Deneb (system)/meta

NOTE CONCERNING POSITIONS OF STARS AND CELESTIAL OBJECTS :
When comparing real-astronomical celestial object positions to the Traveller Map of Charted Space, it needs to be observed that the axes of the Charted Space Map appear to be tilted about 45^o counter-clockwise from the correct position (i.e. "true" Coreward actually lies in the general direction of the Lesser Rift). If one makes that adjustment, about 70% of the named stars and celestial objects will fall roughly along their correct bearing. However, there are some exceptions in which the star in question lies in roughly the correct position relative to the Charted Space Map without the need to rotate the coordinate axes.

In general, if one is assigning the position of a Real-Universe star or celestial object to a Traveller Map hex, it should be acceptable if:

1) The object's longitude angle (θ) is within a 45^o bearing-arc between the "true" coordinate axes and the Traveller Charted Space Map coordinate axes, and

2) The object's assigned distance from Terra on the hexmap falls somewhere between its true distance R in parsecs, and its 2D-projection onto the flat map as seen from above, found by D_proj = {R * cos(ɸ)}, where (ɸ) is the latitude angle. If desired, the distance above/below the plane can be determined by Z = {R * sin(ɸ)}.

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Notes (2007)

Like many stars in Traveller, Deneb is way out of place. Being one of the brightest stars in the galaxy however this causes some problems.

• Current estimates place Deneb at 640 to 2,250 parsecs distance from earth, however on the map the distance is only approximately 200 parsecs. This change in distance would make Deneb the brightest star in Earth's sky at an apparent magnitude of -2.2 (about 25 times brighter).
• It is also in the wrong direction from Sol, at approximately 40 degrees spinward of coreward. Instead, Deneb is more like 85 degrees, almost due spinward of Sol.
• There could be several methods of fixing this; first, "Deneb" is not the real Deneb, but a system named after the star (despite being placed on the Traveller map). Second is to reduce Deneb's brightness to 4% of its real value.
• Third suggestion: Deneb was initially settled by Vilani fleeing the Rule of Man. Therefore, Deneb is a Vilani word for the star. It has no sounds that are not in the Vilani language and meets their orthography. It does not mean the same thing as it does in Arabic (where Dhanab means "tail"), and its similar spelling and pronunciation may be a simple coincidence. (And probably not the only one.) It is a bright star, one of the brightest in Vland's skies, but it's a pretty ordinary bright giant in Terra's Aquila.

Notes (2016)

The best solution is to simply retcon the A2 Ia star in this hex location to an A2 III or A2 IV star (call it "Deneb Minor"); otherwise, whatever star by whatever name that is located there will be far too bright for Terra's skies. Further, an A2 Ia star will have an age in the millions (not billions) of years, which should be far too short of a time for the canonical planetary system to have formed around this star anyway, let alone for any of them to have developed native life in the habitable zone (See: Nenlat). The issue of the name of the star then becomes a separate issue, because the star at that hex location is no longer Alpha Cygni.

--WHULorigan (talk) 12:17, 21 April 2016 (EDT)

• An early hand-drawn map of Charted Space by GDW (included among extras on the MT CD-ROM) places Deneb in the Delta Quadrant of Viajlefliez Sector corespinward of the Zhodani Consulate border.

--WHULorigan (talk) 15:19, 22 June 2016 (EDT)