi

107 Piscium

  • Absolution Gap, novel by Alastair Reynolds. The 107 Piscium system has a gas giant named Haldora and a habitable moon named Hela, which is colonized by humans in the 27th and 28th centuries.

Achernar (Alpha Eridani)

Aldebaran

See Aldebaran in fiction.

Alkalurops (Mu Boötis)

Alnilam (Epsilon Orionis)

Alpha Centauri

See Alpha Centauri in fiction.

Alpha Ceti

Alpha Hydri

Altair

See Altair in fiction.

Antares (Alpha Scorpii)

Arcturus (Alpha Boötis)

Barnard's Star

  • The Legion of Space (1934), novel by Jack Williamson. Barnard's Star is home to the ancient and dreadful race of the Medusae.
  • The Black Corridor (1969), novel by Michael Moorcock. Barnard's Star is the destination for a group of people fleeing from social breakdown on Earth.
  • Spacecraft 2000 to 2100 AD (1978), a Terran Trade Authority book by Stewart Cowley. A fictional planet near Barnard's Star is the location of a mysterious apparition that takes the form of an unidentified spacecraft.
  • The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979), novel by Douglas Adams. Barnard's Star is a way station for interstellar travellers.
  • The star was a favorite of Robert L. Forward who featured it in several books. The Flight of the Dragonfly (1984) introduces Rocheworld and the Cheela species. In the novel Rocheworld (1990), the Barnard's Star system contains one Giant planet called Gargantua and a binary rocky planed system called Roche. The first manned interstellar mission is sent to Barnard's Star using a ship with a huge solar sail impulsed by a Laser. In Timemaster (Tor Books:1992), a billionaire makes a six year journey to the star system to open a wormhole in 2049. In Marooned on Eden, co-written in 1993 with his wife Margaret, the starship Prometheus takes a crew on a 40 year mission to Zuni, and inhabitable moon around Rocheworld's neighbor, Garagantua.
  • Hyperion (1989-1997), novels by Dan Simmons. Barnard's Star has a farm-like habitable planet which is the homeworld of Rachel and Sol Weintraub, both being members of the 7 pilgrims.
  • The Garden of Rama (1991), novel by Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee. There is a way station at Barnard's Star for the arrival and departure of massive cylindrical world ships.
  • Frontier: Elite II and Frontier: First Encounters, computer games. Barnard's Star is an important Federation industrial system with heavy mining and refining industry close to Earth and the other Core Systems. It proved to be the ideal beginners trading place—no pirates and high profits, exporting robots or computers to Sol and importing Luxury Goods from there could make you a millionaire in no time at all.

Beta Aquilae

  • SpaceWreck: Ghost Ships and Derelicts of Space (1979), a Terran Trade Authority book by Stewart Cowley. Beta Aquilae goes by its other name, Alshain, in the story "The Warworld of Alshain". The story is set on the fictional world named Alshain IV, a dying world, home to a once technological race, now reduced to cannibalistic savages living in the wreckage of their once great civilization.
  • FreeSpace 2, computer game. The Beta Aquilae system is the location of the Beta Aquilae Convention (BETAC) that established the Galactic Terran-Vasudan Alliance.
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Eye of the Beholder" has set artwork in the form of computer screen graphics that establish planet Beta Aquilae II as Federation territory in the 24th century, home to a human population and a Starfleet training installation.

Beta Aurigae

Beta Corvi

  • Star Control II: The Ur-Quan Masters, computer game. The fourth planet in the system is a gas giant, home to a sentient species of incandescent gas bags called the Slylandro. They call their planet Source, and they live within a narrow band of the planet's atmosphere that they find habitable.

