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History and specifics [ ]

The system's primary star was known as the Mintaka Sun. ( ST video game : Infinite )

The system's third planet, Mintaka III , was inhabited by the primitive Mintakan proto-Vulcan civilization. ( ST video game : Infinite )

Ronoxoline-D was discovered on the fourth planet, Delta Orionis IV . ( ST reference : Star Fleet Medical Reference Manual )

The eighth planet, Delta Orionis VIII , was also known to support life. ( TOS novel : Doctor's Orders )

Appendices [ ]

Connections [ ], references [ ].

• ST video game : Infinite

External links [ ]

• Mintaka article at Memory Alpha , the wiki for canon Star Trek .
• Mintaka article at Wikipedia , the free encyclopedia.
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http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E4WhoWatchesTheWatchers

Recap / Star Trek: The Next Generation S3E4 "Who Watches the Watchers"

Edit locked.

Original air date: October 16, 1989

The Federation has set up a secret observation station on a primitive Vulcan-like planet named Mintaka III to observe the inhabitants without their knowledge. The Enterprise is delivering supplies when its reactor breaks down, and it becomes briefly visible to the outside world. Two of the Mintakans see it within that window of time, and one of them, Liko ( Ray Wise ), is injured while trying to investigate. Doctor Crusher decides to beam him up to the Enterprise to tend to his injuries. Picard is unhappy with her decision, but allows it on the condition that she erase his memories afterwards, as Doctor Pulaski did to Sargenka in " Pen Pals ." Crusher warns him that the operation might not be successful, but agrees.

Liko awakens and sees Picard standing over him in Sickbay, being treated like a boss by everyone around him, and comes to the conclusion that Picard is some kind of god that raised him from the dead. Unaware that Crusher's memory wipe didn’t take, they send him back to where they found him and assume that the problem's solved. But they still have another problem: One of the workers from the station, Palmer, is missing, and the sensors can't pick him up. To find him, Riker and Troi beam down disguised as Mintakans.

The first thing they see is Liko recounting his tale of the mighty Picard to his friends and neighbors. The others are skeptical, especially a woman known as Nuria, but when the villagers find the unconscious Palmer, who is clearly not of their world, even she is convinced. Riker warns Picard that their interference is quickly becoming a new religion, and Picard tells them to get Palmer out of there immediately. Troi creates a distraction while Riker grabs Palmer and beams away, but the Mintakans see him before he escapes and capture Troi as his accomplice. Liko immediately says Troi should be punished to appease the Picard. Nuria says they have no reason to hurt anyone just yet, but they might if they can’t find Palmer.

The leader of the research station tells Picard that, with the damage to the Prime Directive already done, the only way to minimize the chaos is to appear before the Mintakans as a god and give them guidelines for their new religion to follow. Picard refuses to push the Mintakans back into a belief in superstition and the supernatural. Instead, he selects Nuria as a voice of reason and beams her onto the ship to show her that he is simply a man with advanced technology rather than a god. Nuria comes to understand Picard's message but is still in awe over his technological powers. She begs him to raise several of her recently deceased villagers from the dead. Picard allows her to watch a patient die in Sickbay to show her that he and his kind are just as mortal as she is.

Nuria and Picard return to the village just in time to prevent Liko from killing Troi as a sacrifice. Liko requires some more convincing, however, and attempts to prove that Picard is immortal by aiming a bow at him. Though the others try to stop Liko, Picard prepares to sacrifice his life to convince the Mintakans of his mortality. Liko's daughter throws off his aim, and he hits Picard in the shoulder. The sight of red blood convinces Liko, and of course thanks to Dr. Crusher, the injury is merely an annoyance to Picard.

Tropes in this episode include:

