[Reaganesque]

The List:

* Beta Canum Venaticorum, Turnbull's top prospect. It's a sunlike star about 26 light-years away in the northern constellation Canes Venatici. Astronomers have been looking for planets around the star but have found none to date.

* HD 10307, another sunlike star about 42 light-years away. It has nearly the same mass, temperature and metal content as our sun — plus a companion star.

* HD 211415, which has about half the metal content of the sun and is a bit cooler.

* 18 Scorpii, a popular target for proposed planet searches. The star is almost an identical twin of the sun, Turnbull says.

* 51 Pegasus, which was the first normal star beyond our solar system known to have a planet. The Jupiterlike planet was detected in 1995, and Turnbull believes 51 Pegasus could harbor Earthlike planets as well.

* Epsilon Indi A, about 11.8 light-years from Earth, leads Turnbull's list. It's a star somewhat cooler and smaller than our sun, and was recently found to have a brown-dwarf companion. "Star Trek" fans consider it the home of the Andorian race. In the original "Star Trek" series, it was the base of operations for an evil entity called "Gorkon."

* Epsilon Eridani, 10.5 light-years away, is a star somewhat smaller and cooler than our sun, and is already known to have at least one planet. By some science-fiction accounts, Epsilon Eridani is the parent star for Vulcan, Mr. Spock's home planet on "Star Trek." However, Trekkers have come to favor another star in the same constellation....

* Omicron 2 Eridani, also known as 40 Eridani, is now cited in most "Star Trek" literature as Mr. Spock's home turf. It's a yellow-orange star about 16 light-years away, and is roughly the same age as our sun.

* Alpha Centauri B is part of the triple-star system closest to our own sun, just 4.35 light-years away. It's long been considered one of the places in the Milky Way that might offer terrestrial conditions — and it's often cited in science-fiction tales, including Isaac Asimov's Foundation series.

* Tau Ceti is in the same brightness category as our sun. It's metal-poor, compared to the sun, but long-lived enough for life forms to evolve. It has also served as a locale for science-fiction works ranging from Ursula Le Guin's "The Dispossessed" to the TV show "Earth: Final Conflict."

[Verginius Rufus]

When is PETA going to demand that Canes Venatici be renamed? After all, the name means the hunting dogs. Not only does that condone exploiting dogs and violating their autonomy but it forces the dogs to be complicit in killing of mammals or birds. This sends a terrible message to children who may get interested in astronomy.

Time to put pressure on whatever outfit it is that is in charge of star names.

[RobbyS]

HHow do they determine which plantes have a magnetic field? a difference betweebn Earth and Venus is that Venus has none and consequenrly is as hot as hell.

[Bender2]

Re: * Epsilon Eridani, 10.5 light-years away, is a star somewhat smaller and cooler than our sun, and is already known to have at least one planet. By some science-fiction accounts, Epsilon Eridani is the parent star for Vulcan, Mr. Spock's home planet on "Star Trek." However, Trekkers have come to favor another star in the same constellation....

* Omicron 2 Eridani, also known as 40 Eridani, is now cited in most "Star Trek" literature as Mr. Spock's home turf. It's a yellow-orange star about 16 light-years away, and is roughly the same age as our sun.

You forgot in the Mirror Universe I was born Onadire 2 Norcimo...

And don't forget Cheron!

[Eighth Street]

It's absolutely incredible how little we know about the
universe.

(Incredible because we pretend we know so much!)