edo planet star trek

The Edo are a humanoid species from the planet Rubicun III. They are very human-looking, the only notable difference in appearance being the lack of heterogeneity among them. After a chaotic past, they have turned their society to what is often described as “a paradise” characterized by concepts of peace and free love. However, they also uphold strict laws that required death penalty for all crimes. Their planet is protected by a transdimensional entity they worship as God.

• 1 Home System
• 2 Home World
• 4 Government
• 5 Description
• 6 Physiology
• 7 Psychology
• 9 Mythology
• 11.1 Clothing
• 11.3 Language
• 13 Technology
• 14 Military
• 15 Starfleet Intelligence Files
• 16 References

Home System

• Quadrant : Alpha [3]
• Location : A star cluster claimed by the Edo God. [4] The closest major travel hub is on Beta Renner . [3]
• Proper Name : Rubicun system
• Distance from Star :
• Companions : At least two other planets
• Proper Name : Rubicun III
• Axial Tilt :
• Orbital Period :
• Rotational Period :
• Classification : M
• Surface Water :
• Atmosphere :
• Population :

The origin of the Edo is unknown. Some speculation suggests that the Edo do not originate from their current homeworld of Rubicun III. Instead, they may have been planted there by a trans-dimensional entity the Edo worship as a God. [5] As with their origin, much of the Edo history is poorly known due to their lack of historical records. [6]

The Edo refer to their distant past as the “Chaotic times”. During this time period, the Edo would fight wars among themselves. At the end of the last war during the Chaotic times, portions of the planet were likely left barren wasteland. [7] The current Edo legal code was adopted at the end of the Chaotic times. [8] This legal system consists of randomly selected punishment zones, where laws are enforced by a group of “mediators”, who would issue immediate execution to the criminals they met. The adoption of the current law has seen criminality being eliminated practically completely among the Edo. [9] Other societal and cultural changes were also implemented at the end of the Chaotic times, including giving up eating meat. [10]

The Edo made first contact with Starfleet in 2364 , when the Edo welcomed a group of officers from USS Enterprise to the planet for shore leave. Despite the promising beginning, the first contact ended with an incident involving a violation of the Edo law and refusal of an execution. The Edo God met any attempts to take any Edo out of Rubicun III with force and asserted their control over the star cluster in which Rubicun III is located. [11]

After the first contact, the Edo and the Edo God began to be more directly involved with each other. [12] The immediate reaction to the first contact were restrictions on the Edo from leaving Rubicun III or the star cluster. [13] However, the first contact also led to fast societal changes and lessening of several restrictions and penalties. These changes were accompanied by social turmoil. [14] Eventually, the Edo started founding colonies on other planets in the star cluster claimed by the Edo God. At some point in or by the 2380s , the Edo wishing to leave for worlds out of their area could apply for a permit to do so. Some individuals joined Starfleet at that time [15] . The need for a permission was dropped somewhere in the 2390s . The number of Edo emigrants has remained low, as very few has chosen to leave. [13] By the early 2390s, the Edo had joined the United Federation of Planets . [12]

They abide by randomly mobile punishment zones to keep would-be offenders alert under penalty of a swift execution. Since the "punishment zones" are randomly chosen and rapidly changing, the system is a powerful incentive to obey all laws. The Edo welcome visitors openly as long as they conform to their system of justice. The Edo system of justice acknowledged only one punishment among them for any crime: execution with a poisoned syringe. Randomly mobile punishment zones kept would-be offenders alert, and the Mediators dispensed punishment for any violations in the punishment zones. [9]

Since an incident with a Starfleet crew, penalties for certain crimes has lessened somewhat - the Edo considered this to be a tumultuous period, but otherwise productive. [14]

The Edo society is marked by minimal hierarchies and a minor difference in political power between the leaders and the population. [16]

Description

All Edo look seemingly identical to Humans - however, the Edo seem to only have blonde hair [9] , and generally dress in less than Humans due to both their self-confidence and complete sexual freedom.

The Edo are very homogenous species, with little racial or ethnic diversity among them. Diseases are also rare among the Edo, which is why medical professionals are only in low demand on Rubicun III. [17]

The Edo have slightly higher preferred temperature compared to humans, for example. This might cause some Edo to feel slightly chilly in standard Starfleet room temperature, although the difference is not as prominent as it is to species like Vulcans or Cardassians . [18]

They can easily fulfil their nutritional requirements by eating plants, while eating meat can have negative health effects, especially if done regularly. [10]

The Edo practice a strange mixture of hedonistic sexuality and have a puritanical respect for a draconian legal code. Because of this, all Edo are incredibly law-abiding. Their entire society is peaceful, with what they consider to be criminal behaviour wiped out hundreds of years ago. [9]

Nevertheless, they are free-spirited and extremely welcoming to visitors. The Edo greet friends with a deep embrace and, often to the surprise of outsiders, offered themselves sexually to anyone who would accept. It was customary among the Edo to run from place to place instead of walking. [9] They are also immensely proud of their homeworld, some to the point of boasting about it.

