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Story Ideas: Sci-Fi Speculation – Scientific Proof
By Deb Gallardo
Even if you’re not a Star Trek fan, chances are you’ve heard of Mr. Spock and the planet Vulcan from which he and his race evolved.
Star Trek's Mr. Spock
Some say that the TV series set Vulcan in the Epsilon Eridani system, whose star is 10-11 light years from Earth. (In distance, that’s a mere 62 trillion miles.) In addition, on the series Babylon 5, the space station of the same name was in the Epsilon Eridani area.
Why does this matter? It turns out that the planetary system around Epsilon Eridani – which is similar to our own solar system — may contain undiscovered planets.
- Space Station from the TV series Babylon 5
“Astronomers think unseen planets must have confined and shaped the three rings of material … It possesses a rocky asteroid belt identical to the one that lies between Mars and Jupiter. It also features an outer ring of icy material similar to the Kuiper Belt at the edge of our Solar System and has a second outer belt of asteroids containing 20 times more space rock than the inner one.”
Back in the 1960s when we began looking beyond the bounds of our tiny part of the galaxy, scientists used radio telescopes to search systems like Epsilon Eridani for advanced alien life signs. Experts say that since this system is so much younger than ours, studying it is like looking through a window in time to see our solar system when it was young.
Read the article that inspired this post.
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2 Comments »
December 29th, 2011 at 4:38 pm
So, what you’re saying, is, essentially, that Vulcans could be, and probably in fact are, actually really real?!?!?
That’s so awesome.
-M
December 29th, 2011 at 5:15 pm
Nnnnnnnnnnnno. LOL
BUT, that’s the beauty of speculative fiction. The point, which I guess I should have made explicit, is that the sci fi writers of these top-rated shows did their homework and set the planets of their worlds’ humanoid species in sectors of space that ARE likely to support humanoid life. Just sayin’…
Thanks for commenting. Personally, I am not quite ready for the Vulcans to encounter us, a savage, illogical, highly primitive race.
Peace and long life!
Deb