T'Khut

T'Khut (or T'Kuht) is the third planet in the Vulcan system, and shares a co-orbit with Vulcan. It is Class G, has one moon, and was naturally uninhabited until Vulcan colonized it. Its Terran designation is Charis.

Because of how big T'Khut appears in the night sky on Vulcan, it is often mistaken for a moon of Vulcan, although Vulcan has no moons. T'Khut is slightly smaller than Vulcan in size. (Star Trek: Star Charts)

T'Kut had no oxygen. (SS New Worlds, New Civilizations (Tempered by the Forge)) Its nature meant that it was not a satellite of Vulcan but instead was a sister planet. T'Khut had an eccentric orbit which brought it close enough to Vulcan approximately once in each seven years where it appeared in the sky. After fourteen years, it approached Vulcan as closely as it ever did in a period of once every three centuries. At such times, the disk filled half the sky and when T'Khut was in the night sky it was as bright as day. 


 * See Also:


 * The Vulcan Academy Murders
 * Spock's World

Background
''After Spock made a comment in "The Man Trap", that Vulcan had no moon, several planetoids appeared in orbit of Vulcan. Star Trek fans immediately called these other planets, and the name "T'Khut" and "T'Kuht" became popular. Soon authors were using these, and while some fans still prefer "T'Kuht", Star Trek authors have decided to stick with "T'Khut" instead.''