Science Background
Although Anderson had no way of knowing this at the time of writing, a planet is now known to orbit around Epsilon Eridani, a star only 10.5 light years from earth. It is a gas giant, similar to Jupiter, and orbits its star at a distance of 3.2 A.U. every seven years. Gravitational irregularities show that at least one other planet orbits the star.
However, as a character mentions in the novel (pg. 17 of the 1972 Pyramid paperback edition), Epsilon Eridani was not the location of Rustum. Instead, Anderson chose the star Epsilon Eridani (now known as 82 Eridani) as Rustum's host star. 82 Eridani is 19.8 light years distant, categorized in the G5 stellar spectral class with approximately 97% of the mass of the Sun and 60% of its luminosity. To date, 3 hot super-Earths have been confirmed in orbit around the star. 82 Eridani is listed as one of the "top 100" targets of NASA's proposed Terrestrial Planet Finder mission.
Read more about this topic: Orbit Unlimited
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