The Star of a Strange New World
The Star of a Strange New World
Archer's star from "Home"[ENT4]
Now updated with information from "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II"[ENT4].
Before beginning, I'd like to point out that "Home" was cool. There are many nice touches in the episode, and this shot was one of them. Archer is properly lit given the direction he's supposedly looking toward, and the stars are mostly correct (the only real 'problems' are relative brightness and the fact that at least one star that should've been visible is strangely absent).
Archer looks toward north and points out that the star "just to the left of Polaris" is where they found their first Class M world, one which had psychotropic compounds in the air. This, of course, is the planet from "Strange New World"[ENT1], and we get a shot of the stars he's looking toward in the evening sky.
The above is an overlay of the stars visible on the screen and, from the program "Cartes du Ciel", stars above a certain visibility threshold. The match between sky chart and screenshot is not perfect with all the stars due to various factors, hence the occasional double-star or streak look. However, you can see that it's very close, and certainly close enough for what I'm doing.
What am I doing? Well, I want to know which star Archer was talking about. I want to be able to place the "Strange New World" planet in context, and do some cartography.
First, some basic ideas.
I. The star should be just to the left of Polaris, or as close as possible thereto.
II. The star should not be too far from
Earth.
a. I'm ignoring the speed and time from "Broken Bow" which puts the
Klingon homeworld at less than a light-year from Earth.
b. I'm accepting the speeds from "Cease Fire"[ENT2] as a top-end which
allows for the most distance with which we can work . . . the velocity indicated
was 1460c.
c. The approximate date for "SNW" was May 8, 2151, which puts
Enterprise at four weeks and a day from home.
(For more on II.a through II.c, see this page.)
d. Thus, the maximum distance for the star in question should be 130
light-years, and probably less.
III. Preferably the star should match what we'd expect to allow it to have a planet with life in regards to age, metallicity, variability, and so on.
So, let's see:
I. Just to the Left
Now, there are five stars circled above . . . only four of which are visible in the sky in the episode. For some reason, HR 8702 was not visible at all, though being as bright as HR 8748 it ought to have been quite visible. This is not a bad thing, though, since HR 8702 is helluva-far, and thus we wouldn't want that to be the SNW star anyway.
That leaves us with four candidates:
1. HR 8748
2. HR 8546
3. HR 285
4. Alrai (Gamma Cephei)
As for which one is just to the left, I'd say either HR 285 or 8546 ought to be the star in question. While Alrai is due left, it is somewhat further . . . "just to the left" may not imply such precision.
II. Distance from Earth
Alrai is the clear winner. At just 45-50 light-years away, the star is in a perfect spot to satisfy the requirements of distance. HR 285 is over three hundred light-years away according to the parallax. HR 8748 is around 1000 parsecs away, and 8546 is about 540 light-years distant, by their parallax.
(Using Celestia, their distances are given as 390 and 255 light-years . . . I'm not sure why there is a discrepancy, given that the parallax data I have is from Hipparcos and if you've got parallax you've got distance without wacky calculations. The parallax I have for HR 285 concurs with Celestia's distance. But, in any case they're both too far.)
III. A Star for Life
Alrai also works well insofar as the type of system it is. The star is large, bright, and hot, and is sufficiently old to have burned out all of its hydrogen. It has a known stellar companion, a smaller, dimmer red dwarf with an eccentric orbit taking it no closer than 10-12AU. Further, a planet twice the size of Jupiter has already been found in the system. The star's habitable zone would be at about 2.9 - 3.4AU.
The only problem with Alrai is that the known gas giant might cause problems. It has an eccentric orbit centered around the 1-2AU range. Thus, it seems likely that the giant could interfere with an orbit (or formation) of a rocky, earth-like world at 3AU unless the planet was very lucky. However, our data about the gas giant could be off a smidgen . . . the gas giant was claimed in 1992, then retracted, and then claimed again ten years later, with the confusion resulting from the B star's presence.
An alternative could be that the planet could be in a close orbit of the B star (perhaps having been captured after being flung out of A orbit). Alternately, the on-again off-again claim of a gas giant could imply that the planetary system is not as we presently believe it to be.
IV. Star Visibility and Other Candidates
It's worth noting that the good Mr. Joshua Bell reminded me of Celestia. I loaded up Celestia and looked north, and a few other stars were visible in the direction indicated. Some ought not have been visible in the sky when Archer looked, given the evening glow of the atmosphere . . . it's possible to calculate what could've been visible, but given that HR 8546 at magnitude 5.27 is readily visible in the shot at its height, that's a good indicator of what could possibly be seen at all. (That webpage, incidentally, seems to indicate that mag 6.1 (dimmer than 5.27) is as good as it gets for the naked eye looking at a 45 degree angle.) Just for caution, I ramped up Celestia's visibility to magnitude 7 (which means I was seeing some helluva-dim stars), and checked the distances to all of the stars within a 60 degree wedge to the left of Polaris, plus a few more at random.
