Artist’s concept of a previously proposed possible planet, HD 26965 b – often compared to the fictional “Vulcan” in the Star Trek universe. Credit: JPL-Caltech
New research refutes the existence of Vulcan, a planet thought to orbit 40 Eridani A, attributing detected signals to the star’s surface activity. 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. This is according to a new study published inThe 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.
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.
Reference: “The Death of Vulcan: NEID Reveals That the Planet Candidate Orbiting HD 26965 Is Stellar Activity*” by Abigail Burrows, Samuel Halverson, Jared C. Siegel, Christian Gilbertson, Jacob Luhn, Jennifer Burt, Chad F. Bender, Arpita Roy, Ryan C. Terrien, Selma Vangstein, Suvrath Mahadevan, Jason T. Wright, Paul Robertson, Eric B. Ford, Gumundur Stefánsson, Joe P. Ninan, Cullen H. Blake, Michael W.