Sector 1 - The Core of the UNG

Sol System / Earth

4.2 light-years: Proxima Centauri

• The red dwarf star is the nearest (known) star to Sol.
• diameter one-seventh that of the Sun.
• mass is about an eighth of the Sun's
• average density is about 40 times that of the Sun.
• Although it has a very low average luminosity, Proxima Centauri is a flare star that undergoes random increases in brightness because of magnetic activity.
• Searches for companions orbiting Proxima Centauri have been unsuccessful, ruling out the presence of brown dwarfs, supermassive planets, or super-Earths within the star's habitable zone
• Since it is a red dwarf and a flare star, whether a planet orbiting this star could support life is disputed.
  • UN Forces resupply base in asteroid belt
  • Small colony / emergency retreat-from-Earth base on inner planet
  • Numerous other UNG and UN Forces facilities

4.365 light-years: Alpha Centauri

• the closest star system, containing the 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th stars closest to Sol.
• Contains Alpha Centauri A, the fourth brightest star in the night sky. Located approximately 4.36 light-years from Earth.

5.96 light-years: Barnard's star

• the 5^th closest known star to Sol.
• a red dwarf.

8.57 light years: Luyten 726-8

• is a binary star system with the well-known flare star UV Ceti (Luyten 726-8 B).

8.57 light years: Sirius

• is a white dwarf and the brightest star in the nighttime sky of Earth.

9.68 light years: Ross 154

• a red dwarf approximately. Its closest neighbour is Barnard's star, 5.41 ly away.

11.40 light years: 61 Cygni

11.62 light years: Groombridge 34

• Is a binary star system that consists of two red dwarf stars in a nearly circular orbit with a separation of about 147 AU. Both stars in this pair exhibit variability due to random flares, and they have been given variable star designations. (The brighter member Groombridge 34 A is designated GX And, and the other member is designated GQ And).

15 light years: Gliese 876

• is a red dwarf star.
• It is only half the size of our Sun but it has been found to be orbited by at least two large planets which are locked in a 2:1 orbital resonance, as well as one smaller, terrestrial planet. It is so far one of only a few red dwarfs with known extrasolar planets.
• Gliese 876 d
  • is a low-mass planet orbiting with a period of 1.94 days at a distance of 0.021 AU. It is estimated to have a mass between 6 and 8 Earth masses.
  • It is possible that the planet is terrestrial (its low mass precludes it from retaining gas like Jupiter), a very small Neptune-like gas giant, or a type intermediate between both. Its relatively small orbit carries it around Gliese 876 every 48 hours, and brings it so close to the surface of the star that temperatures in the 200-400ºC range are most likely -- conditions not hospitable for Earth-style carbon-base life forms.
• Gliese 876 c
  • 0.13 AU from Gliese 876 and orbits every 30.12 days.
  • is a gas giant half the size of Jupiter. It orbits within the star's habitable zone, a region in which the temperature is right for water to be liquid. This means that the planet itself would be partly made up of water clouds. In addition, if the planet has any large moons with atmospheres, life as we know it might have the potential to develop on them. However calculations of the Hill zone of the planet have found that the maximum mass of any moon in a stable orbit to be far below that of Mars, killing any hope of Earth-like life-supporting moons.
• Gliese 876 b
  • 0.21 AU from Gliese 876 and orbits every 60.02 days.
  • is a gas giant twice the size of Jupiter. Its orbit sometimes brings it within the outer edges of the star's habitable zone, but water would normally be frozen on the surface of its moons.

15.84 light years: Groombridge 1618

29.7 light years: Groombridge 1830

• It is a binary star with a period of 175 days.

33.48 light years: GJ 436 (Gliese-Jahreiss 436)

• Also known as Gl 436, Gliese 436), is a dim 11th magnitude red dwarf star.
• GJ 436 b
  • 0.0278 AU from GJ 436
  • Has a mass similar to Neptune's, but orbits very close to the star and may not be a small gas giant but a very massive terrestrial planet instead. It is one of the smallest extrasolar planets discovered so far. One orbit around the star takes only about 2 days 15.5 hours. The planet's surface temperature is high, but not as high as other planets in similar orbits because the star is so dim and cool.

36.6 light-years: Arcturus

• a K1.5 IIIpe red giant star.
• the third brightest star in the night sky from Earth.

39 (approx.) light years: Zeta Reticuli

• Zeta Reticuli (Zeta¹ Reticuli / Zeta² Reticuli) is a binary star system.
• The stars are approximately 9,000 AU apart. The stars revolve around each other once in over a million years.
• Acheron is a 12,201 km moon in orbit around a gas giant in the Zeta² Reticuli system. It bears a strong resemblence to Saturn's moon, Titan.

43.9 +/- 0.4 light years: u (Upsilon) Andromedae

• u Andromedae b
  • 0.059 AU from u Andromedae and orbits in 4.617 +/- 0.0003 days.
  • is a gas giant (0.69 M_J) that orbits extremely close to the star.
• u Andromedae c
  • 0.829 AU from u Andromedae and orbits in 241.5 +/- 1.1 days.
  • is a gas giant with twice the mass of Jupiter (1.89 M_J) that orbits closer to the star than Earth is to the Sun.
• u Andromedae d
  • 2.53 AU from u Andromedae and orbits in 1284 +/- 30 days.
  • is a large gas giant nearly four times the mass of Jupiter (3.75 M_J.) It has an eccentric orbit within the star's habitable zone.

