The recent mention in S&A of the long-range Solomani explorations into the
Perseus Galactic Arm got me to thinking about where some real interstellar
structures should be in the Traveller universe. Five Imperial sectors are
named after real stars, after all (Spica, Fornast, Alpha CRU, Deneb, and
Antares). Ever wonder what the sky might look like from, say, Vland?
Regina? Using an old copy of _Norton's Star Atlas_, I went on a trip to
Vland. (Of course, in terms of the Traveller chronology, this is like
using an Egyptian chart from 1800 B.C., but oh well.)
Vland is fortunate enough to have two very bright stars in its sky. Located
about seventy parsecs away from Vland is the M1Ib red supergiant the Vilani
call Mika, known to Terrans as Antares. Seen from Vland, Antares has an
apparent magnitude of about -0.5, which if it were that bright in the Terran
sky, would make it their third brightest star. More impressive still is
Deneb, only 65 parsecs away. Deneb shines at the incredible apparent
magnitude of -3.1, four and a half times brighter than Terra's brightest
star. Tourists from Mora won't be impressed. From Mora (21 pcs.), Deneb
has an apparent magnitude of -5.6, two times brighter than *Venus* from
Earth, and probably visible far into daylight hours!
Unless you brought your PRIS binoculars, don't plan to find Terra from
Vland. Sirius, the brightest star in Terra's sky, shines at a apparent
mag. of +7.8. Think "Neptune". Sol, at a range of 200 parsecs, is an
eleventh magnitude star. Usually, people can only see down to the sixth
magnitude or so with the naked eye.
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In WBH, they say that supergiants should be rare. They are! I have
only found three others beyond Deneb and Antares so far. The three:
Eakhoi (2123 Dark Nebula) F8 Ia
Sardas (0839 Mendan) F0 Ib M7 D
?????? (1530 Empty Qtr.) M4 Ia M4 D
Rare enough? This is in the whole region of the Imperial Atlas!
Of course, whether these stars are real or which they are is another
question altogether....
I also have a request for the "old-style" Traveller players out there.
Remember that old map of Charted Space with the star field background?
Traveller Deluxe and "Library Data A-M" had copies of it. I don't have
a copy myself, but I remember that it showed some bright star names on
it, as well as a few nebulae. It would be interesting to know where
(what sector, roughly what part) some of these nebulae were placed.
For instance, do we know what Dark Nebula the sector of that name is
named after, according to Traveller? I'm putting together a list of
stars/systems that I've seen referred to in sector library data, and will
post it if anybody is interested.
Incidentally, I haven't been able to find Spica, Alpha Crucis, or Fornast
yet (although I haven't looked for Fornast much), so if anyone has a hex
coordinate for them, I'd appreciate it. For owners of "Solomani Rim":
what subsector of Alpha Crucis was named "Denebola"? Any help with this
would be appreciated!
- --Steve
[Coming Soon? -- Part Two: Stars and Objects/Hex Locations]