Beta Hydri

  • Stellvia of the Universe, anime series. The star Hydrus Beta is loosely based on Beta Hydri.
  • A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller, Jr. A planet of Beta Hydri is colonized by humanity in the far future and is mentioned briefly in the last third of the novel, Fiat Voluntas Tua, chapter 26.
  • Frontier: Elite II and Frontier: First Encounters, computer games. Beta Hydri is controlled by the Federation. It has two Earth-like planets (one of which is a terraformed world) and several billion people in residence. It is close to Imperial space and is thus a popular port to find the riskier Federal missions that involve incursions into the Empire. In First Encounters, Beta Hydri is involved in two hand-coded missions that occur early in the game.
  • Daughters of Earth by Judith Merrill (Doubleday, 1969) has a crew of 500 on the starship Newhope colonizing the second planet, Uller, in 2091 after a 43-year vogate.
  • Uller Uprising, novel by H. Beam Piper (Twayne, 1952). Uller, a colonized planet with silicon-based life forms, is in the Beta Hydri system.

Beta Tauri (El Nath)

  • Star Trek film and television franchise. In The Worlds of the Federation reference book, Beta Tauri is the parent star of Taurus II, the planet near the Murasaki 312 effect that is home to the Taurean anthropoids. A fictional starship was named for this star's traditional name (USS El Nath) by the Federation, according to the Star Fleet Technical Manual and novel "Time for Yesterday".

Betelgeuse

See Betelgeuse in fiction.

Canopus (Alpha Carinae)

  • Dune and other novels in the Dune universe by Frank Herbert. The planet Dune, also called Arrakis, is the third planet from Canopus.
  • Star Kings and Return to the Stars, novels by Edmond Hamilton. Canopus is a capital of the Middle Galactical Empire.
  • Canopus in Argos novels by Doris Lessing. A civilization of benevolent beings is based in Canopus and plays a part in human history. The main description of the Canopans is found in the novel Shikasta.
  • "Where No Man Has Gone Before", episode of Star Trek (TOS) television series. A sonnet called "Nightingale Woman" is written in 1996 by Tarbolde of Canopus. The Enterprise later visited Alpha Carinae in "The Ultimate Computer". A series of fictional starships was named for this star's traditional name (USS Canopus) by the Federation, according to the Star Fleet Technical Manual and later novels.
  • "The Kidnappers" (1967), episode of The Time Tunnel television series. The time travelers are transported to a planet orbiting Canopus to rescue Dr. Ann MacGregor, whose abductor left behind a metallic computer card that would provide the coordinates.
  • BattleTech wargame and related products. The Magistracy of Canopus is an interstellar government.
  • Frontier: Elite II and Frontier: First Encounters, computer games. Canopus has a few colonies dedicated to mining in both Frontier games. Interestingly, two minor planets (both moons of a gas giant and a brown dwarf, respectively) both share the same name of Camp Lawrence.

Capella (Alpha Aurigae)

Chi Draconis

Delta Pavonis

  • Dune (1965), novel by Frank Herbert. The planet Caladan is the third world of the Delta Pavonis system.
  • Revelation Space (2000), novel by Alastair Reynolds. The planet Resurgam and the neutron star Hades are part of the Delta Pavonis system.
  • The novelette "Sundowner Sheila" by F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre (published in Interzone 202, February 2006) takes place on Terra Nova, a planet orbiting Delta Pavonis in synchronous rotation with almost no libration, so that one hemisphere of the planet is in perpetual darkness, and the other hemisphere (known as Nevernight) is in perpetual daylight. "Sundowner Sheila" is narrated by a synthetic human who is assigned to a longitude on Terra Nova where Delta Pavonis is permanently at zenith, so that the sun is always directly overhead and the time of day is always noon.
  • Transformers (1983) animated television series, “The Big Broadcast of 2006” episode. Delta Pavonis IV is the home of a race of humanoid cats. A malfunctioning hypnotic Quintesson signal drives the cats to attack a neighbouring planet of humanoid dogs.

Delta Sagittarii

  • Into the Sea of Stars (Ballantine Books, 1969) by William R. Fortschen. Colonial Unit 122, populated entirely by women and sustained with a supply of sperm purged of the Y chromosome, begins a voyage to this system in 2053 and is still enroute a thousand years later.

Deneb

See Deneb in fiction.

