Epsilon
Eridani in fiction
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Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An
artist's impression of the "confirmed" planet Epsilon Eridani b
orbiting its parent sun.
The
planetary systems of stars other than the Sun and the Solar System are a staple
element in much science fiction. Epsilon Eridani is the fifth brightest star
(by apparent magnitude) in the riverine southern constellation of Eridanus. An
orange star slightly smaller and less massive than the Sun, and relatively
close to the Solar System, it is frequently featured in works of science
fiction.[1] It is classified as a type K2 star, with the corresponding
suggestion that it has a stable habitable zone and is well suited for life.[2]
However, one factor which weakens the case for habitability is its youth—as
little as 200 million years old[3]—and consequent high levels of ultraviolet
emission[4] (see Implied Spaces by Walter Jon Williams, below).
General
uses of Epsilon Eridani
Epsilon
Eridani is one of the more northerly stars of Eridanus.
Many
stars may be referred to in fictional works for their metaphorical or
mythological associations, or else as bright points of light in the sky of the
Earth, but not as locations in space or the centers of planetary systems.
The
constellation Eridanus flows north and south in the night sky, and Epsilon
Eridani is one of its more northerly stars (see map), which allows it to be
seen from most of the Earth's surface. However, because of its unprepossessing
appearance in the sky, and its want of a "good" traditional name to
supplement its esoteric Bayer designation, Epsilon Eridani has rarely if ever
been used in a general sense, either in traditional mythologies or in the arts
and literature that draw inspiration from them.
The
star's popularity as a subject of science fiction stems not from its general
cultural resonance, but from the astronomical data:
Its proximity, ~10.5 light-years distant
Its similarity to the Sun, ~0.82
\begin{smallmatrix}M_\odot\end{smallmatrix}, spectral type K
Its technical sounding name, in this
context a benefit rather than a detriment
Its demonstrated capacity to host a family
of planets, with at least one confirmed
Sky position: RA 3h 32.9m, Dec -9° 27.6'
Common designations: Epsilon Eridani, 18 Eridani, HIP 16537, HD 22049, Gliese 144.0
There
follow references to Epsilon Eridani as a location in space or the center of a
planetary system, categorized by genre:
Literature
Illustration
of the relative sizes of Epsilon Eridani, a small orange star (left) and the
Sun (right).
"Singularity" (1978), short story
by Mildred Downey Broxon. A scientific team monitors the last days of the
intelligent but radically alien tribes of Epsilon Eridani's frigid second
planet, Mancken's World, as a wandering stellar black hole finds its way
through the star's planetary system. The hole makes a feast of the gas giant fifth
planet but passes nowhere near Mancken's; however on its close encounter with ε
Eridani itself, it will raise a storm of huge planet-scouring flares. The
natives, whose prescient mythology has left them not unprepared for the event,
calmly await the apocalypse along with a lone abandoned—and fearful—human
observer.[9]
Downbelow Station (1981) and other
Alliance-Union universe works, novels by C. J. Cherryh. Epsilon Eridani is the
site of Viking Station, a space station founded after the discovery of Pell's
World in the Tau Ceti system, and which later joins the Union.
Foundation's Edge (1982), novel by Isaac
Asimov. In this transitional novel between Asimov's Robot novels and his
later-set Galactic Empire novels of the Foundation series, the planet
Comporellon of Epsilon Eridani (previously named BaleyWorld after Elijah
Baley's son Bentley) was the first non-Spacer extraterrestrial planet settled
by Earthmen, in the second wave of stellar emigration after the events that
wrapped up the robot series.
Starburst (1982), novel by Frederik Pohl. A
crew of superb human specimens is sent on what they believe is mankind's first
voyage to a planet in another star system. Dr. Dieter von Knefhausen knows
better—for there is no planet, no place to go, and no place from which to
return. In a fabrication recalling the supposedly fake NASA Moon landings of an
earlier century[10] Knefhuasen has planned it that way. However, by the end of
the tale, humans really do reach the stars, as the protagonist Jeron "...
[brings] the fleet of golden globes to the third planet of Epsilon
Eridani."
Eon (1985), novel by Greg Bear. The Solar
System is visited by the Stone, a Big Dumb Object[note 1] that appears to be an
artifact sent backward in time from a future human civilization. Records left
aboard by the futurians suggest that in their remote past—the Earth's
present—the asteroid starship, called by them the Thistledown, was dispatched
to Epsilon Eridani to found a new home for humankind[note 2] following the devastation
of the Earth in a nuclear holocaust, an account that causes understandable
present-day consternation. However the Thistledown never fulfilled the mission,
instead getting whip-snapped into an alternate universe immediately upon the
activation of the Way, an endless jump street her builders somehow managed to
embed within her finite confines.[11]
Starquake (1989), novel by Robert Forward.
