61 Ursae Majoris

61 Ursae Majoris was an inhabited planetary system in the Beta Quadrant.

Components

Stellar system

This was a single star system. The primary star 61 Ursae Majoris was a G-type dwarf. (ENT: "Cold Front")

Planetary system

In this system, there were at least four planets. The planet Archer IV was located in the system's habitable zone. (ENT: "Strange New World", "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part II", display graphic)

History

The planet Archer IV was named for Jonathan Archer, the captain of the first Earth starship – Enterprise NX-01 – to chart the star system close up. (ENT: "Strange New World", "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part II", display graphic)

Upon his return to Earth following the Xindi incident, Archer pointed out the star in Earth's night sky to Hernandez, to the left of the star Polaris. (ENT: "Home")

Stellar cartography

The 61 Ursae Majoris system was visible from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major. It was approximately 31 light years from Sol.

In the 2150s, this system's position was labeled on an United Earth star chart which was displayed in several crew and guest quarters aboard the Enterprise. (Star Trek: Enterprise, set decoration)

Appendices

Background information

The star was designated in Archer's bio screen aboard the USS Defiant and in the script of "Home", both of which were written by Michael Sussman. He stated, in a podcast commentary he once recorded, that the biographical data was not intended to be legible to the audience, and because of that, the bio and other displays like it should be considered a form of "soft canon" overridden by the character's statements. [1](X) In the "Home" script, 61 Ursae Majoris was noted as being near "the Big Dipper".

The star chart seen in the series Star Trek: Enterprise made its first appearance in Crewman Daniels quarters in "Cold Front". It was also seen in several other episodes of the series, from 2151 to 2154. (For more information, see Federation star charts#United Earth Alpha/Beta star chart)

Star Trek: Star Charts (p. 60, "United Federation of Planets I") falsely identifies the name of the planet orbiting 61 Ursae Majoris in "Strange New World" as Loracus Prime. The more recent Stellar Cartography: The Starfleet Reference Library ("Federation Historical Highlights, 2161-2386") corrected this error. The system was identified as Archer1. Both sources locate the 61 Ursae Major system in the Beta Quadrant. In the late 24th century, this was a Federation system.

In Larry Niven's Known Space, 61 Ursae Majoris was the central star of the Kzinti homeworld, the planet Kzin.

The current location of 61 Ursae Majoris in the Beta Quadrant was based on the most recent star charts seen in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Star Trek: Section 31.

External links

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