Beta Aurigae (or Menkalinan) is a star system centered around a triple star located about 85 light years from Sol, in the Alpha Quadrant. (TNG: "Conspiracy")

In 2269, the USS Potemkin was scheduled to rendezvous with the USS Enterprise in the Beta Aurigae system to conduct gravitational studies of the effects of the two major binary stars of Beta Aurigae. Before they could meet up at the system, the Enterprise received a distress call from Camus II causing the mission with the Potemkin to be delayed. (TOS: "Turnabout Intruder")

Background Edit

Beta Aurigae appeared as a small note on a very large star chart graphic created for "Conspiracy". It was the image behind the chair in the room where Dexter Remmick was killed. It appears to be located within an outlined block, which may indicate that it was surrounded by, or was a part of, Federation territory.

Apocryphally, Beta Aurigae was mentioned in DC TOS volume 1 #56: "A Small Matter of Faith", where it was mentioned the star is a potent source of Berthold radiation.

Beta Aurigae is a real system in the Auriga constellation. Modern scientists have determined it is a trinary, even though only two of the stars were mentioned in TOS, when it was referred to as a binary. This is not specifically an error, however, as there are two major components, and a far smaller companion star making the third part of the system.

External links Edit

• Beta Aurigae at Wikipedia
• Beta Aurigae at the Internet Stellar Database