The Edo are particularly easy to read by telepaths and empaths. It is not known if this is caused by biological or cultural factors. [19]

Though they are space-faring today, the Edo are protected by a trans-dimensional super-entity in orbit around their planet, which they worship as God. The Edo God has an appearance of a space station or similar structure and is normally invisible or transparent even to ship sensors. The Edo God considers the Edo to be their children and has been hostile to potential threats to the Edo. [20]

The exact nature of the Edo God is unknown. Closer contact has revealed there are multiple lifeforms aboard the station-like structure, indicating the Edo God is a group or a species instead of a single being. According to information revealed by the Edo God to Starfleet, they once belonged to the same dimension but have since evolved. They are known to occupy several dimensions and locations simultaneously. [20] An Edo from another universe once claimed the Edo God is the same in all universes, although this claim has not been yet verified. [21]

The Edo would occasionally pray to their God. They might continue to do so outside the vicinity of their homeworld, although they also believe the Edo God might not be able to hear them that far. [22]

Funerals typically take place in nature near the community home. The exact rite is not standardised, but each community may choose the course of the ritual. The focus is typically not in the burial or religious or spiritual aspects of the ritual, but rather the commemorating the dead individual and their role in the community. However, due to the beliefs held by some Edo concerning the spirits of the dead, some funerals, particularly those of criminals and victims of crimes, might involve addressing the supposed spirit of the deceased. The monuments are typically meant to be only temporary, lasting less than a decade. [23]

Some Edo believe in spirits, and the there are several myths concerning the spirits of the dead. [24] Due to the entity which they worship as God being a physical being while the spirits are not, the Edo separate “religion” and “spirituality”. Even though an Edo might be a follower of their God, they might not necessarily believe in spirits. [25]

It is generally believed that the spirit of a dead person will eventually fade into the nature and continue strengthening the community that way. Before fading in, the spirits are believed to inhabit and possibly interact with the material world. Some spirits, most notably those of criminals and the victims of crimes, might become confused or aggressive, possibly causing harm and being unable to continue to fade in. As such, funeral rites for these individuals might involve attempts to calm down the spirits and convince them to carry on. [23] [25]

They are at least aware of the concept of the living dead. [26]

The Edo have local communities with community leaders. Both the community leaders and the mediators wear a metallic necklace indicating their status. [2] [9] The necklace depicts two swirls, a symbol associated with the Edo as a population. [27]

At least in some regions, communal families are the norm. In this kind of familiar structure, those with whom an individual is close with are considered their family, regardless of their genealogical relations. As a result, an individual would consider everyone in their community their child, sibling, parent or grandparent. When changing communities, an Edo may start to consider the new community as their family as well, even when the new community is non-Edo. [28]

The Edo communities are generally small, and there are no large cities anymore. [29]

The Edo clothing tends to be minimal. Typical clothes worn by the Edo include rompers, and when wearing a Starfleet uniform or similar, they tend to prefer skant variants. [30]

The Edo do not tend to eat meat. Eating meat is not forbidden, but it is also not typical in their culture to do so. The Edo used to eat meat in their past, but it fell out of favour after eating meat regularly was shown to be unhealthy for them. Plant food is sufficient to sustain them. [10]

The Edo speak multiple languages or dialects, collectively referred to as the Rubicun Edo languages or simply Edo languages. These languages share a translingual writing system, which is based on a shared syllabary. Each glyph typically represents a consonant, a vowel, and a possible ending depending on its location in a word and other factors. The syllable glyphs have an order comparable to the alphabetic order in the Latin alphabets. For example, va is the fifth glyph in this syllabic order. [31]

Somian is one of the dialects or languages spoken by the Edo in an area on Rubicun III. It is written using the common Edo writing system. The word order in Somian is OVS, i.e. object-verb-subject, meaning that in a typical sentence, object precedes the verb, and the subject is in the last place. [31]

Hugs are often shared between family members and friends, as well as strangers. A hug is often used as a typical greeting, but hugs are also given for whatever reason. [32]

During typical handshakes, the contact would linger longer than most other cultures. This would often make people from other cultures uncomfortable due to the intimacy of the gesture. [33] An Edo-style handshake consisted of clasping forearms, rather than hands. [34]

Starfleet Intelligence Files

In 2392, Farquan was assigned to the USS Invicta as a diplomatic envoy, his people having been curious about the area the Invicta was operating within. [35]

