Alnitak

Alnitak, also known as Zeta Orionis or 50 Orionis, was a planetary system in the Beta Quadrant.

Components

Stellar system

This was a trinary star system. It was organized into a single star system and a binary star system.

The primary of the binary system was Alnitak (the proper name for Zeta Orionis A). It was an O-type blue supergiant. Alnitak's companion star was the B-type subgiant Zeta Orionis Ab.

The tertiary star Zeta Orionis B was the center star of the single star system. It was a B-type giant.

Planetary system

In this system, there was an inhabited planet. (TOS: "The City on the Edge of Forever")

History

Around 2030, a famous novelist from this planet wrote a classic using the theme "Let me help", recommending those three words even over "I love you." Having traveled back to the year 1930, Captain James Kirk mentioned the novelist's work and its theme as he pointed this star system out to Edith Keeler. (TOS: "The City on the Edge of Forever")

Stellar cartography

The Alnitak system was visible from Earth in the constellation Orion. This was one of three stars, along with Alnilam and Mintaka, in the asterism Orion's Belt; it was the far-left star. It was approximately 1,260 light years from Sol. (TOS: "The City on the Edge of Forever")

The system's name was not explicitly mentioned in the episode, since Kirk simply pointed to it and noted its location in Orion's Belt. While we know which star system he must have meant, it wasn't clear which nomenclature might be more commonly used, the older usage Alnitak or the constellation catalog name, Zeta Orionis. Current nomenclature rules would have the star being called Alnitak and the star's system being called Zeta Orionis.

External links

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