HD 128311

• 54.14 light years from Sol.
• HD 128311 b
  • 1.099 AU from HD 128311 and orbits in 448.6 +/- 6.8 days.
  • is a jovian planet (2.18 M_J) orbiting in the outer habitable zone.
• HD 128311 c
  • 1.76 AU from HD 128311 and orbits in 919 days.
  • is a jovian planet (3.21 M_J) orbiting in the outer system of the HD 128311 system.

63.0 light years: Gliese 710

• Gliese 710 is a red dwarf star in the constellation Serpens Cauda, with visual magnitude 9.66 and a mass of 0.4?0.6 solar masses.
• It will approach within 1.1 light years (70,000 AU) from Earth within 1.4 million years.
• In a time interval of +/- 10 million years from the present, Gliese 710 is the star whose combination of mass and close approach distance will cause the greatest gravitational perturbation of our solar system. Specifically, it has the potential to perturb the Oort cloud enough to send a shower of comets into the inner solar system, possibly causing an impact event.

Charest (Brittania)

67 light years from Sol.

16 Cygni

• 69.8 light years from Sol.
• 16 Cygni is a double star system with its components (Cygna A and Cygna B) widely separated by 700 AUs. The orbital period of the system is at least 18,000 years.
  • 16 Cygni Bb is a gas giant one and a half times the size of Jupiter. It is unusual for a number of reasons. First, it is one of the few extrasolar planets known to orbit a star in a binary system. Second, the planet has an extremely eccentric orbit around the star (1.67 AU,) which takes it from a distance equivalent to that of Venus around our Sun, to that of Mars. This would result in extreme temperature variations as the year progressed.

Regulus

• It is approximately 77.5 light years from Sol.
• Regulus has about 3.5 times the Sun's mass.
• It is spinning extremely rapidly, with a rotation period of only 15.9 hours, which causes it to have a highly oblate egg shape. This results in gravity darkening: its poles are considerably hotter and brighter than its equator.

Algol

• 92.8 light years from Sol.
• About 7.3 million years ago it passed within 9.8 light years. Because the total mass of the system is 5.8 solar masses, and despite the fairly large distance at closest approach, this may have been enough to slightly perturb the solar system's Oort cloud and increase the number of comets entering the inner solar system.
• It is one of the best known eclipsing binaries. It is actually two stars in close orbit around one another. Because the orbital plane coincidentally matches the Earth's line of sight, the dimmer star (Algol B) passes in front of the brighter star (Algol A) once per orbit, and the amount of light reaching Earth is temporarily decreased. To be more precise, however, Algol happens to be a triple star system: the eclipsing binary pair is separated by only 0.062 AU, while the third star (Algol C) is at an average distance of 2.69 AU from the pair and the mutual orbital period is 681 days (1.86 years). The total mass of the system is about 5.8 solar masses, and the mass ratios of A, B and C are about 4.5 : 1 : 2.

Distance from Sol/Earth unknown:

Avalon

• Terrain: Mountainous.
• Population: 30,000
• Government: UN Governor.
• Loyalty: UN 70%, Anti-UN 20%, Self/Other 10%.
• Type:
• Military: UN
  • x1 Base/Regiment.
  • x1 VF-11 Squadron.

Fioria

• Terrain: Sea Planet.
• Famous vacations spot with white sandy beaches.

Neo Edo

• Terrain: Oceans
• Population: 170,000 (Microns)
• Government: UN Governor.
• Loyalty: UN 25%, Anti-UN 30%, Self/Other 45%.
• Type: Colony
• Military: UN
  • x1 Ground Base/Regiment.
  • 1x VA-3 Squadron.
  • 1x VF-5000 Team.
  • 1x VF-11 Team.
  • 1x Stealth Frigate.

• Notes: Colony founded by 'The Samurai of the SDF-1' The 'Samurai' is a master of several advanced forms of Japanese martial arts. He is credited for keeping the traditional fighting styles alive (kaifun is credit with the Chinese forums). 'The Samurai'played himself in the Macross movie of 2031. All modern masters of Japanese style martial arts learned directly from him. He is considered a cultural treasure. Neo Edo is modern colony. Officers in the colonial miliary carry swords. Tourists are surpized to find not everyone on the planet knows karate. Wannabe Ninjas consider the planet a holy place. The colonist think they are crazy.

Unnamed Planet

• Population: 150,000 (Meltran/Zentran).
• Government: Self-Govern, UN Ambassador.
• UN 15%, Anti-UN 15%, Self/Other 70%.
• Type: Self-Govern Zentradi Colony.
• Military: Colony:
  • x2 Zentradi Mecha Battalions.
  • x3 Pickets.
  • x2 Battleship.
• iUN
• x1 UNSM Infantry Platoon (Embassy).

• Notes: Large Colony started by allied Zentran & Meltrans who adopted Earth's culture but wish to live on their own. A UN ambassador and embassy staff stay on to make sure they don't go back to their old ways.

REFERENCES and INVALUABLE INPUTERS