• ↑ Just another geological curiosity? , Ens Jovenan, USS Artemis -A , 240003.07
• ↑ 2.0 2.1 P.S. I miss you (part 2) , Ens Jovenan, USS Artemis -A , 240005.15
• ↑ 3.0 3.1 Tri-PADD-visor Top 10 Attractions on Cait , LtJG Jovenan, USS Artemis -A , 240007.26
• ↑ Rubicun star system , Memory Alpha
• ↑ Rubicun III , Memory Alpha
• ↑ The frontier of history and the future , Lt Jovenan, USS Artemis -A , 240103.25
• ↑ Garden of Death , Lt Jovenan, USS Artemis -A , 240104.10
• ↑ A blessing and a curse , Lt Jovenan, USS Artemis -A , 240104.04
• ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 Edo , Memory Alpha
• ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 You’ll never stop worrying about your family , LtJG Jovenan, USS Artemis -A , 240008.21
• ↑ Justice (episode) , Memory Alpha
• ↑ 12.0 12.1 Luxury Tour , Farquan, USS Invicta , 239206.30
• ↑ 13.0 13.1 Longing for the Paradise , Ens. Jovenan, USS Excalibur -A , 240002.10
• ↑ 14.0 14.1 Penalties , Farquan, USS Invicta , 239207.08
• ↑ Ensign Maria's Condition , Lt Sidney Riley, USS Independence , 238307.18
• ↑ Fear not, my young padawan , Lt Jovenan, USS Artemis -A , 240101.23
• ↑ "Upwards We Go" , Ens. Saralai, USS Gorkon , 239901.18
• ↑ This place is kinda cool , Ens. Jovenan, USS Excalibur -A , 239912.02
• ↑ Making new old friends... and enemies , Lt Jovenan, USS Artemis -A , 240102.07
• ↑ 20.0 20.1 Edo God , Memory Alpha
• ↑ We are not so different , LtJG Jovenan & MdJG Jovenan, USS Artemis -A , 240010.09
• ↑ If there's no sound in space, can god hear our prayers? , Ens Jovenan, USS Excalibur -A , 239912.11
• ↑ 23.0 23.1 A bond from another universe , Lt Vitor Silveira & LtJG Jovenan, USS Artemis -A , 240012.20
• ↑ Zombies! , Lt Sidney Riley, USS Independence , 238307.25
• ↑ 25.0 25.1 In the deep end , LtJG Jovenan, USS Artemis -A , 240012.09
• ↑ It Wasn't Pleasant... , Ens Alashia Edar, USS Independence , 238312.10
• ↑ The Edo is dead. Only the Romulan remains. , Lt Jovenan, USS Artemis -A , 240103.11
• ↑ We're All Broken Within, Brother , LtJG Jovenan, USS Artemis -A , 240007.22
• ↑ [1] , Lt Jovenan, USS Artemis -A , 240102.23
• ↑ ... but the life goes on , Ens Jovenan, USS Excalibur -A , 240002.18
• ↑ 31.0 31.1 Linian vajos ren, jialon res , LtJG Jovenan, USS Artemis -A , 240010.29
• ↑ The best hug in ages , Ens. Jovenan, USS Excalibur -A , 240002.02
• ↑ "Sugar and Spice" , Ens. Selara, USS Arrow , 239707.21
• ↑ "Dinner Date" , Farquan, USS Invicta , 239209.16
• ↑ "Piano Man" , LtCmdr Saveron, USS Invicta , 239206.28

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The Edo are a humanoid species from the planet Rubicun III .

The Edo were a free-spirited people, extremely welcoming and friendly and very open sexually with themselves and visitors. Edo greeted friends with a deep embrace and offered themselves sexually to anyone who would accept. It was customary among the Edo to run from place to place instead of walking. Their society was peaceful and extremely law-abiding, criminality had been wiped-out thousands of years ago and was virtually unknown by 2364.

The unique tranquility of the Edo had a price, however. The Edo system of justice acknowledged only one punishment among them for any crime: execution. Randomly mobile punishment zones kept would-be offenders alert and the Mediators dispensed punishment for any violations in the punishment zones.

The Edo were protected by a trans-dimensional super-entity in orbit around their planet, which they worshiped as God. (TNG: "Justice")

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A friendly reminder regarding spoilers ! At present the expanded Trek universe is in a period of major upheaval with the continuations of Discovery and Prodigy , the advent of new eras in gaming with the Star Trek Adventures RPG , Star Trek: Infinite and Star Trek Online , as well as other post-57th Anniversary publications such as the ongoing IDW Star Trek comic and spin-off Star Trek: Defiant . Therefore, please be courteous to other users who may not be aware of current developments by using the {{ spoiler }}, {{ spoilers }} OR {{ majorspoiler }} tags when adding new information from sources less than six months old (even if it is minor info). Also, please do not include details in the summary bar when editing pages and do not anticipate making additions relating to sources not yet in release. THANK YOU

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Edos (also known as Edo III or 92 Trianguli Rho 2 ) was a class M planet in the Epsilon Minora star system , homeworld to the Edosian race.

• 2 History and specifics
• 3.1 References

Location [ ]

Edo III was located in what was considered Federation space denoted as the Starfleet Intelligence sector 1 , near Vulcan . ( FASA RPG module : Star Fleet Intelligence Manual: Game Operations )

The closest Starfleet starbase to this system in the 23rd century was Starbase 8 , although there was a Starfleet Intelligence base in the system, at Edo III. According to Starfleet Intelligence outpost maps, this system's coordinates are 0.51N 4.11W. ( FASA RPG module : Star Fleet Intelligence Manual: Game Operations )

Edos was situated between Starbase 129 and Gamma Trianguli . ( NF short story : " The Road to Edos ")

History and specifics [ ]

Edosians were not members of the Federation but were loosely allied with it. It was rare for Edosians to serve in Starfleet. ( Adventures RPG modules : Alpha Quadrant Sourcebook , The Animated Series Supplemental Guide )

Edos joined the Federation at some point in the 23rd century . ( TOS comic : " Who's Who in Star Trek, Issue 1 ")

Edos' fauna and flora included the Edosian orchid , the Edosian slug and the Edosian suckerfish . ( DS9 episode : " Broken Link "; ENT episode : " The Catwalk "; ENT episode : " These Are the Voyages... ")

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References [ ].