Distance-wise, we get a few other possibilities:
HD 22701, 133ly, dim (mag 5.84, or dimmer than 8546), but it's almost straight up from Polaris, and only a little bit leftward, and out of frame in the shot. It's also only barely within possible range.
HD 223731, 128ly, very dim (mag 6.56), just upward from Alrai, and not visible in the shot, barely within possible range.
HD 223778, 35ly, very dim (mag 6.36), up and to the left from Alrai, not visible in the shot. However, at a distance of just 35 light-years, I wish it were. However, it's even further from "just to the left" than Alrai, and too dim.
HD 3440, 105ly, very dim (mag 6.38), not visible in the shot . . . to find it, one would start at Polaris and go on past HR 285.
HD 2589, 128ly, very dim (mag 6.18), not visible in the shot . . . it's past HR 285 and up from Alrai.
So, Alrai still seems the only logical possibility, even accounting for stars which Archer could not possibly have seen.
V. The Star Charts SNW Star
It's worth noting that Geoffrey Mandel's Star Trek Star Charts placed the "Strange New World" planet around the star 61 Ursae Majoris. However, 61 UMa cannot be the correct star, thanks to what we now know. In the scene from "Home", 61 UMa would be off-screen and far to the right of Polaris.
"In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II"[ENT4] gives us the opportunity to see a screen with some TOS-era historical records. The screen from the Defiant-1764 shows information on Jonathan Archer. Among various other interesting details, we get the following:
He's the only human to have two planets named in his honor: ARCHER'S PLANET in the Gamma Trianguli sector, and Archer IV, which orbits 61 Ursae Majoris. Archer IV was the first M-Class world charted by the famous explorer. Although the planet was uninhabitable throughout the 22nd Century due to toxic pollen in the atmosphere, an antidote to the pollen was discovered early in the 2200's. Today, the population of Archer IV number[s] more than seven hundred million. (bolding mine)
What happened, obviously, was that the writer of the text above (reportedly the episode writer Mike Sussman) simply decided to take the planet from "Strange New World", assign to it the name of Archer IV (from "Yesterday's Enterprise"[TNG3]), and go from there. Unfortunately, however, he decided to throw in a needless reference to the star the planet orbits, and referred to the Star Charts book to do so.
We thus find ourselves with a contradiction within the canon. As noted, 61 Ursae Majoris wasn't even visible on screen in "Home". Just take a look at the image below from the Cartes du Ciel program, oriented in the same way as the shot from "Home". 61 UMa is labelled. Polaris is marked in blue, 61 UMa in red. The approximate edge of the "Home" shot is in green.
As you can see, 61 UMa is not just to the left of Polaris. It is, in fact, about 66 degrees . . . over a third of the sky . . . to the right. Indeed, the reason the green line marking the edge of the "Home" shot is in a slanted orientation is due to the fisheye depth-of-field changes required in order to get Polaris and 61 UMa in the same shot!
This means, of course, that we have two separate contradictions:
1. Visual: The stars shown in "Home" contradict 61 Ursae Majoris, because 61 UMa is not visible in the shot at all.
2. Dialog: "Just to the left of Polaris", as stated in "Home", also contradicts 61 Ursae Majoris, because 61 UMa is not near Polaris in the sky. Even if the Earth's rotation allowed 61 UMa to be leftward, 61 Ursae Majoris still wouldn't be "just to the left of Polaris". There are two constellations, including the Big Dipper, in the way.
Because of the dual contradiction, it is quite difficult to accept the data from the Defiant's screen in an out-of-universe sense. In-universe, if we accepted 61 UMa we would be forced to conclude that Archer and Hernandez were both Starfleet captains incapable of determining which stars were which from the ground. This is difficult to rationalize against the fact that this is the same Archer who took his childhood astronomy book with him on his voyages ("Fusion"). (Besides, even Cutler could tell where Earth was from the surface of another planet altogether.)
On the other hand, we do have the slight possibility of an in-universe rationalization, which would help us avoid simply dismissing the information. The Defiant's screen mentioned Archer IV as the first M-Class planet charted by Archer, with no mention of visitation, landing, and so on. There isn't even a mention of Archer having been on Enterprise at the time. So, one might be able to suggest that Archer had remotely charted the planet at some point, either while on Enterprise or from Earth before he left.
Of course, then we'd have the extraordinary coincidence of there being pollen which adversely affects humanoid life on both planets. On "Strange New World"[ENT1], the pollen contained the well-known hallucinogen tropolisine which, in a bit of hazy science, was a "psychotropic compound" whose "atoms" each contained a "stray neutron". This extra neutron didn't seem to be the norm for tropolisine, though. When "it" (presumably the hallucinogen, and not the neutron) started to break down in one's bloodstream, it released an "undetectable toxin".
It's a stretch, but technically this is not a toxic pollen, so much as a cause of a toxin that appears in humanoids when a substance in the pollen breaks down. If one does not wish to engage in such a stretch, however, then we're left with simply ignoring the needless 61 UMa reference in "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II".