• A God I Am Not : Something Picard is forced to go to extreme lengths to make the Mintakans understand.
• Artistic License – History : The Mintakans are apparently a Bronze Age society, and their most advanced piece of technology is the bow. It's considerably more advanced than anything else they have, as the bows shown are clearly late 20th Century sporting bows, made of composite plastics rather than wood.
• Broken-System Dogmatist : Liko. Subverted in that this belief system was broken before it even hit the ground: Liko is injured when he is electrocuted by an electrified wall at the outpost and seriously injured and knocked unconscious by falling off a ledge. When Dr. Crusher, by instinct, brings him aboard the Enterprise to save his life, Picard does not take well to this. While being treated in sickbay, Liko awakens in a daze, automatically assuming from the shapely lighting and sleek aesthetic that he has been taken to the afterlife, and seeing Picard as a pristine god. Crusher attempts to erase his memory, unsuccesfully, and roots of a new religious movement begin to sprout in the village. Later, When Liko becomes fanatical during a strong freak thunderstorm on the surface note  interpreting the storm as a sign of anger from "The Picard", for not keeping one of the Federation outpost scientists captive , he is unconvinced about Picard's lack of godly power when he beams down, instead genuflecting before him and claiming that he can bring back the dead. Liko then shoots Picard with an arrow to prove his godhood, but Oji pushes him before he can aim properly, hitting his shoulder instead. It's not until Nuria shows him Picard's blood on her fingers that he snaps out of it. Nuria: Picard speaks the truth. I have visited his people. I have seen how they live and how they die. When death takes one of their loved ones, they are as helpless as we are! Liko: Then,... how was I brought back to life?! Nuria: Liko, you were not dead. Picard's people have a knowledge that we lack. They're able to heal wounds that we cannot. Liko: NO! No... He can bring back the dead! Show them, Picard! You can bring back... ...my wife to me. Picard: I cannot. Liko: Why? Why won't you do this for me? Have I failed you in some way? Are you angry with me? Picard: I'm not angry with you. Liko: Well, then I beg you! Bring her back to me! [kneels in front of Picard] I will... give you my life in exchange! Please! Take back what you gave me! Give it to her! Let her live! Picard: [exasperated] It is beyond my power! Liko: Nothing is beyond your power! You are the Overseer! I will prove it! [goes to prepare his bow and arrow]
• Clarke's Third Law : Invoked by Picard to explain to the Mintakans why he would appear god-like to them. To a Mintakan caveperson, Nuria's ability to hunt from a distance with a bow would be strange and frightening.
• Continuity Nod : When Picard asks that Crusher wipe Liko's memory, Crusher notes that she understands Dr. Pulaski's methods, which we last saw in " Pen Pals ." This is one of the very few moments where Pulaski's existence is acknowledged after Season 2.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance : Troi explains that in Mintakan society, "men walk behind their wives," who will negotiate with other women to use their "services." In their society itself, though, the men don't seem have any less power than women, so Mintaka III isn't quite a Lady Land .
• Forgotten Phlebotinum : The implanted "subcutaneous communicators" make another appearance in this episode, before being forgotten again in later episodes.
• Foreshadowing : It comes up in Picard's and Crusher's conversation in Sick Bay early on that she's not entirely sure the mind-wipe will work with the Mintakans brain chemistry. Turns out she had every right to worry.
• Hand Wave : The Mintakans' body chemistry makes it impossible to erase their memories, allowing the rest of the episode to happen.
• Literary Allusion Title : Translated from " Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? " It's a quote from Roman poet Juvenal 's Satires .
• The Main Characters Do Everything : Riker and Troi are altered to pass for Mintakans so they can handle the away mission rather than, say, some Vulcans who could pass for Mintakans without surgery. Presumably the job was too important to assign to some Red Shirt .
• Mistaken for Superpowered : An injured man from a primitive alien race is beamed onto the Enterprise for treatment, with the plan being to wipe his memory of being on the ship after he has been treated. To the chagrin of the crew they discover after returning the man to his planet that the mind wipe didn't take, and the man, who saw Captain Picard giving orders to others during his time aboard the ship, has become convinced that Picard is a god who raised him from the dead, and begins preaching about Picard after being returned to his planet.
• Only Sane Man : Nuria is identified as the most rational and influential Mintakan, so she is chosen to receive Picard's pitch. She beams back to try to talk the others down from their superstitious fervor.
• Outgrown Such Silly Superstitions : Picard states that belief in superstition and the supernatural were achievements that both the Federation and the Mintakans made centuries ago. He takes it very poorly that the Mintakans are building a false religion out of belief in him. Indeed, very quickly they start suggesting blood sacrifices to be made to appease him. Previous episodes suggest that Picard has no problem with people having personal, philosophical beliefs about the unknowable, such as the afterlife; it's heavily implied that Picard's issue is that the Mintakans are worshiping him , specifically.
• Planetville : The episode treats this one Mintakan village as if it represented the entire planetary population of their species. Hence the concern that cultural contamination of what is actually a very small group of people could alter the development of their entire civilization.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! : Beverly beams Liko to Sickbay after he's shocked by the malfunctioning duck blind and angrily rebuffs Picard's assertion that she should have let him die to prevent cultural contamination.
• Spell My Name with a "The" : The Mintakans refer to Picard as "The Picard."
• Stop Worshipping Me : With little alternative to clean up the awful mess they've made, Picard goes through a lengthy sequence of this with Nuria.
• Unwanted False Faith : Picard to the primitive species on the planet below. The only way he can convince them he is not a god is by proving that he can't raise the dead and by taking an arrow to the shoulder.
• Star Trek: The Next Generation S3E3 "The Survivors"
• Recap/Star Trek: The Next Generation
• Star Trek: The Next Generation S3E5 "The Bonding"