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• FASA RPG module : Trader Captains and Merchant Princes, 1st edition
• 1 Cetacean Probe
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• 3 Resurgence

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Justice (Episode)

Stardate 41255.6 : Wesley Crusher is sentenced to death

The pastoral planet Rubicun III beckons after the Enterprise delivers a party of colonists to the nearby Strnad system . The Edo and their ways of love and open pleasure make the planet seem like the perfect shore leave stop. But trouble looms in paradise after Wesley Crusher inadvertently chases a ball into one of the Edo's always-shifting forbidden zones, drawing the planet's simple punishment for every crime: death. Dr. Crusher is furious, but Captain Picard feels his hands are tied under the Prime Directive . The Edo are shocked that the visitors protest their law.

As the captain pleads for Wesley's life, a machine-like being begins to orbit the planet and sends a probe that interfaces with Data 's positronic brain. Proclaiming itself the Edo god , the being demands that the Enterprise crew leave its "children" alone — and retrieve the Strnad colonists, as well. Picard confronts the Edo, prepared to take Wesley back by force. But when they try to beam back to the Enterprise, the transporter doesn't work: the Edo god is preventing them from beaming up. Picard argues that when laws are absolute, there can be no real justice. Apparently satisfied with the reasoning, the Edo god allows the Enterprise to go on their way.

Director James L. Conway

Story John D.F. Black (as Ralph Wills) & Worley Thorne

Teleplay Worley Thorne

Starring Patrick Stewart … Captain Jean-Luc Picard Jonathan Frakes … Commander Will Riker Brent Spiner … Lieutenant Commander Data Gates McFadden … Dr. Crusher, Beverly Marina Sirtis … Counselor Deanna Troi Denise Crosby … Lieutenant Tasha Yar LeVar Burton … Lieutenant, j.g. Geordi La Forge Michael Dorn … Lieutenant, j.g. Worf Wil Wheaton … Acting Ensign Wesley Crusher

Guest Starring Brenda Bakke … Rivan Jay Louden … Liator Josh Clark … Conn David Q. Combs … Mediator Richard Lavin … Mediator Judith Jones … Edo girl Brad Zerbst … Nurse Eric Matthew … Edo boy David Michael Graves … Edo boy

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Universe Today

Space and astronomy news

Sorry Spock, But “Vulcan” Isn’t a Planet After All

In 2018, astronomers detected an exoplanet around the star 40 Eridani. It’s about 16 light-years away in the constellation Eridanus. The discovery generated a wave of interest for a couple of reasons. Not only is it the closest Super-Earth around a star similar to our Sun, but the star system is the fictional home of Star Trek’s Vulcan science officer, Mr. Spock.

It’s always fun when a real science discovery lines up with science fiction.

Eridani’s other name is HD 26965, and it’s actually a triple-star system. Astronomers discovered the system’s lone planet, Eridani b, using the radial velocity method . Orbiting planets tug on their stars, and the star’s movement creates a change in its spectrum. Astronomical telescopes with spectrometers can detect the changes.

Jian Ge, an astronomy professor at the University of Florida, led the study that presented the discovery in 2018. At the time, Ge said in a press release, “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. 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.”

A super-Earth in the habitable zone around a Sun-similar star ‘only’ 16 light-years away is an intriguing discovery. Its link with a beloved Star Trek character gave the discovery wings, and word spread.

However, in the intervening years, follow-up observations have not confirmed Eridani b’s existence. A 2021 study suggested that the change in the star’s spectrum was a false positive. Now, a new study says that the exoplanet fondly named Vulcan does not exist.

The study is “ The Death of Vulcan: NEID Reveals That the Planet Candidate Orbiting HD 26965 Is Stellar Activity. ” It’s published in The Astronomical Journal, and the lead author is Abigail Burrows, an astronomer at Dartmouth College.

“We revisit the long-studied radial velocity (RV) target HD 26965 using recent observations from the NASA-NSF “NEID” precision Doppler facility,” Burrows and her co-authors write. After a deeper, line-by-line analysis of the radial velocity data, “… we demonstrate that the claimed 45-day signal previously identified as a planet candidate is most likely an activity-induced signal.”

Activity-induced signal means that the signal comes from the star’s activity, not from the external tug of an exoplanet.

Vulcan’s initial detection was based on data from the Dharma Planet Survey (DPS.) DPS monitored about 150 nearby Sun-like stars for changes in their spectra. Data from the Keck Telescope and the HARPS planet-finding spectrograph also contributed to the discovery.

When the planet was detected in 2018, the discoverers recommended caution. They presented the data as they collected it, along with their best interpretation. That’s standard in science, and they were careful in calling it a candidate planet. In their paper, they also discussed “the possibility that the RV signal is actually produced by stellar rotation modulated activity.” That activity could be sunspots, convection irregularities, or other things.

But in the end, they concluded that what they were seeing was likely a planet.

“By carefully examining the RV data in the active and quiet phases of the star, and after carefully considering all possible stellar activity sources, we concluded that the coherent signal seen from HD 26965 is most likely from a planet, with some RV noise contributed by stellar activity,” the authors wrote in the 2018 paper.

The rest of us were happy to agree because finding a super-Earth around a nearby Sun-like star is the kind of thing we hope to find.

“Men sometimes see exactly what they wish to see.” -Spock of Vulcan

Sadly for Vulcan, the newest research shows that the stellar activity isn’t noise. It accounts for the entire signal.

