40 Eridani A is the primary star of the 40 Eridani system, a trinary star system located about 16.45 light years from Sol.
The system orbiting this star is home to the Federation's 40 Eridani A Starfleet Construction Yards, building place of the starships Brattain and Phoenix. (TNG: "The Wounded", "Night Terrors" dedication plaques)
Appendices
Appearances
- USS Phoenix's dedication plaque made for TNG: "The Wounded"
- USS Brattain's dedication plaque made for TNG: "Night Terrors"
Background
It has never been canonically established that 40 Eridani A is the location of Vulcan, but it has been a popular piece of information throughout licensed works and fandom. The reference has worked its way into a number of background graphics and artwork, for example, the dedication plaques listing the fleet construction shipyards there. The reference to this star system dates back to a mention in the Star Fleet Technical Manual by Franz Joseph, and also has been backed up by on-screen statements of Vulcan being 16 light years away from Earth. (ENT: "Home", "Daedalus")
In 1991, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, along with three scientists from the Harvard - Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, endorsed 40 Eridani A as Vulcan's sun (rather than Epsilon Eridani, which is occasionally misidentified as Vulcan's sun) stating, in part: "We prefer the identification of 40 Eridani as Vulcan's sun because of what we have learned about both stars at Mount Wilson ... based on the history of life on Earth, life on any planet around Epsilon Eridani would not have had time to evolve beyond the level of bacteria. On the other hand, an intelligent civilization could have evolved over the aeons on a planet circling 40 Eridani. So the latter is the more likely Vulcan sun." [1]