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An 'Earth' Near Spock's Star? It's Logical

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An 'Earth' Near Spock's Star? It's LogicalBy Dan Vergano, USA Today

 

(Oct. 27) — Star Trek fans, take heart — Mr. Spock's fabled home star, the nearby Epsilon Eridani, could harbor an Earth-like planet.

NASA astronomers today report that the triple-ringed star has an asteroid belt and a Jupiter-like giant planet in roughly the same orbits as in our own solar system. Only 850 million years old, a fifth the age of Earth's sun, Epsilon Eridani resembles a younger twin to our solar system. About 62 trillion miles away, it is the closest known solar system.

A Twin Solar System?NASA/ESA/G.Bacon4 photos This illustration depicts a Jupiter-sized planet orbiting the star Epsilon Eridani. The star's solar system has several traits in common with Earth's and may be home to an Earth-like planet, scientists said.

 

It was borrowed by the creators of the TV series 'Star Trek' as the location of Vulcan, the planet that gave us the super-logical science officer Mr. Spock.

"We certainly haven't seen it yet, but if its solar system is anything like ours, then there should be planets like ours," say astronomer Massimo Marengo of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass.

The NASA Spitzer space telescope results, which measure the infrared heat given off by dust and ice rings circling the star, suggest Epsilon Eridani possesses three jumbo worlds, revealed by dust-free circular lanes in its asteroid belt and more distant comet belts.

 

The circular asteroid belt that, like ours, orbits within 300 million miles of the star is particularly surprising, Marengo says, because earlier studies had suggested the star's Jupiter-like planet followed a looping path that would have destroyed the narrow belt. Instead, it must follow a nearly circular orbit.

Because Epsilon Eridani is smaller, dimmer and younger than the sun, the "habitable zone" for Earth-like planets there is closer to the star, says planetary theorist Sean Raymond of the University of Colorado-Boulder. "An Earth-like planet could actually form in the (star's) habitable zone," he says, if the report of a well-behaved Jupiter-sized planet bears out. Another planetary theorist, Alan Boss of the Carnegie Institute of Washington (D.C.), is doubtful, suggesting such a planet is "likely to be too massive and too close to allow Earth-like planets to form in the habitable zone."

Jokes Marengo: "Of course there is disagreement among Star Trek fans about whether the planet of Mr. Spock could be at Epsilon Eridani, because it is such a young star and Vulcans are supposed to be an advanced civilization."

 

COOL!..... :yucky:

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An 'Earth' Near Spock's Star? It's LogicalBy Dan Vergano, USA Today

 

Jokes Marengo: "Of course there is disagreement among Star Trek fans about whether the planet of Mr. Spock could be at Epsilon Eridani, because it is such a young star and Vulcans are supposed to be an advanced civilization."

I don't see how that could be the deciding factor. Even if the star is younger than our own it doesn't mean evolution happened at the same pace. As our own history shows, a mere 1,000 years can contain a lot of social development if not biological development. There would be plenty of time for Vulcans to overtake humanity.

Edited by Lt. Van Roy

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In terms of biology, no. A race based on logic would progress at a faster technological rate, but evolution and natural selection (*natural* being the operative word) would probably happen at near the same speed as on Earth. Then again a harsh desert environment might hasten the pace out of necessity.

 

We do know they were barbarians about 4800 years ago. We also know they had a nuclear war and at least pre-warp space travel before embracing logic. We can assume their technology improved at a faster pace after logic became more prominent. The deciding factor is how long it took life on Vulcan to reach that stage.

 

Keep in mind we are talking about the evolution of *all* life on Vulcan, not just Vulcans. Evolution on Earth is the only model we have to go on but who is to say it had to happen at the same speed? Consider that life formed here from the water. Vulcan does have water but not nerely as much so they probably became land-dwellers faster than we did.

 

To base all Vulcan life and evolution on just Vulcans is illogical.

Edited by Lt. Van Roy

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