jude_rook: Image of Andromeda Galaxy (Default)
jude_rook ([personal profile] jude_rook) wrote2010-07-15 07:25 pm

Lalande 21185

It’s 8.3 light years away, it’s an M2V dwarf, and it has at least one Jovian planet, quite possibly more.  Metallicity is only 63% of Sol’s, and it’s a flare star, but as we’ve seen, those aren’t dealbreakers.  Besides, Alastair Reynolds located an inhabited planet here, and who am I to argue with him?

Someday I’d like to read a Dune-type epic novel where all the planets of the mighty Empire are located within a dozen or so light years of Sol.  I don’t know why it strikes me as an amusing idea… a dozen light years out is such a huge distance the human mind can’t really grasp it!