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‘Stargazer’ Comic Mini-Series To Bridge The Gap Between Seasons 2 And 3 Of ‘Star Trek: Picard’

| May 20, 2022 | By: TrekMovie.com Staff 58 comments so far

IDW Publishing has announced all their August 2022 comic books, and there will be three new Trek titles for the month. This includes the launch of a new Stargazer mini-series set between seasons two and three of Star Trek: Picard . And the series is being co-written by Picard co-creator and co-executive producer Kirsten Beyer. August will also see the final entry in the Mirror War series and another entry in the Alien Spotlight series. We have details and covers for all the Trek comics.

New August 2022 Star Trek comics

Star Trek: Picard—Stargazer #1 (of 3) (36 pages • $4.99)

Written by Mike Johnson & Kirsten Beyer; art by Angel Hernandez

Embark on a never-before-seen journey set between seasons two and three of the Paramount+ hit series Star Trek: Picard ! After a tantalizing offer to return among the stars arises, Captain Jean Luc-Picard takes to the bridge of the U.S.S. Stargazer. But when trouble rears its head on a once peaceful, pre-warp planet from his past, Picard enlists the help of an old friend.

There will be four covers: A cover by Angel Hernandez, B cover by Megan Levens, a retail incentive variant cover by Liana Kangas, and a final variant available only in the IDW store.

A cover by Angel Hernandez

B cover by Megan Levens

RI variant cover by Liana Kangas

Star Trek: The Mirror War #8 (of 8) (32 pages • $3.99)

Written by Scott Tipton & David Tipton; art by Gavin Smith.

After splintering the Cardassian blockade with a bold, joint attack and help from old friends, the crew of the I.S.S. Enterprise moves to end the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance once and for all. Enter the Mirror Universe and witness the fate of the Terran Empire in this explosive finale of The Mirror War !

There will be three covers: A cover by J.K. Woodward, B cover by Amanda Madriaga, and a retail incentive variant cover by Mark Alvarado.

A cover by J.K. Woodward

B cover by Amanda Madriaga

RI variant cover by Mark Alvarado

Star Trek: The Trill (52 pages • $7.99)

Written by Jody Houser; art by Hendry Prasetya.

Someone is following Vanah, a research student and ex-applicant to the Trill Symbiont Initiate Program, after a life-changing event on a joint Trill-Federation science expedition. Delve into the world of the Trill in this suspenseful tale of tradition, independence, and survival.

There will be two covers: A cover Hendry Prasetya, and a retail incentive variant cover by Alexandra Beguez.

A cover Hendry Prasetya

RI variant cover by Alexandra Beguez

Keep up with all the Star Trek comics news, previews and reviews in  TrekMovie’s comics category .

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The Picard limited series looks intriguing. I did notice in the solicitation that they’re calling Jean-Luc Picard “Captain” again and not “Admiral”. I wonder what happened and if it’ll be explained in the comic or in the TV show? The Trill comic looks good, too.

The Mirror War comic is good but I’m burned out on the Mirror Universe right now. It keeps showing up all the time now in the comics and the novels. It’s really starting to be not such a unique concept in Star Trek anymore. So, out of the 3 comics, the one I’m most excited for is the Picard: Stargazer one because I want to know why they’re calling him “Captain” again instead of “Admiral” and who the old friend is that shows up to lend him a hand.

My guess is the old friend is Riker. When I saw in the solicitation that there’s a problem with a pre-warp civilization that was once peaceful, immediately Mintaka III or Malcor III sprung in to my mind. The reason why I thought of Riker as being the old friend who comes to help out Picard is because he was the one whose cover was blown when he was on Malcor III in the episode First Contact. Mintaka III was personal to Captain Picard and that’s my reasoning for choosing that planet from Who Watches The Watchers?.

But, truthfully, it could be any planet from TNG that’s pre-warp. They did violate the Prime Directive a lot on there 🙂. I guess we won’t know until the comic comes out, right? Live long and prosper, Trekmovie 🖖.

I’m thinking the “captain” Picard thing is a mistake, muscle memory.

Some of these covers look really good, others look like fan fiction.

Yeah, the Star Trek IDW covers, in my opinion, have never been that great unless they’re by J.K. Woodward. He has painted some of the most beautiful Star Trek covers and interiors that I have ever seen in a Star Trek comic. And, yeah, it might’ve been a mistake. I know solicitations for comics aren’t always right 🙂.

