Epsilon Eridani in fiction

The fifth brightest star (apparent magnitude) in the constellation Eridanus. As a Sun-like star relatively close to the Solar System, Epsilon Eridani regularly appears in science fiction.^[1]

In 1960, Project Ozma, headed by American astronomer Frank Drake, used the Tatel Telescope to search for such signals from the nearby Sun-like stars Epsilon Eridani and Tau Ceti. They were observed at the emission frequency of neutral hydrogen, 1,420 MHz. However, no signals of intelligent extraterrestrial origin were detected.^[2] Despite this lack of success, Epsilon Eridani made its way into science fiction literature and television shows for many years following news of the experiment.^[3]

Literature

• In Kathy Tyers' novel Shivering World, Goddard orbits Epsilon Eridani.
• In Gordon Dickson's Childe Cycle (1959-1988) the Friendly worlds of Harmony and Association orbit Epsilon Eridani.
• In the robot novels of Isaac Asimov, it is the sun of the first world of the second wave of settlers: Comporellon (Foundation's Edge, 1982) or Baleyworld (Robots and Empire, 1985).
• In Greg Bear's Eon (1985), Epsilon Eridani is the original destination of the Thistledown.
• In Larry Niven's 1973, Hugo Award nominated, Protector, Epsilon Eridani's earth-like planet, Home, is colonized and inhabited by humans. Belter Roy Truesdale arrives at Epsilon Eridani system in a comatose state, aboard a crippled interstellar craft, after surviving a close range, laser duel with one of his metamorphosized ancestors. Local humans rescue and hospitalize him not realizing he too is undergoing a similar metamorphosis - a process which will eventually spread to them and kill all but a few of them. The survivors will have barely enough time to prepare to stave off destruction by a progenitor species Truesdale's ancestor had decoyed away from Earth using Home as bait. Epsilon Eridani and Home also appear in Niven's collection of Known Space novels and short stories.
• In the Viagens Interplanetarias stories of L. Sprague de Camp its system contains the inhabited planets of Thor and Kukulkan, the later being the setting of his novels The Stones of Nomuru (1988) and The Venom Trees of Sunga (1992).
• In the Honor Harrington book series (1993-) by David Weber, Epsilon Eridani is one of the oldest Solarian League worlds. This system was the site of the Eridani Incident, a major atrocity during an early interstellar war which led to stringent restrictions on the use of 'weapons of mass destruction'.
• In Robert J. Sawyer's novel Factoring Humanity (1998), the alien radio message came from Epsilon Eridani.
• In the Worldwar books (1994-1996) by Harry Turtledove, Epsilon Eridani is one of the subject star systems (Rabotev) of The Race.
• In the Revelation Space universe (2000-), encompassing five novels, two novellas, and eight short stories by author Alastair Reynolds, the Epsilon Eridani system includes a planet called Yellowstone that is the most important planet in the series and is home to the most advanced human civilization for about three hundred years. The Yellowstone society is centered in the Glitter Band (after the Melding Plague hits it is known more commonly as the Rust Belt) system of habitats in orbit around Yellowstone and in Chasm City, located on the planet's surface in a domed crater. The system also includes a moon around Yellowstone called Marco's Eye, and a gas giant planet called Tangerine Dream.
• In Halo: Reach, Halo: The Fall of Reach, and Halo: First Strike, large portions of the stories take place on a planet called Reach, which orbits Epsilon Eridani. This planet is a stronghold of humanity, second only to Earth itself. It is also mentioned that there are four other inhabited planets orbiting Epsilon Eridani: Circumstance, Tribute, Tantalus, and Beta Gabriel.
• In C. J. Cherryh's Alliance-Union Universe, it is the location of Viking Station.
• In Walter Jon Williams space opera novel Implied Spaces, an important event is the destruction of the human colony around Epsilon Eridani in the stellar event known as "the Big Belch."
• In John Ringo's novel Vorpal Blade, the Epsilon Eridani System is the first (albeit accidental) destination of the space ship A.S.S. Vorpal Blade.
• In Vernor Vinge's short story Conquest by Default, the Mikin aliens on Earth are from Epsilon Eridani II. Printed in Analog Science Fiction Science Fact (1968) and reprinted in The Collected Stories of Vernor Vinge (2001) by Tor Books.
• In Robert L Forward's novel Starquake, the alien Cheela leave a clue for faster than light travel in a pyramid on a planet orbiting Epsilon Eridani. Published by Ballantine (1989).
• In Pierre Barbet's novel Les Colons d'Éridan (The Eridani Colonists), Epsilon Eridani is the target of the first human extrasolar colonization attempt (1984).
• In Steven Gould's novel Helm, Epsilon Eridani is orbited by the planet Agatsu, which is terraformed and inhabited by fugitives from a devastated Earth (1998).
• Mentioned towards the end of Starburst by Frederik Pohl.

