Herschel
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| Herschel | |
|---|---|
| Vessel Profile | |
| Type | JumpShip |
Contents
History
The ECV Herschel was a JumpShip of unspecified type serving with the Explorer Corps. In 3002 it visited the Sador (Gamma Cygni) system, reportedly located 815 light-years from Terra, on a scientific mission to study its F-class star for six weeks, before moving a short distance away to study the Cygnus X-1 binary star system which is composed of a black hole and a supergiant primary.[1]
Notes
- Gamma Cygni (aka Sador, Sadir or Sadr, from arabic Sadr al Dedjadjet) and Cygnus X-1 are real stellar objects.
However, the real, non-fictional Sador is some 1,800 light-years from Earth; the stated distance of 815 light-years in BattleTech may be a clerical error and meant to read 1,815.
The real Cygnus X-1 system is located ca. 6,070 light years from the Sol system, several thousand light-years farther than even Sador. It could be assumed that the "safe distance" the Herschel had to keep from the Cygnus X-1 black hole/supergiant binary system was measured in astronomical terms, and that the vessel therefore travelled a short distance from Sador to observe Cygnus X-1 from a safe distance that was actually still several thousand light-years away. - The actual position of either Sador or Cygnus X-1 on the BattleTech starmap are unspecified, though like their real-world counterparts they apparently lie in almost the same direction as seen from Earth.
References
- ↑ Explorer Corps, p. 6