The new results are based on NEID, the NN-explore Exoplanet Investigations with Doppler spectroscopy. It’s a high-resolution spectrometer attached to the WIYN (Wisconsin-Indiana-Yale-NOIRLab) telescope at Kitt Peak Observatory. The researchers used NEID to capture 63 spectra from Eridani over a six-month period.

NEID revealed a lot of information about the star, including things like contrast and radial velocity. Together, NEID data paints a more complete picture of the star and its activity. In this new work, Burrows and her co-researchers showed that all of this activity lines up with the star’s 42-day rotation period.

“All measurements show a strong signal at or near the 42-day stellar rotation period,” they write.

The authors write that their work “points toward a decaying starspot or plage” as the source of the signal. A plage is a bright spot on a star’s chromosphere . They used a variety of methods to reach this conclusion. “While each of these methods taken individually may not rule out a potential planetary signal at the same phase and period as the activity signal, collectively, our analyses show that an activity hypothesis is favoured over the specific planet claimed in Ma et al. (2018),” they conclude.

“When you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” Spock of Vulcan

The authors of the new paper didn’t set out to debunk Vulcan. Their paper is part of an effort to better understand the periodic and quasi-periodic spectral changes from Sun-like stars. Without a better understanding, annoying false positives will cloud our understanding of exoplanets, especially Earth-like ones around Sun-like stars. “To reach the precision necessary to detect temperate, Earth-mass extrasolar planets (exoplanets) around Sun-like stars using the radial velocity (RV) technique, the community must improve Doppler measurement precision significantly from the current state of the art,” they write.

“Detecting and characterizing these exo-Earths is vital for future spaceborne direct imaging missions, which will set the scientific priorities for the coming decade,” the authors explain.

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One Reply to “Sorry Spock, But “Vulcan” Isn’t a Planet After All”

I wonder what will happen to its name: can “Vulcan” be transferred to a planet discovered in the future around that star?, or is it stuck/stranded forever on this false-positive?

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Planet thought to be like Spock’s Vulcan is an astronomical illusion

Signal indicating presence of planet may have been flickering of star 40 eridani a, article bookmarked.

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A planet thought to be similar to Star Trek character Spock ’s fictional home planet Vulcan is an astronomical illusion caused by the pulses and jitters of a star, a new study has found.

The discovery of a planet orbiting the star 40 Eridani A, made famous by Star Trek , drew excitement when it was first announced in 2018.

But new measurements using a Nasa instrument installed on Arizona’s Kitt Peak a few years ago have led to the conclusion that the planet does not exist.

In fact, even the study which noted the existence of planet Vulcan had cautioned that it could be messy jitters from the star masquerading as a planet.

The new research, described in The Astronomical Journal , used highly precise measurements of radial velocity, not yet available in 2018, to confirm that the caution about the discovery was justified.

Radial velocity instruments rely on the Doppler effect whereby shifts in the light spectrum of a star can reveal its wobbling motions.

Astronomers tracked small shifts in light from 40 Eridani A and measured how it “wobbled” as the gravity of an orbiting planet tugged at it.

After analysing the data, they came to the conclusion that the “planet” signal that was previously detected may have been the flickering of the star’s surface.

The signals previously recorded were likely the roiling of hotter and cooler layers beneath the star’s surface, called convection, combined with the star’s surface features similar to sunspots.

This robs star 40 Eridani A of its possible planet Vulcan, at least for now.

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Discovery Alert: Spock’s Home Planet Goes ‘Poof’

The discovery

A planet thought to orbit the star 40 Eridani A – host to Mr. Spock’s fictional home planet, Vulcan, in the “Star Trek” universe – is really a kind of astronomical illusion caused by the pulses and jitters of the star itself, a new study shows.

The possible detection of a planet orbiting a star that Star Trek made famous drew excitement and plenty of attention when it was announced in 2018. Only five years later, the planet appeared to be on shaky ground when other researchers questioned whether it was there at all. Now, precision measurements using a NASA-NSF instrument, installed a few years ago atop Kitt Peak in Arizona, seem to have returned the planet Vulcan even more definitively to the realm of science fiction.

Two methods for detecting exoplanets – planets orbiting other stars – dominate all others in the continuing search for strange new worlds. The transit method, watching for the tiny dip in starlight as a planet crosses the face of its star, is responsible for the vast majority of detections. But the “radial velocity” method also has racked up a healthy share of exoplanet discoveries. This method is especially important for systems with planets that don’t, from Earth’s point of view, cross the faces of their stars. By tracking subtle shifts in starlight, scientists can measure “wobbles” in the star itself, as the gravity of an orbiting planet tugs it one way, then another. For very large planets, the radial velocity signal mostly leads to unambiguous planet detections. But not-so-large planets can be problematic.

Even the scientists who made the original, possible detection of planet HD 26965 b – almost immediately compared to the fictional Vulcan – cautioned that it could turn out to be messy stellar jitters masquerading as a planet. They reported evidence of a “super-Earth” – larger than Earth, smaller than Neptune – in a 42-day orbit around a Sun-like star about 16 light-years away. The new analysis, using high-precision radial velocity measurements not yet available in 2018, confirms that caution about the possible discovery was justified.

