Real-Life Vulcan? Exoplanet Likened To Spock's Homeworld Is Not A Planet, Study Finds

There's a particular exoplanet that had been likened to the planet Vulcan in the "Star Trek" universe. However, it appears now that this "planet" doesn't even exist.

There's no denying that "Star Trek" has been embedded in pop culture, with most of us at least familiar with Captain James T. Kirk, Spock and the rest of the Enterprise crew. Spock, for instance, is known for his iconic Vulcan salute and his homeworld Vulcan that, according to the franchise, orbits the star 40 Eridani A.

What many may not know is that 40 Eridani A (also known as HD 26965) is actually a real star. In 2018, a team of scientists discovered an exoplanet orbiting it. They called it 40 Eri b, though many fans were eager to have it named Vulcan instead.

It appears now that there may have been a mistake in the discovery and the planet doesn't really exist.

An international team of scientists was looking at the list of exoplanets to see which ones were good candidates for further study. One of them was 40 Eri b, reported Phys.org.

"To prepare for future direct imaging surveys, the list of potential targets should be thoroughly vetted to maximize efficiency and scientific yield," the scientists wrote in a paper published in the arXiv pre-print server.

They found that in many cases, "we are not yet sensitive to even Saturn-mass planets in the habitable zone, let alone smaller planets." When they looked at 40 Eri b, the team discovered that what was thought to be signs of the planet were actually due to the activity from the surface of the star.

"We present strong evidence that the planet HD 26965 b (o 2 Eri b, 40 Eri b) is not a planet, and is rather caused by stellar activity," they wrote.

Though it's sad news for "Star Trek" fans who got excited over the prospect of finding a "real-life Vulcan," it garnered some rather amusing responses online.

The finding wasn't a complete surprise for the scientists as there were questions as to whether it was actually a planet even back when it was first discovered.