Procyon (also known as Procyon A or Alpha Canis Minoris) is a binary star (spectral class F) system, along with a companion star named Phardos, located about 3.49 parsecs (11.4 light years) from Earth, where it is visible in the constellation of Canis Minor. (Reference books: Star Fleet Technical Manual, Spaceflight Chronology)
On several occasions in 2364, viewscreen readouts aboard the USS Enterprise-D showed the location of Procyon A, in the form of charts from the Enterprise library computer. (TNG episodes: "The Naked Now", "The Last Outpost", "Conspiracy")
- The Chronology depicted Procyon A's name and distance from Earth on star chart illustrations, but since it is a "real" star system, modern scientists know a few things about its makeup that weren't in its Star Trek mentions. It is notable that Procyon was briefly glimpsed onscreen in canon productions of Star Trek because the production staff copied their star charts from the earlier, non-canon Chronology. Given its close proximity to Earth, its possible that Procyon is in sector 001 and is therefore an Alpha Quadrant star system, although this hasn't been stated in Star Trek publications.
Links
- Procyon article at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
- Procyon A article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
- Procyon at the Internet Stellar Database.
- Procyon at SolStation.com.