The bad news for Star Trek fans comes from an instrument known as NEID, a recent addition to the complex of telescopes at Kitt Peak National Observatory. NEID, like other radial velocity instruments, relies on the “Doppler” effect: shifts in the light spectrum of a star that reveal its wobbling motions. In this case, parsing out the supposed planet signal at various wavelengths of light, emitted from different levels of the star’s outer shell, or photosphere, revealed significant differences between individual wavelength measurements – their Doppler shifts – and the total signal when they were all combined. That means, in all likelihood, the planet signal is really the flickering of something on the star’s surface that coincides with a 42-day rotation – perhaps the roiling of hotter and cooler layers beneath the star’s surface, called convection, combined with stellar surface features such as spots and “plages,” which are bright, active regions. Both can alter a star’s radial velocity signals.

While the new finding, at least for now, robs star 40 Eridani A of its possible planet Vulcan, the news isn’t all bad. The demonstration of such finely tuned radial velocity measurements holds out the promise of making sharper observational distinctions between actual planets and the shakes and rattles on surfaces of distant stars.

Even the destruction of Vulcan has been anticipated in the Star Trek universe. Vulcan was first identified as Spock’s home planet in the original 1960s television series. But in the 2009 film, “Star Trek,” a Romulan villain named Nero employs an artificial black hole to blow Spock’s home world out of existence.

The discoverers

A science team led by astronomer Abigail Burrows of Dartmouth College, and previously of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, published a paper describing the new result, “The death of Vulcan: NEID reveals the planet candidate orbiting HD 26965 is stellar activity,” in The Astronomical Journal in May 2024 (Note: HD 26965 is an alternate designation for the star, 40 Eridani A.)

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May 28, 2024

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The death of Vulcan: Study reveals planet is actually an astronomical illusion caused by stellar activity

by Pat Brennan, NASA

A planet thought to orbit the star 40 Eridani A—host to Mr. Spock's fictional home planet, Vulcan, in the "Star Trek" universe—is really a kind of astronomical illusion caused by the pulses and jitters of the star itself, a new study shows.

A science team led by astronomer Abigail Burrows of Dartmouth College, and previously of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, has published a paper describing the new result, titled "The death of Vulcan: NEID reveals the planet candidate orbiting HD 26965 is stellar activity," in The Astronomical Journal . (Note: HD 26965 is an alternate designation for the star 40 Eridani A.)

The possible detection of a planet orbiting a star that Star Trek made famous drew excitement and plenty of attention when it was announced in 2018. Only five years later, the planet appeared to be on shaky ground when other researchers questioned whether it was there at all. Now, precision measurements using a NASA-NSF instrument, installed a few years ago atop Kitt Peak in Arizona, seem to have returned the planet Vulcan even more definitively to the realm of science fiction.

Two methods for detecting exoplanets—planets orbiting other stars—dominate all others in the continuing search for strange new worlds. The transit method , watching for the tiny dip in starlight as a planet crosses the face of its star, is responsible for the vast majority of detections. But the "radial velocity" method also has racked up a healthy share of exoplanet discoveries.

This method is especially important for systems with planets that don't, from Earth's point of view, cross the faces of their stars. By tracking subtle shifts in starlight, scientists can measure "wobbles" in the star itself, as the gravity of an orbiting planet tugs it one way, then another. For very large planets, the radial velocity signal mostly leads to unambiguous planet detections. But not-so-large planets can be problematic.

Even the scientists who made the original, possible detection of planet HD 26965 b—almost immediately compared to the fictional Vulcan—cautioned that it could turn out to be messy stellar jitters masquerading as a planet. They reported evidence of a "super-Earth"—larger than Earth, smaller than Neptune—in a 42-day orbit around a sun-like star about 16 light-years away. The new analysis, using high-precision radial velocity measurements not yet available in 2018, confirms that caution about the possible discovery was justified.

The bad news for "Star Trek" fans comes from an instrument known as NEID, a recent addition to the complex of telescopes at Kitt Peak National Observatory. NEID, like other radial velocity instruments, relies on the Doppler effect: shifts in the light spectrum of a star that reveal its wobbling motions. In this case, parsing out the supposed planet signal at various wavelengths of light, emitted from different levels of the star's outer shell (photosphere), revealed significant differences between individual wavelength measurements—their Doppler shifts—and the total signal when they were all combined.

That means, in all likelihood, that the planet signal is really the flickering of something on the star's surface that coincides with a 42-day rotation—perhaps the roiling of hotter and cooler layers beneath the star's surface, called convection, combined with stellar surface features such as spots and "plages," which are bright, active regions. Both can alter a star's radial velocity signals.

While the new finding, at least for now, robs star 40 Eridani A of its possible planet Vulcan, the news isn't all bad. The demonstration of such finely tuned radial velocity measurements holds out the promise of making sharper observational distinctions between actual planets and the shakes and rattles on surfaces of distant stars.

Even the destruction of Vulcan has been anticipated in the "Star Trek" universe. Vulcan was first identified as Spock's home planet in the original 1960s television series. But in the 2009 film, "Star Trek," a Romulan villain named Nero employs an artificial black hole to blow Spock's home world out of existence.

Journal information: Astronomical Journal

Provided by NASA

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Real-life 'Star Trek' planet was actually just an illusion caused by a 'jittery' star

New research shows that sometimes life imitates art, even in astronomy.

A planet beyond the solar system that has been compared to Spock's homeworld Vulcan in the Star Trek franchise may have been nothing more than an illusion caused by a jittery star. 

