CEA 7 Leg 4

Niamh Kaminari

Leg 4 begins the first two-week leg of the Celebration of Early Astronomy 7 expedition. Longer distance between basecamps, and on the mid weeks we will hold an event somewhere partway through the distance.

This leg features a few systems from the KOI (Kepler Objects of Interest) catalog, which themselves have real exoplanets in them. KOI catalog contains stars with transiting planets as observed by the Kepler telescope due to periodic dimming.

Anchors:
Main Waypoints
Additional Waypoints

Dates

Start Date: February 9, 2025
End Date: February 23, 2025

Distances

Basecamp Line: 3,551.03 Ly
Main Waypoints: 4,153.68 Ly
Optional Waypoints: 4,403.08 Ly

Map, (click for full size):

Basecamp: KY Cygni
Mid-Leg Event: BD+41 4004

Main Waypoints

  • Map References quick reference list, more details below
    • Sadr
    • Kepler-5
    • KOI 3179
    • KOI 1014
    • KOI 116
    • WR 136
    • Crescent Sector GW-W c1-8
    • KY Cygni

Main Waypoints Details

  • Map Reference: Sadr
    • POI: Gamma Cygni
    • Sadr, also known by the Bayer designation Gamma Cygni, is a supergiant star in the Cygnus constellation. It additionally forms the intersection of the asterism known as the Northern Cross. It is located roughly 1,800 lightyears form our solar system. The official IAU name Sadr for this star is derived from the Arabic word for chest, this base word is also used for another star Schedar (Alpha Cassiopeiae).

      Sadr has an apparent visual magnitude of 2.23, putting it amongst the brightest stars in the night sky. Sadr is 14.5 times the mass of our sun, 180 times the radius, and emitting over 33,000 times as much energy. This star is also surrounded by a diffuse nebulae called IC 1318.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: Kepler-5
    • POI: Kepler-5b
    • Kepler-5 is a star located in the Cygnus consteallation. It has a closely orbiting Hot Jupter type planet Kepler-5b (Kepler-5 1 in game). This was the second exoplanet to be detected by NASA’s Kepler mission, which aimed to detect planets transiting their host stars as seen from Earth via periodic dimming. The discovery of Kepler-5b was announced at the January 4th, 2010 meeting of the American Astronomical Society along with Kepler-4, Kepler-6, and Kepler-7.

      Kepler-5b has is 2.1 times as massive as Jupiter and 1.426 times the radius. It orbits Kepler-5 at 0.0538 AU, thus making it a Hot Jupiter class exoplanet. (in comparison, Mercury orbits at .3871 AU)
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: KOI 3179
    • POI: Kepler-1911b
    • KOI 3179 is one of the many members of the Kepler Objects of Interest catalog from NASA’s Kepler missions which aimed to detect exoplanets by the dimming of their parent star as their orbit transited their parent star as observed from our solar system.

      KOI 3179.01 aka Kepler-1911b is a Super Earth type exoplanet orbiting a G-type main sequence star. Even though classified as a Super Earth (mass greater than Earth) it is barely more massive than Earth, at only 1.01 Earth masses. However, it is likely not an Earthlike planet given it orbits it’s parent star at a mere 0.06 AU. Here is the NASA page regarding this exoplanet: https://ciencia.nasa.gov/exoplanet-catalog/kepler-1911-b/

      The specifics of the planet as a Super Earth came after the 2013 galactic generation however, the original detection with the Kepler mission it was thought to be more massive and thought to be a Hot Jupiter type, which is why in-game it is represented as a Hot Jupiter instead of as a Super Earth.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: KOI 1014
  • Map Reference: KOI 116
    • POI: Kepler-106
    • KOI 116, also known as Kepler-106 is a member of the NGC 6866 open cluster, and also contains 4 known exoplanets. Like with KOI 3179, the original dsicovery of this missions prior to 2013 has estimated some of their masses to be higher than was later revealed through further observations. As such they are represented in game by gas giants, when they are each Super Earth type exoplanets.

      Additionally Kepler-106f is as of 2024 a potential candidate for a 5th exoplanet around this star, but is as yet unconfirmed.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: WR 136
    • WR 136 is a Wolf-Rayet type star located in the Cygnus constellation of the sky and located at the center of the Crescent Nebula, and is the star responsible for the existence of the Crescent Nebula. (however in game it is erroneously located far from it) It’s age is estimated to be around 4.7 million years, but Wolf-Rayets are very short lived, so this means it is nearing the end of it’s life and is expected to go supernova within the news few hundred thousand years.

      It is roughly 600,000 times brigher than our sun, 21 times more massive, and 5.1 times larger, with a surface temperature near 70,000 Kelvin.

      Additionally there is some evidence that WR 136 may have a low mass companion star of main seqence type K or M. (which is represented in game as well as a K class star)
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: Crescent Sector GW-W c1-8
    • POI: Crescent Nebula
    • The Crescent Nebula, also known by identifiers NGC 6888, Caldwell 27, and Sharpless 105; is an emission nebula in the Cygnus constellation, located roughly 5,000 lightyears from our solar system. William Herschel discovered it in 1792, and it is formed by the fast stellar winds of the Wolf-Rayet star WR 136 (our previous waypoint) colliding and energizing the slower moving wind ejected by the star previously when it became a red giant 250,000 to 400,000 years ago.

      The resulted in two shockwaves, one moving outward and one moving inward. The inward moving shock wave heats the stellar wind to X-ray emitting temperatures.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: KY Cygni
    • KY Cygni is a red supergiant in the Cygnus constellation, located roughly 4,700 lightyears from our own solar system. It lies near the open cluster NGC 6913, but is not a member of the cluster itself. The light from KY Cygni is heavily reddened due to “interstellar extincion” which is the absorption and scattering of light due to interstellar dust.

      Ky Cygni is also variable, but with no clear periodicty or predictability to it’s periods of variation.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link

Optional Waypoints

  • Map References quick reference list, more details below
    • Sadr
    • HR 7767
    • Kepler-5
    • KOI 3179
    • KOI 105
    • KOI 2484
    • KOI 1014
    • KOI 116
    • BD+41 4004
    • WR 136
    • Crescent Sector GW-W c1-8
    • KY Cygni

Optional Waypoints Details

  • Map Reference: HR 7767
    • HR 7767 is near the route, it is a real binary system in the Collinder 419 cluster. In-game however the secondary star is a black hole, when in reality it is a B class star.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: KOI 105
  • Map Reference: KOI 2484
  • Map Reference: BD+41 4004
    • POI: Magic Carpet Nebula
    • The Magic Carpet Nebula (NGC 7027) is a very young dense planetary nebula roughly 3,000 lightyears from our solar system. It was discovered in 1878 by Edouard Stephan at the Marseille Observatory. It is one of the smallest planetary nebula, and the most extensively studied. It is also one of the visually brightest planetary nebulae.

      It was photographed multiple times by the Hubble Space Telescope. Prior to being photographed by Hubbe it was thought to be a protoplanetary nebula with a central star too cool to ionize the gas, but the photographs revealed it is a planetary nebula, but unusually small, measuring only 0.2 lighyears by 0.1 lighyears dimensions, where the average size of a planetary nebula is roughly 1 lightyear.

      The Helium Hyrdride Ion (Helonium), was first detected in 2019 in this nebula, confirmed hypotheses about the early formation of the universe, as Helonium was one ofthe first molecule thought to have been formed after the Big Bang. There is also evidence to suggest the presence of nanodiamonds within the nebula. (Diamonds smaller than 100 nanometers)
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link