Dragon's Egg, a neutron star, has wandered into the vicinity of the Solar
System and into the ken of Earth scientists. It has some "dazzling"
statistics: a surface gravity 67 billion times that of the Earth, soaring
mountains as high as a few inches, ruinous starquakes, and tiny intelligent
inhabitants whose life processes are accelerated over ours by a factor of almost
half a million. Over a period of a day, human observers inadvertently introduce
the rudiments of civilization, and within a man's lifetime the "immensely
enjoyable" alien cheela have lived a whole history, progressing even to
interstellar exploration and leaving the secrets of FTL travel stashed in a
conspicuous landmark on a planet of Epsilon Eridani—as a reward for a humanity
enterprising enough to get there.[12]
Echoes of Honor (1998), novel in the Honor
Harrington series by David Weber. The Havenite Navy launches a devastating
barrage of simultaneous surprise attacks on Manticore and her allies. Lester
Tourville, in command of the task force attacking Zanzibar, plans a risky
maneuver to knock out its orbital installations—but if any of his missiles hit
the planet, there'll be hell to pay: "... violation of the Epsilon Eridani
Edict’s ban on indiscriminate planetary bombardment was the one thing
guaranteed to bring the Solarian League Navy down on any star nation like a
hammer."[15] The prohibitions in the Edict stem from the Epsilon Eridani
Incident, an early space war atrocity entailing the mass destruction of one of
the League's oldest worlds.
Revelation Space (2000- ), and other
novels, novellas, and short stories in the Revelation Space universe by
Alastair Reynolds. The Epsilon Eridani system includes:
Yellowstone, home to the universe's
most advanced human civilization, and a focal point of the series as a whole
(see graphic). During the so-called Belle Epoque (ending with the nanovirus
Melding Plague), Yellowstone society is centered in the Glitter Band and in
Chasm City.[18]
Halo: The Fall of Reach (2001) and Halo:
First Strike (2003), prequel novelizations to installments of the Halo series
of video games, written by Eric Nylund, and meant to provide back-stories for
the popular games.[19] The first novel begins as Covenant forces attack the
planet Reach and vitrify the surface, turning its landmasses into glass. In the
books (and games) the Epsilon Eridani system hosts a total of six inhabited
planets: Reach itself, which had been a stronghold of humanity, second only to
Earth itself, Tribute, Beta Gabriel, Circumstance, Tantalus, and Epsilon
Eridani IV (see Halo, below).[20]
Film
and television
Star
Trek
Star Trek (1966- ), film, television, and
print franchise originated by Gene Roddenberry. In some fictional reference
works such as the Star Trek Spaceflight Chronology, Epsilon Eridani has been
suggested as the possible star system of the planet Vulcan, the home planet of
the Vulcan race, although James Blish had earlier proposed constellar associate
40 Eridani A as the Vulcan star system. The Star Trek canon later established
Vulcan's distance as consistent with that of 40 Eridani, and the authorized
(but non-canonical) Star Trek book Star Trek: Star Charts[22] identifies it as
such, while Epsilon Eridani was assigned a lesser role as the location of
Axanar. The 40 Eridani location is furthermore attested by Roddenberry
himself[23] and in a statement by Commander Tucker in Star Trek: Enterprise
that "Vulcan is 16 light years from Earth"—as is 40 Eridani A at
16.39 ly from the Sun (compared to Epsilon Eridani at ~10.5 ly).
Babylon
5
Babylon 5 (1994-1999), space opera
television series created by J. Michael Straczynski. This series, rife with
prophecies, religious zealotry, racial tensions, social pressures and political
rivalries, is centered around the eponymous Babylon 5 space station, a
five-mile long O'Neill cylinder located in the Epsilon Eridani star system at
the fifth Lagrangian point between the fictional planet Epsilon III and its
moon (see graphic).[24]
Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross
(1984), Japanese anime series written by Jinzō Toriumi et al and directed by
Yasuo Hasegawa. The world of Glorie was selected for colonization after a
catastrophic nuclear holocaust rendered the Earth uninhabitable. Similar to the
home planet in size and atmospheric conditions, Glorie nonetheless presented a
challenging natural environment: With little moderating ocean cover, and an
eccentric elliptical orbit around Epsilon Eridani, it suffered severe winters
and heavy glaciation during its aposiderions. With extensive terraforming,
Glorie has been successfully adapted for terrestrial life, and it serves as the
theater for extensive military adventures—both human and mecha.
Space Precinct (1994-1995), British
television series created by Gerry Anderson. This combination of science
fiction drama and police procedural is set in the year 2040 and features former
NYPD detective Patrick Brogan, now a lieutenant with the Demeter City police
force on the planet Altor in the Epsilon Eridani system. Brogan and his partner
Jack Haldane must adjust to living in another solar system, and investigating
crimes being committed by aliens as well as humans.
Space: Above and Beyond (1995–1996),
television series created by Glen Morgan and James Wong. In early 2063, The
Chigs declare war on humanity, launching what appears to be an unprovoked
first-strike against the budding interstellar colonies of Vesta and Tellus. The
colonies are destroyed and their few survivors taken prisoner. Vesta Colony,
Earth's first extra-solar world, orbits Epsilon Eridani.
"The Boyfriend Complexity"
(2010), episode of The Big Bang Theory, a situation comedy created by Chuck
Lorre and Bill Prady, and directed by Mark Cendrowski. The series, embellished
by wacky faux-scientific episode titles, concerns the eccentric doings of four
hyperintelligent but socially inept scientists and their street-smart neighbor,
a blonde waitress and aspiring actress. In this episode (S4:E9), Rajesh
Koothrappali is remotely controlling a telescope in Hawaii, watching for varying
luminosity as evidence of an extrasolar planet orbiting the star.[25]
See
also
Epsilon
Eridani is referred to as a location in space or the center of a planetary
system unusually often in fiction. For a list containing many stars and
planetary systems that have a less extensive list of references, see Stars and
planetary systems in fiction.
Notes
and references
Bits
of thistledown carry dandelion seeds on the wind.
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