The extrasolar planet or " exoplanet " (a term for a planet outside of our solar system) was proposed to orbit a star called 40 Eridani A or "Keid," which is part of a triple star system located around 16.3 light-years from Earth. In Star Trek, this star is also home to the planet Vulcan. First announced in 2018 , the planet caused quite a stir thanks to its similarities with Spock's fictional home planet.

A team of scientists led by astronomer Abigail Burrows of Dartmouth College now thinks that the "wobble" of this planet's parent star isn't the result of an orbiting world tugging on it at all. Burrows and colleagues discovered using a NASA instrument called NEID located at Kitt Peak National Observatory that the origin of this wobble is actually "pulses and jitters" of Keid itself.

Related: NASA space telescope finds Earth-size exoplanet that's 'not a bad place' to hunt for life

The fictional version of Vulcan was first introduced during Gene Roddenberry's seminal original series run of Star Trek , mentioned in the 1965 unaired pilot episode "The Cage." In the 2009 J.J. Abrams-directed Star Trek reboot , Vulcan was destroyed by a time-traveling enemy of Kirk, Spock, and the rest of the Enterprise crew. 

By wiping out the real-life Vulcan, officially designated HD 26965 b, this new research shows that sometimes life imitates art.

Sorry Keid, you're on your own...

There are several ways to detect exoplanets orbiting distant stars, but the two most successful techniques are the transit method and the radial velocity method . Both of these techniques consider the effect an orbiting planet has on its star.

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The transit method, employed to great success by NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) , measures the tiny dips in light a planet causes as it crosses the face of its parent star. 

While the transit method is by far the more fruitful of these two exoplanet detection methods , the radial velocity method is useful for spotting exoplanets that don't pass between the face of their star and our vantage point in the solar system. 

The radial velocity method uses tiny shifts in the light of a star as an orbiting planet gravitationally tugs on it. As a star is pulled away from Earth, the wavelength of the light it emits is stretched, causing it to move to the "red end" of the electromagnetic spectrum, a phenomenon called " redshift ." The converse happens when the star is pulled toward Earth, the wavelengths of light compress, and the light is "blue-shifted" toward the "blue end" of the electromagnetic spectrum.

This is analogous to the Doppler effect, which impacts sound waves on Earth. When an ambulance races toward us, the soundwaves from its siren are compressed, making them sound higher-pitched. When the ambulance races away, the sound waves are more spaced out, and the siren becomes lower-pitched. 

The radial velocity method is best for detecting especially massive planets , as these exert a larger gravitational pull on their stars and thus generate a more pronounced shift in the starlight from that stellar body. However, it is less robust for detecting planets with masses lower than that of Jupiter, the solar system's most massive planet.

When HD 26965 b was first potentially detected using the radial velocity method, its mass was estimated to be about 8 times greater than that of Earth but less than that of Neptune, making it a so-called "super-Earth" planet. The faux-Vulcan was suspected to orbit its parent star at around 22% of the distance between Earth and the sun , completing a year in around 42 Earth days.

Yet even the scientists who discovered this planet warned that it could be a misdetection caused by Keid's inherent jitteriness. By 2023, researchers had cast major doubts on the existence of this exoplanet. These new high-precision radial velocity measurements, which were not yet available in 2018, are the final nail in the coffin of the Vulcan-like HD 26965 b.

The disappointing news for Star Trek fans was delivered by NEID, the name of which rhymes with "fluid." NEID is an instrument that uses radial velocity to measure the motion of nearby stars with extreme precision. 

NEID separated out the suspected planetary signal into its constituent wavelengths representing light emitted from various layers in the structure of Keid's surface or photosphere . This allowed the team to detect significant differences in the individual wavelengths compared to the total combined signal.

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The upshot is that the signal implied the existence of HD 26965 b is actually the result of something flickering at the surface of Keid approximately every 42 Earth days. This effect could also be created when hot and cold plasma rises and falls through Keid's convection zone and interacts with surface features like dark sunspot patches or bright, active regions called " plages ."

While this discovery isn't great news for Keid and its planetary prospects, or for fans of Star Trek, it is a positive step for exoplanet-hunting scientists. 

That's because the finely tuned radial velocity measurements of NEID promise that planetary signals can be more accurately separated and distinguished from the natural jitters of stars in the future. 

The team's research is published in The Astronomical Journal. 

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

Robert Lea is a science journalist in the U.K. whose articles have been published in Physics World, New Scientist, Astronomy Magazine, All About Space, Newsweek and ZME Science. He also writes about science communication for Elsevier and the European Journal of Physics. Rob holds a bachelor of science degree in physics and astronomy from the U.K.’s Open University. Follow him on Twitter @sciencef1rst.

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• View history

Edosians (or Edoans ) were a six- limbed , triped species native to the planet Edos .

• 4.1 Appearances
• 4.2 Background information
• 4.3 Apocrypha
• 4.4 External link

Biology [ ]

Edosians had three arms , three legs , and three fingers on each hand – also called "hand-toes". ( Star Trek: The Animated Series ; LD : " Room for Growth ") They were quite strong despite their relatively slender build: a single blow from an Edosian's fist was capable of breaking a desk in half. Additionally, they could emit a guttural roar when angered . ( LD : " Much Ado About Boimler ")

They were susceptible to the Dramia II plague . ( TAS : " Albatross ") While some smoked , others occasionally wore respirators . ( LD : " Much Ado About Boimler ", " The Inner Fight ")

History [ ]

An Edosian Starfleet lieutenant named Arex was a member of the USS Enterprise crew from 2269 to 2270 . ( Star Trek: The Animated Series )

An Edosian medical specialist commanded the Division 14 ship Osler in 2380 . ( LD : " Much Ado About Boimler ")

Another Edosian specialist, Toz , operated a retreat aboard the Dove in 2381 . ( LD : " Room for Growth ")

• See : Unnamed Edosians

Appendices [ ]

Appearances [ ].