Epsilon Eridani

See Epsilon Eridani in fiction.

Epsilon Indi

Epsilon Pegasi (Enif)

  • Descent: FreeSpace, computer game. Epsilon Pegasi is the site of a major outpost and the location of the "Enif Station".

Eta Cassiopeiae

Fomalhaut (Alpha Piscis Austrini)

Gamma Andromedae

Gamma Draconis

Groombridge 34

  • Space: Above and Beyond, television series. Groombridge 34 is the location of the largest extrasolar USMC fleet base, and is the expected target of the chigs in the pilot episode (though this intelligence is later revealed to be incorrect). It is also the location of the first part of the episode "Mutiny".
  • Macross Plus, OVA anime television series and compilation film. Groombridge 34 is a possible location of the fictitious "Groombridge 1816" (Helios) system, stated to be 11.7 light years[3] from the Solar System, about the same distance as Groombridge 34 (11.62 ly). Planet Eden, located within the Groombridge 1816 system, is the location of the New Edwards Test Flight Center [4] and its major city, Eden City. The name Groombridge 1816 may be an alteration of the name of the real star Groombridge 1618.
  • Halo computer game series. The Groombridge 34 system is the site of a decommissioned construction platform. In 2531, a group of Spartan-IIs are sent to investigate rebel activity at the platform.
  • Frontier: Elite II and Frontier: First Encounters, computer games. This crowded system has three stars, multiple gas giants and numerous planets. It is also heavily developed, with multiple colonies and space stations present within the system.

Groombridge 1618

Iota Horologii

  • Iota Cycle, novel by Russell Lutz. Iota Horologii is a setting for colonization and terraforming. It has six planets, the second, Asia, being Iota Horologii b. The planets are named after the continents of Earth, in order from closest to the star: Australia, Asia, Europe, Africa, America, and Antarctica.
  • Outre Mer, novel by Michael Puttré. The earthlike moon Outre Mer orbits the gas giant Adonis, the second planet of Iota Horologii. It is populated by human refugees, descendants of adbuctees taken by the Greys, inhabitants of the systems of Zeta Reticuli. The world is also the home of the duranni, an intelligent aboriginal species.

Izar (Epsilon Boötis)

Kapteyn's Star

Lalande 21185

Lambda Serpentis

Mintaka (Delta Orionis)

  • "Who Watches the Watchers?", episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation television series. Mintaka III is a planet inhabited by Mintakans, a Vulcan-like race at a pre-industrial level of development under observation by Federation personnel. After the events in this episode, a tapestry provided by the Mintakans to Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the starship Enterprise-D would be seen adorning the chair in his office or quarters.
  • Red Shift, novel by Alan Garner. The lead characters are fixated on Orion in general and Mintaka in particular.

Mira (Omicron Ceti)

  • A Relic of the Empire, short story by Larry Niven. Pirates raiding Puppeteer ships hide on a planet orbiting Mira Ceti.
  • Star Trek film and television franchise:
    • "This Side of Paradise", episode of Star Trek (TOS) television series. The Enterprise arrives at Omicron Ceti III, the site of a colony established years earlier but whose inhabitants were believed killed by radiation. Upon visiting the planet, the Enterprirse crew is surprised to find the original colonists alive and behaving somewhat oddly.
    • "Conspiracy", episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation television series. The Enterprise secretly meets three other Federation starships above Dytallix B, the fifth planet in orbit of Mira and one of seven once mined for the Federation by the Dytallix Mining Company. It is a tidally locked planet long deserted. On its surface, Capt. Picard meets with the captains of the three other starships to discuss suspicions of a possible conspiracy and infiltration of Starfleet Command. In the same episode, Lt. Cmdr. Data names the "red giant known as Mira" but an on-screen graphic identifies this system as the fictional Mira Antlia, perhaps to distinguish it from the Omicron Ceti system mentioned in the original series.

