Alpha Centauri
From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference.
Alpha Centauri is a trinary star system located about 4.33 light years from Sol.
As a system, Alpha Centauri consisted of a binary pair of stars, Alpha Centauri A and B, and a third, more distant companion, Alpha Centauri C or "Proxima Centauri". This system is the closest stellar neighbor to the Sol system, and the site of the Alpha Centauri outpost. (ENT: "Future Tense")
Contents |
The Alpha Centauri System
- Alpha Centauri A (primary)
- Alpha Centauri B (secondary)
- Centauri I
- Centauri II
- Centauri III
- Centauri IV
- Centauri V
- Centauri VI
- Centauri VII
- Alpha Centauri C (Proxima Centauri) (tertiary)
- Alpha Proxima I
History
Humans had established an outpost in the Alpha Centauri system by the early 22nd century. Among its residents during this time was warp drive developer Zefram Cochrane, who moved to the system from Earth sometime following his historic test flight of the Phoenix in 2063. He left the system in 2119 for an unknown destination. He was presumed dead in space. (TOS: "Metamorphosis"; ENT: "Future Tense")
In an alternate timeline, the Xindi destroyed all Human outposts they could find, after destroying Earth, including the ones located on Mars, Alpha Centauri and Vega colony in 2154. (ENT: "Twilight")
When James T. Kirk was captured in 1969 on Earth, and questioned on who he was by Lieutenant Colonel Fellini, a member of the US Air Force Air Police at the US 498th Airbase Group, Kirk explained that "the truth is, I'm a little green man from Alpha Centauri, a beautiful place. You ought to see it." (TOS: "Tomorrow is Yesterday") Later, in 2269, Kirk argued in favor of having Sargon and his companions take over the bodies of the crew, and emphasized the benefits that it might possibly have on mankind, he explained, "they used to say if man could fly, he'd have wings. But he did fly. He discovered he had to. Do you wish that the first Apollo mission hadn't reached the moon or that we hadn't gone on to Mars or the nearest star?" (TOS: "Return to Tomorrow")
In 2338, Starfleet science officer Greta Vanderweg was born in the Alpha Centauri system. (DS9: "Field of Fire")
In 2364, the location of this system in star charts was seen on viewscreens displayed by the USS Enterprise-D library computer. (TNG: "The Naked Now", "Datalore", "Conspiracy")
In an alternate timeline, caused by the death of Gabriel Bell, Romulan transmissions were detected in the vicinity of Alpha Centauri in 2371. (DS9: "Past Tense, Part I")
After the Dominion invaded and conquered Betazed in 2374, many believed Alpha Centauri could be their next target. (DS9: "In the Pale Moonlight")
Appendices
Background
Alpha Centauri (misspelled "Alpha Centuri") was mentioned labeled on the very large star chart graphic created for TNG: "Conspiracy". It was the image behind the chair in the room where Dexter Remmick was killed. It appears to be near Sol, Holberg 917G, and Tau Ceti.
The Enterprise computer's star chart in turn was a drawing by Rick Sternbach that had originally been published, years earlier, on page 77 of the non-canon reference book Spaceflight Chronology. This chart showed Earth commercial and exploration routes after the use of warp drive began. Alpha Centauri was the destination on a major commercial route.
Star Fleet Technical Manual states that the Concordium of Planets, located in the Alpha Centauri system, was a founding member of the United Federation of Planets. The Worlds of the Federation states the seventh planet in the system was the homeworld of humans, called Centaurians. Evidence was found that they were in fact originally Greeks transplanted to the planet in 3rd century BC.
Apocrypha
According to the PC CD-ROM game Star Trek: 25th Anniversary, the 2160s-era Cochrane-500 Fusion Drive was manufactured on Alpha Centauri. These engines were well made and still in use a century later.
In the FASA role playing game the Alpha Centaurians were the first extraterrestrial civilization humans encounter. The historic meeting occurred in 2042 when the Earth's United Nations space craft, the UNSS Icarus ship utilizing a Bussard collector arrived in the Alpha Centauri system. In 2048 Zefram Cochrane, an Alpha Centarian, sent his Warp Drive discovery to Earth. This contrasts with Star Trek canon material, which establishes that Cochrane was an Earth-born human and suggests that the Alpha Centauri system was uninhabited before it was colonized by Earth.
Like in the FASA game, the Last Unicorn role playing game and the Decipher RPG, Alpha Centauri was already inhabited by a Humanoid species when Terran explorers first ventured there in 2066. The Terrans traded their warp drive technology for Centauran terraforming technology, to repair Earth's shattered ecosystem in the aftermath of World War III. Like the FASA role playing game, this contrasts with Star Trek canon.
External Links
| Alpha Centauri system |
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| Alpha Centauri A • Alpha Centauri B • Proxima Centauri |
| Centauri VII • Proxima colony |