• " Beyond the Farthest Star "
• " One of Our Planets Is Missing "
• " The Lorelei Signal "
• " More Tribbles, More Troubles "
• " The Survivor "
• " The Infinite Vulcan "
• " The Magicks of Megas-Tu "
• " Once Upon a Planet "
• " Mudd's Passion "
• " The Terratin Incident "
• " The Time Trap "
• " The Ambergris Element "
• " The Eye of the Beholder "
• " The Pirates of Orion "
• " The Practical Joker "
• " Albatross "
• " How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth "
• " The Counter-Clock Incident "
• " Much Ado About Boimler "
• " An Embarrassment Of Dooplers " (photographs only)
• " Room for Growth "
• " The Inner Fight "
• " Skin a Cat "
• " Walk, Don't Run "

Background information [ ]

The name of Arex's homeworld originated in a catalog published by Lincoln Enterprises in 1974 , which included biographies of Arex and M'Ress . The Edosians were described as a peaceful, long-lived species worshiping many gods. Though the Animated Series may suggest that the Edosians are Federation members , the Lincoln biography claims they are merely in "loose alliance." Despite the information from the biography not originating in canon , the name of the planet seems to have been accepted in canon, and StarTrek.com uses information from it.

Knowledge of the Edosian suckerfish among Humans , as mentioned in ENT : " These Are the Voyages... ", suggests first contact with Earth , or its affiliated species, at a date prior to 2161 .

Edosian luggage concept art was designed for use in LD : " Envoys ", apparently inspired by Lwaxana Troi 's case first seen in TNG : " Haven ", though neither the luggage nor any Edosians ended up in the episode. [1]

Apocrypha [ ]

Both Arex and M'Ress appeared in the DC Comics Star Trek title starting with issue #37 of Volume 1, both having been assigned to the USS Enterprise -A .

Arex also appeared in Star Trek Omnibus: The Original Series in the issues Star Trek: Year Four and Star Trek: Year Four - The Enterprise Experiment .

In the Star Trek: Titan novels , Lieutenant Kershu, an Edosian female, serves as a nurse aboard the USS Titan .

External link [ ]

• Edosian at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• 1 Daniels (Crewman)

Planet Of The Titans: The Lost Star Trek Movie You'll Never See, Explained

F ollowing the monumentally successful run of "Star Trek: The Original Series," creator Gene Roddenberry set his sights on a feature film adaptation of "Star Trek" in the mid-1970s. His initial idea was given the title "Star Trek: The God Thing" -- a story featuring the "Star Trek" cast encountering an alien referring to itself as God, who plans to destroy Earth -- though this concept didn't get very far and was eventually canned. Then came the next big idea called "Star Trek: Planet of the Titans," which had all the potential to be quite a wild watch.

Throughout this journey, "Star Trek" fans would've been in for some real surprises, twists, and turns. The cast of the original "Star Trek" series would reunite aboard the USS Enterprise, visiting the homeworld of the fabled Titans of Greek mythology. Along the way, they'd encounter Klingons and Cygnans and get sucked into a black hole that sends them back to the earliest days of humanity. They'd even teach these prehistoric people how to create fire, thus kicking off the rapid advancement of human civilization (via "The Greatest Science Fiction Movies Never Made" by David Hughes)

With writers Chris Bryant and Allan Scott writing the script, Captain James T. Kirk and Spock themselves, William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, on the cast list, and legendary artist Ralph McQuarrie putting together concept art, "Planet of the Titans" seemed like a sure thing. However, it ultimately didn't make it to the finish line for various reasons.

Multiple Factors Contributed To The Death Of Planet Of The Titans

"Star Trek: Planet of the Titans" entered pre-production in 1976, though the script by Chris Bryant and Allan Scott wasn't completed until the early months of 1977. Paramount Pictures rejected the draft, thus sending the entire production, which had taken quite a while to get off the ground already, into a tailspin. The decision was subsequently made by the powers that be to give up on "Planet of the Titans" -- then called "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" -- altogether due to multiple supposed factors.

According to sources such as "Star Trek Phase II: The Lost Series" by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens and  "Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages" by Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman, there are three main contributors said to be behind the death of "Planet of the Titans." In addition to production taking forever to get rolling and becoming increasingly expensive, the undeniable success of 1977's "Star Wars" allegedly gave Paramount leaders cold feet. Also, Paramount Studios Chief executive officer Barry Diller reportedly felt the story treatment drifted too far from the original "Star Trek" TV series.

With that, "Planet of the Titans" was abandoned in favor of a TV revival called "Star Trek: Phase II" that also never became a reality. Thankfully, "Star Trek" fans would see all their favorite characters, from Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) to Nyota Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), reach the big screen for the first time in 1979 when the "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" we all know finally premiered.

Read this next: Star Trek Stories That Are Actually Horrifying