Mizar (Zeta Ursae Majoris)

  • Enigma and Empery (books 2 and 3 of the Trigon Disunity series of novels) by Michael P. Kube-McDowell. The Mizar system is home to powerful and xenophobic aliens.
  • The Demon Princes series of novels by Jack Vance. Mizar has at least two inhabited planets and at least six in total.
  • The Heart of a Star, issue 3 of The Sandman: Endless Nights comic book. Mizar appears as an anthropomorphic star, a female made of blue flame. Mizar serves as the host of an assembly of various cosmic entities, and as the creator of the palace where they meet; she is described as having "power to spare".
  • "Allegiance", episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation television series. Mizar II is the home planet of the pacifistic green humanoid Mizarians.
  • BattleTech wargame and related products. Mizar hosts a habitable planet noted for its luxurious resorts and vain inhabitants.
  • The Daedalus Encounter, video game. Takes place on Mizar[citation needed].
  • Sign In Stranger, song in The Royal Scam album by Steely Dan. Contains the lyric, "Have you heard about the boom on Mizar Five? / People got to shout to stay alive"
  • Frontier: Elite II and Frontier: First Encounters, computer games. The Mizar system has no permenent habitations - settlement would be nearly impossible here anyway, as the system simply consists of two stars in binary orbit.

Nu Ophiuchi

  • Tékumel, books and games by M. A. R. Barker. Nu Ophiuchi is the sun (Tuleng) for the system which includes the planet Tékumel.

Omicron Persei

Phecda (Gamma Ursae Majoris)

Polaris (Alpha Ursae Minoris)

Pollux (Beta Geminorum)

Procyon

  • Viagens Interplanetarias, series of novels and short stories by L. Sprague de Camp. The Procyon system contains the inhabited planets of Osiris, Isis, and Thoth.
  • Known Space series by Larry Niven. The human colony world of We Made It orbits Procyon. Pierson's Puppeteers are said to have evolved in a solar system with a star similar to Procyon (which later became a red giant).
  • Terran Trade Authority books by Stewart Cowley. Procyon is orbited by three planets, the middle of which, Sisuphos, is a barely habitable mining world.
  • Star Trek, film and television franchise:
    • Star Trek: Star Charts, reference book. Procyon VIII, or Andor, is stated to be the planet which the moon Andoria orbits.This conjecture is not supported by onscreen evidence in any Star Trek film or television episode.
    • "Azati Prime", episode of Star Trek: Enterprise, television series. Procyon is the scene of the Battle of Procyon V, a Federation victory in a war against an alien species known as the Sphere Builders. The USS Enterprise-J took part in this battle. In 2153, Captain Jonathan Archer was brought 400 years forward in time to witness part of the battle.
  • Star Control II: The Ur-Quan Masters, computer game. Procyon is the name of the star of the homeworld of the crystalline Chenjesu race. However, in the Star Control timeline, classical star names were reassigned to stars based on physical proximity to each other, and it has nothing in common with the real star.[citation needed]
  • Frontier: Elite II and Frontier: First Encounters, computer games. Procyon is represented as an uninhabited, worldless binary star system.
  • Lost Colony, computer game. The planet Procyon III orbits the star Procyon.
  • In Treasure Planet, Captain Amelia, captain of the R.L.S Legacy mentioned Procyon in one of the scenes, saying "Late of a few run-ins with the Procyon Armada, nasty business, but I won't bore you with my scars;". Which had the connections with the PC video game.
  • Treasure Planet: Battle at Procyon, video game. Procya in the Procyon system is the homeworld of the Empire's worst enemy, the Procyon Expanse.

