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(covers information from several alternate timelines)

The Vulcan system, also known as the 40 Eridani system, was an inhabited star system located in the Alpha Quadrant. This was a trinary star system. Several planets, including Delta Vega and Ni'Var, orbited the star 40 Eridani A. Neighboring the Andorian system, it was located sixteen light years from the Sol system. (ENT: "The Andorian Incident", "Home", "Daedalus"; Star Trek; DIS: "Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad")

History[]

Alpha Beta Quadrant Overview star chart

Alpha/Beta Quadrant Overview

In 2256, Vulcan was labeled on the star chart "Alpha/Beta Quadrant Overview" in the ready room aboard the USS Discovery. (DIS: "Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad")

In 2257, during the first Federation-Klingon War, this star's system was near the front line. (DIS: "The War Without, The War Within")

In 2258, the system's location was labeled on a star chart seen on the main viewscreen of the USS Enterprise. (DIS: "Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2")

That same year, in the alternate reality, Delta Vega was the location of a Starfleet outpost. That year, Nero destroyed the planet Vulcan by creating a small black hole in its core. (Star Trek)

Romulan Neutral Zone star chart, 2259

Location of Vulcan labeled on a star chart (2259)

In 2259, the location of this system was labeled on a stellar cartography chart that was seen on the USS Enterprise's ready room viewscreen. This system's symbol had a blue color, indicating it's affiliation with the Federation. (SNW: "Strange New Worlds", "Spock Amok", "A Quality of Mercy")

In 2293, the location of Vulcan in the Milky Way Galaxy was labeled in a star chart that was in Captain James T. Kirk's quarters aboard the USS Enterprise-A. (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, okudagram)

The system's location was labeled in a Federation star chart that was in Fleet Admiral Kirsten Clancy's office at Starfleet Headquarters in 2399 and on the bridge of the USS Titan-A in 2401. 40 Eridani was in or near to Federation space. (PIC: "Maps and Legends", "The Next Generation", "Disengage")

In 2401, this system's position was labeled on a star chart used by Captain William T. Riker during his attempt at finding the last known location of the SS Eleos XII. (PIC: "The Next Generation")

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Background information[]

Vulcan and sister planet

T'Khut and its moon seen from the surface of Vulcan

Vulcan in the 2270s

Two other worlds in the Vulcan system seen from the surface of Vulcan

A picture of a star chart supposedly used for Star Trek: Discovery was tweeted by Ted Sullivan on November 28, 2017. According to this map, the star Vulcan was also known as 40 Eridani A. [1]

The original theatrical edit of Star Trek: The Motion Picture depicted four large orbs in the Vulcan sky. They were removed in the DVD release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture - The Director's Edition and replaced by an orange sky. According to Star Trek: Communicator issue 136, p. 27, the additional planets were removed for the reason that the scene took place during daytime, so a night sky was not appropriate, and they were elements that distracted the viewer from a scene intended to take place on a far-off monastic temple. Vulcan in and of itself was considered to be interesting enough without cluttering the sky with these planets.

In the Star Trek: Discovery episodes "Lethe", "If Memory Serves", and "Such Sweet Sorrow", celestial bodies were seen from the surface of Vulcan. For the first time, in "Unification III", celestial bodies near to Vulcan were seen in space.

According to Star Trek: Star Charts (p. 58), T'Khut was the name of Vulcan's twin planet that was visible from the planet's surface. T'Khut was classified as a G-class world, and had one moon. The Vulcan system also known as the 40 Eridani A System or Omicron2 Ceti System was a trinary star system. 40 Eridani A had a spectral type of K1V with an absolute magnitude of 6.0. 40 Eridani B had a spectral type of AVII with an absolute magnitude of 11.2. 40 Eridani C had a spectral type of M4V with an absolute magnitude of 12.3. The distance between A and B was 400 au; the distance between B and C was 44 au. The orbital period of this system was 248 years.

According to the Stellar Cartography: The Starfleet Reference Library ("Stellar Cartography", pp. 22-24 & 34), the Vulcan system was the 40 Eridani A system. The 40 Eridani system was known to the Vulcans as Nevasi. The primary star, 40 Eridani A (Nevasi A), was class K. The innermost planet was a rocky class B planet named Ket-Cheleb. Vulcan (T'Khasi) was in a co-orbital relationship with the class G planet T'Khut ("the Watcher"), which had one moon named T'Rukhemai ("the Eye of the Watcher"). The icy planetoid Delta Vega was located in the outer asteroid belt. The two companions of 40 Eridani A, 40 Eridani B (Nevasi B) and 40 Eridani C (Nevasi C), were a white class A4 dwarf and a red flare class M4 dwarf, respectively.

There had been, however, no direct canonical reference of the Vulcan system being the 40 Eridani system before it was canonized in the Star Trek: Picard episode "Maps and Legends". In "Home" and "Daedalus", Vulcan was mentioned as being slightly over sixteen light years from Earth, the same distance between Earth and 40 Eridani A. According to text commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda for "The Forge" on the ENT Season 4 DVD, the possibility of Vulcan being located in the 40 Eridani system originated from a suggestion by novelist James Blish. When three astronomers (Sallie Baliunas, Robert Donahue, and George Nassiopoulas) who had been studying the system at Mount Wilson Observatory published a letter stating that the star "40 Eridani A could support a planet with Earth-like life" and that it would "have the Sun's brightness for a planet fifty million miles away", they theorized that Vulcan could be in orbit of this star, a theory Gene Roddenberry himself supported by signing their letter, according to Sky & Telescope, 1991 July.

In a tweet from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds first assistant art director Timothy Peel, there was an image of the Vulcan system, which according to him was seen at the console holding the astrogator of the USS Enterprise. The system was depicted as a three-planet system, containing the planets 40 Eridani A 1, T'Khut, and Vulcan. The latter two planets were in a co-orbital relationship. T'Khut was orbited by an unnamed moon. Past Vulcan and T'Khut, there was an asteroid belt. Lying nearby, there were the stars 40 Eridani B and 40 Eridani C, which, too, had a co-orbital relationship. Delta Vega was not included on the chart. [2]

Apocrypha[]

Non-canon sources, such as the novel Spock's World and the reference book Spaceflight Chronology, mention there being up to 7 planets in orbit of Vulcan's sun.

In Last Unicorn Games' Star Trek Roleplaying Game sourcebooks Planets of the UFP and The Way of Kolinahr, 40 Eridani A is orbited by six planets, known as Ket-Cheleb, Vulcan, Valdena, Tel-Alep, Kal-Apton, and Kir Alep.

In the video games Star Trek: Fleet Command and Star Trek: Infinite, the fourth planet in orbit of 40 Eridani A is Delta Vega. Both games also name the first planet "Ket-Cheleb", as in the Last Unicorn Games role-playing game. Infinite also shows at least two planets in orbit of 40 Eridani C.

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