Television

• In the television series Babylon 5, the titled space station orbits the third planet (Epsilon 3) in this system.
• Gerry Anderson's television show Space Precinct is set on a planet in the "Epsilon Erandi" system, which may be an error for Epsilon Eridani.
• In the anime series The Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross, the planet Glorie is stated to be in the Epsilon Eridani system.
• In the TV Series Space: Above and Beyond, the first encounter with the hostile Chigs occurred at the Vesta Colony, the first human extrasolar colony, which orbited Epsilon Eridani.
• In Ronald D. Moore's backdoor pilot for Virtuality, the crew of the starship Phaeton is on a mission to this system
• In the series The Big Bang Theory, Rajesh Koothrappali, Howard Wolowitz and Bernadette Rostenkowski spend a night observing Epsilon Eridani for fading, to indicate a planet in orbit around the star. (4x09 "The Boyfriend Complexity")

Games

• In the Battletech universe Epsilon Eridani is one of the worlds closest to Terra. It was originally a member-world of the Terran Hegemony. The planet passed into Capellan control after the collapse of the Star League. It was conquered by the Federated Suns during the 4th Succession War, and remained under the control of the Federated Suns, later the Federated Commonwealth, until 3057, when the world became independent in the aftermath of the conflict between the Federated Commonwealth and an alliance between the Capellan Confederation and the Free Worlds League.
• In the video game series Halo, the planet Reach is in this system. Reach is a UNSC military stronghold, a shipyard, and the site of the SPARTAN-II super-soldier project which trained John-117 (Master Chief). The planet was mostly glassed by Covenant forces from orbit and made largely uninhabitable on August 30, 2552, as explained in Halo: The Fall of Reach and seen in Halo: Reach.
• In the game Face of Mankind there's a space colony on one of the ice planets orbiting Epsilon Eridani.
• In the Alternate Reality Game The Beast, Epsilon Eridani is mentioned as the destination of rogue space-faring AIs, and therefore the birthplace of the advanced androids seen at the end of the movie A.I., which the game was promoting.
• In the Frontier-series of games (including Frontier: Elite II and Frontier: First Encounters), Epsilon Eridani is a system dedicated to luxury-class and adult tourism (primarily directed towards the terraformed planet known as New California). The system does not come under Federal law, despite being deep in the core of the Federation. As a result, narcotics and slavery are quite legal here and does brisk business as a major import. Like most other systems, military-grade weaponry and nerve gas are illegal here.
• In the card game Race for the Galaxy, Epsilon Eridani is one of the player start worlds. In the game system it has a military capability at the start of the game larger than three of the other player start worlds, but not as large as another (New Sparta). The world also has the inherent ability to consume goods to generate victory points and additional card draws.
• In Independence War and its expansion pack, the Indies have a HQ in Epsilon Eridani.

RPGs

• In the GDW's 2300 AD, Dukou is the first planet of Epsilon Eridani, an habitable but glacial world, and it houses the Manchurian semi-penal colony of Xixiang. Epsilon Eridani is the main access to the Latin systems.
• In Battlelords of the Twenty-Third Century, Epsilon Eridani is the home star system for an alien race known as Eridani. Their homeworld, Eridine, is a cold methane world.

Star Trek

In the Star Trek franchise, Epsilon Eridani was once suggested as a possible location of the planet Vulcan, and was listed as such in the Star Trek Spaceflight Chronology. Canon Star Trek later confirmed 40 Eridani as the Vulcan star system, but Epsilon Eridani was established as the location of Axanar in Star Trek Star Charts.

References