Proxima Centauri

  • "Proxima Centauri" (1935), short story by Murray Leinster. A group of humans travel to the star in a huge ship, and are subsequently ambushed by a race of plant men.
  • Orphans of the Sky (component stories first published 1941) by Robert A. Heinlein. The generation ship Vanguard was originally destined for Proxima Centauri
  • The World in Peril (1955-6), third series of the Journey Into Space radio series by Charles Chilton. At the end of the series , the Martian Invasion Fleet, including many humans who have led unhappy lives on Earth, leave for Proxima Centauri, even though they will not reach it within their life-spans.
  • Captive Universe (1969) novel by Harry Harrison, Proxima Centauri was the intended destination for a generational starship converted from the hollowed out shell of the asteroid Eros.
  • Terran Trade Authority books by Stewart Cowley. Proxima Centauri is the home system of the Proximans, adversaries of Terrans and Alphans during the Proximan War.
  • Babylon 5 television series. There is a human colony at Proxima.
  • "The Birdbot of Ice-catraz" (2001), episode of Futurama, animated television series. A sign is floating in space that reads, "PLUTO - Last restroom before Proxima Centauri".
  • Event Horizon, film. An ill-fated spacecraft uses an experimental faster-than-light technology to travel to Proxima Centuri. A malfunction of the stardrive sends the ship to an out-reality dimension that could be identified as Hell.
  • Destroy All Humans!, computer game. The planet Gorta is located in the Proxima Centauri system.
  • "At the Drive-In" has a song by this name

Regulus (Alpha Leonis)

  • Star Trek film and television franchise. Regulus is controlled by the Vulcans.
  • Babylon 5 television series. Regulus is the site of the Earth Alliance's first extrasolar colony.
  • BattleTech wargame and related products. Regulus is the capital system of the Duchy of Regulus, one of the founding states of the Free Worlds League.
  • Descent: FreeSpace, computer game. Regulus is the greatest stronghold of the Neo-Terran Front during their rebellion against the Galactic Terran-Vasudan Alliance.
  • Frontier: Elite II and Frontier: First Encounters, computer games. In the Frontier series, Regulus has no permanent settlements. Minor mining operations do occur within the system, however.

Rigel (Beta Orionis)

Main article: Rigel in fiction

Ross 128

Ross 154

  • Frontier: Elite II and Frontier: First Encounters, computer games. The moon Merlin orbits a gas giant planet of Ross 154. Merlin is an ice world similar to Europa. Its primary export is fish, harvested from the liquid ocean that exists below the icy crust. Importing luxury goods from Sol and illegally exporting animal skins to Barnard's Star is a profitable enterprise. Ross 154 is the primary starting point of Frontier: Elite II.
  • Night’s Dawn Trilogy, by Peter F. Hamilton: Nyvan, a “terracompatible planet” orbiting Ross 154, was the second Human colony of more than 600 as of 2611, the trilogy’s fictional present. An important part of the 2nd volume plays in Tonala, one of Nyvan’s many countries.[5]

Rukbat (Alpha Sagittarii)

  • Dragonriders series of novels by Anne McCaffrey. Rukbat is the star about which the planet of Pern orbits. McCaffrey calls Rukbat a yellow class G star, but it is actually a blue class B dwarf star.
  • Sailormoon manga comics., The Galaxy Cauldron, source of all life, lies within Zero Star, which is in the center of Alpha Sagittarii.

Sheliak (Beta Lyrae)

  • "The Soft Weapon", short story in the Known Space series by Larry Niven. Humans and Kzinti dispute the ownership of a Slaver stasis box at Beta Lyrae. The story was later adapted to become the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode "The Slaver Weapon".
  • "The Ensigns of Command", episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation television series. Sheliak is the home system of Sheliaks, who view humans as inferior. The Enterprise-D is dispatched to evacuate human colonists from Tau Cygni V, which is ceded to the Sheliak by the Treaty of Armens.
  • The Tail of Beta Lyrae (1983), computer game by Philip Price. Set in an asteroid belt within the Beta Lyrae system.
  • Frontier: Elite II and Frontier: First Encounters, computer games. Beta Lyrae is one of the few hand-coded systems. It has an unusual property: If the system is entered, the game crashes as a result of the code being unable to handle the mechanics of a contact binary. This can not be observed, however, without a heavily modified ship or unless the player manipulates the game in some way, as Beta Lyrae is so distant from the core systems.
  • The Battletech sourcebook "Invading Clans" states that a planet in orbit around Sheliak was the site of one of the more unusual fights in the original Clan invasion, Operation Revival. Being an unarmed planet, the Ghost Bears were instead challenged by the Sheliak All-Star Professional Football team, hoping that the Clans were unaware of the rules and thus could be defeated. However, due to Football being popular among the Ghost Bears, and the Ghost Bear team being staffed by 'Elementals', genetically engineered soldiers averaging eight feet tall and 400 pounds each, the Sheliak team was defeated 84-3, and surrendered the planet to the Ghost Bears during the post-game show.