This sort of thing is why the non-canon is to be avoided. Attempts to mix it in often cause problems, especially when the non-canon one wishes to add is not well-researched.
Before I'd even posted the update above, the below appeared on TrekBBS, written by ST:E producer and "IaMD" writer Mike Sussman:
For those who are curious, here's the complete text I created for the Archer/Hoshi on-screen bios. Some of the text on-screen was taken directly from the Star Trek.com bios on the characters; this is the stuff I made up.
STARFLEET PERSONNEL FILE: Archer, Jonathan
Serial Number: SA-022-9237-CY
Rank at retirement: Admiral, Chief of Staff, Starfleet Command
Former Assignments:
Commanding officer, Enterprise NX-01, 2150-2160
Ambassador to Andoria, 2169-2175
Federation Councilman, 2175-2183
President, UFP 2184-2192
Birthplace: Upstate New York, North America, Earth
Parents: Henry and Sally Archer
Son of famed warp specialist Henry Archer, Jonathan Archer was appointed captain of Starfleet’s first warp five starship, Enterprise NX-01. As an explorer and peacemaker, his name is among the most recognized in the Federation, and his pioneering voyages aboard the Enterprise are known to school children on dozens of worlds, many of which were unknown to humans in Archer’s lifetime. Historian John Gill called Archer the “greatest explorer of the 22nd Century.” Archer earned an impressive list of commendations during his career, including a Medal of Valor, with clusters, the Star Cross, the Preantares Ribbon of Commendation, and the Federation Citation of Honor. Archer was also appointed an honorary member of the Andorian Guard by General Thy’lek Shran in 2164. He’s the only human to have two planets named in his honor: Archer’s Planet in the Gamma Trianguli sector, and Archer IV, which orbits 61 Ursae Majoris. Archer IV was the first M-Class world charted by the famous explorer. Although the planet was uninhabitable throughout the 22nd Century due to toxic pollen in the atmosphere, an antidote to the pollen was discovered early in the 2200’s. Today, the population of Archer IV numbers more than seven hundred million.
When I wrote this, I assumed the text wouldn't be legible (silly me). There are probably some errors in here. One I can spot -- Archer took command of Enterprise in 2151, not 2150. Some of this text would seem to be contradicted by the finale (which obviously had not been written yet). The name Sally, unless I'm mistaken, is also the name of Scott Bakula's mother.
Moreover, there was a final section of text that didn't actually appear on screen:
Archer died peacefully in his home in upstate New York in the year 2245, exactly one day after attending the christening ceremony of the first Federation Starship Enterprise, NCC-1701.
Yeah, he would've been old, but pretty close to McCoy's age in "Encounter at Farpoint."
This is the text I created for Hoshi's bio:
STARFLEET PERSONNEL FILE: SATO, HOSHI
Serial Number: SA-037-0198-CL
Rank at retirement: Lieutenant Commander
Former Assignment: Communications and Protocol officer, Enterprise NX-01
Birthplace: Kyoto, Japan, Earth
Hoshi Sato served as translator, and protocol and communications officer on Starfleet’s first warp five starship, Enterprise NX-01. Born in Kyoto, Japan on July 9th, 2129, she was the second child in a family of three. After leaving Starfleet in her late thirties, Sato created the linguacode translation matrix, which is still in use aboard Federation starships today.
Since the dialogue stated that the file contained info on Hoshi's marriage and death, I created a final paragraph -- it's worth noting that this was NOT shown on-screen:
Tragically, Hoshi and her family were among the four thousand people who died on Tarsus Four in 2246 when a food shortage caused by an exotic fungus threatened the colony’s population. Governor Kodos ordered the deaths of Sato and the others in order to save the rest of the colony. She was buried in Kyoto with her husband, Takashi Kimura.
I wouldn't really consider any of this "hard canon," so take it all with a grain of salt. Both bios were slapped together hastily and weren't approved by the exec producers. Some trivia -- the name of Hoshi's "husband" was cobbled together from actors in some favorite Japanese films -- Hoshi and Linda Park share the same birthday.
Tim Gaskill and I discuss this some more on the podcast at startrek.com.
So, if the info isn't to be considered "hard canon", we have ourselves a lovely and quite official escape route . . . the screen is still canon, but the "Home" references clearly outrank the bio screen from "In a Mirror, Darkly" per the producer and writer.
"Strange New World", third episode of Enterprise, occurs in the binary star system called Alrai, some 45-50 light-years from Earth. This planet is colonized by humans in the early 23rd Century, and is named Archer IV.
Interestingly enough, "Strange New World" features Crewman Cutler, played by the late Kellie Waymire, pointing up at a star and identifying it as Earth. Besides the "Home" moment being a lovely (if even unintentional) homage to that scene, it should also be possible to see what the stars look like in our direction from Alrai and compare. (I'd be surprised if they matched, but it would be interesting to check nonetheless.) However, I am not able to see more than a couple of stars in the sky view in "Strange New World" at this time.