Sigma Draconis

  • Honor Harrington series of novels by David Weber. The Honorverse version of the Sigma Draconis system includes the technologically advanced planet Beowulf, adjacent to a wormhole.
  • Rollback by Robert J. Sawyer. Central to this 2007 novel are signals received in 2009 and 2049 from Sigma Draconis.
  • "Spock's Brain", episode of Star Trek (TOS) television series. Planets III, IV and VI of Sigma Draconis are all Class M, capable of supporting human life, but III and IV are still incapable of space flight, while VI is in an ice age; a visit to VI reveals that the planet once supported a civilization with very high technology.
  • Total Eclipse (Doubleday, 1974) by John Brunner has several missions to the third planet during the years 2020-2028 by the Stellaris, a ship that can travel through "qua-space"

Sirius

See Sirius in fiction.

Tarazed (Gamma Aquilae)

Tau Ceti

See Tau Ceti in fiction.

UV Ceti

In Timemaster' by Robert L. Forward, a wormhole is opened between Earth and this location, 8.9 ly distant

Van Maanen's Star

  • A World Out of Time (1976), novel by Larry Niven. Van Maanen's Star is the first target intended for protagonist Jerome Corbell's terraforming loop.
  • Frontier: Elite II and Frontier: First Encounters, computer games. The Van Maanen's Star system is the home of a radical religious sect that believes in suffering as the key to salvation. Mining is done without machines, and any surplus money that is not needed to satisfy basic requirements like oxygen, food and water is burned in a sacred ceremony. The system is only accessible with a special permit.

Vega

See Vega in fiction.

Wolf 359

Wolf 424

  • The Arrival (1996), film. Wolf 424 is the point of origin of an invading alien race.

Zeta Orionis

Zeta Reticuli

  • The Silicon Embrace (1996), novel by John Shirley. A race of aliens from Zeta Reticuli influences the evolution of humanity.
  • Alien (1979), film. Lambert, the navigator, declares that the spaceship Nostromo is "just short of Zeta II Reticuli" presumably referring to Zeta2 Reticuli. The system contains a moon called LV-426 or Acheron.
  • Space: Above and Beyond (1995), television series. Zeta Reticuli is the home system of the Chigs and the location of celestial body 2063F (the Chig homeworld), 2064K codenamed Anvil, 2064F's moon, 2064R and Ixion.
  • In the Known Space universe, Zeta Reticuli is the home system of the Pierin.
  • The Bushido Incident (Daw Books, 1992) by Betty Anne Crawford. Japan and Korea fight a war there in 2055. In 2073, the indigenous ZR2 race share their vast medical knowledge with humans in exchange for being able to send ill ZR2s to Earth.
  • "Squeeze", episode of the television series The X Files. Agent Mulder refers to the alien species that allegedly crashed at Roswell in 1947 as Reticulan, presumably because they originate from Zeta Reticuli. He goes on to posit that Reticulans remove the livers of their human victims because of an iron deficiency in Zeta Reticuli.

References

  1. ^ http://www.projectrho.com/vulsun.htm
  2. ^ MemoryAlpha:Beyond Antares
  3. ^ Egan Loo (1977-05-11). "Atlas: Eden". Macros Compendium. Retrieved 1997-05-11. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  4. ^ Egan Loo (1977-05-11). "Atlas: Universe". Macros Compendium. Retrieved 2002-09-16.
  5. ^ Ross 154 in the Confederation Handwiki


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