Live long and prosper, Obi5Kenobi 🖖.

While it certainly could, it also says he’ll take the bridge, and if this is a segue into Season 3, where he’s back with the crew of the Enterprise, it’s not a stretch to think he might pull a Kirk and take a Captaincy of his old ship. Which makes sense now that Rios is gone.

I’m still hoping that S3 opens with the christening of the next Enterprise, and that’s what brings them all back together — and then some crisis breaks out. Introduce a new Enterprise, a new crew, spin it off a year or two later.

The comic is called Stargazer for a reason, AlphaPredator. It’s quite obvious the ship that Jean-Luc Picard takes command of is the Stargazer. Admirals can’t just demote themselves. That’s not what Captain Kirk did at all.

He took command of the Enterprise in The Motion Picture because Decker turned the Enterprise over to him but he was still an Admiral. He took command of the Enterprise in The Wrath Of Khan because Spock turned the Enterprise over to him but he was still an Admiral. He was still Admiral Kirk in The Search For Spock and The Voyage Home until the end of The Voyage Home when he was demoted in rank for stealing the Enterprise. He didn’t demote himself, the Federation President did that.

So Jean-Luc Picard currently holds the rank of Admiral, not Captain. He can’t just magically wake up one day and say “Oh, I don’t feel like being an Admiral today. I want to be the Captain of the Enterprise again” and then, wham, he’s the Captain of the Enterprise again. It doesn’t work like that. Maybe, in Picard season 3, he does take command of the Enterprise again?

Who knows, right? I don’t think the Enterprise is going to show up, though, unless Worf is still in command of her, which, if you read the book The Last Best Hope, then you know that Picard turned the Enterprise over to him. But from the little bit I’ve heard about season 3, I’m not sure if Worf is even still in Starfleet in the early-2400s. We’ll see when season 3 comes out, right?

I think you’ve also forgotten that the majority of these characters from TNG are retired, with the exception of Riker and even he was retired himself until the end of season 1 of Picard. The most likely scenario is that Picard will have to go on a journey for some reason (maybe something connected to Laris🤔?) and he will need the help of his old friends to do it. This is not gonna be a “let’s get the band back together” season of Picard and Sir Patrick Stewart even said that himself. He also said that not everybody from TNG will be on the screen at the same time, like it was on TNG.

Beverly Crusher is in 6 episodes. She is the only character so far to be in the majority of next season. If next season is gonna have a lot of legacy characters in it, not just from TNG but DS9 and VOY too, then that limits the time spent on screen even more for the TNG characters. They’ll probably all show up on screen together one time and that won’t be until the series finale of Picard, the very last episode of the series.

But, hey, we’ll see, right 🙂? Live long and prosper, AlphaPredator 🖖.

Please re-read my comment and you’ll see I was well aware it’s set on the stargazer. I am not reading the rest of your book, after you got such a basic starting point incorrect.

I read your comment. I just want to know why Picard is a Captain again and not an Admiral. Even when Kirk took command of the Enterprise, he was still an Admiral. But this solicitation clearly says “Captain Picard takes command of the Stargazer”.

I am simply curious as to why he’s a Captain again. I’m the one who left the original response here. I’m simply responding back to you because you are the one who said “maybe he pulled a Kirk”. Pulled a Kirk how?

Because, in the solicitation, it clearly says that he’s Captain Picard again and not Admiral. If Picard just simply took command of the Stargazer, then he would still be an Admiral, just like Kirk was. But the solicitation clearly says that he’s Captain Picard again and I’m just curious as to what happened. If you don’t want to read my responses, that’s fine. Don’t respond back to me if you don’t want to hear my answers.

Seeing as how you don’t want to read anything beyond a couple of paragraphs, I’ll close out my response now with live long and prosper, AlphaPredator 🖖.

My god, guys.

Johnny Diamond, if you don’t know the expression “drowning the fish”, please look it up.

Are you talking about me or are you talking about everybody that’s leaving responses here? Because I’m not “obfuscating” anything, alright? I made a response to an article and everybody wants to jump in and give their two cents. All I did was put down that I am intrigued to know why Picard is being called “Captain” again?

A simple enough question, right? Except now I’ve got people such as yourself trying to tell me that I’m hiding the truth. What truth am I trying to hide here, Silvereyes, huh? If you want to play smoke and mirrors, go find somebody else to do it with.

I’m a 42 year old grown man, I don’t have time to play games with you. Live long and prosper, Silvereyes 🖖.

A person who commands a ship, regardless of rank, is commonly referred to as Captain.

That doesn’t happen in Star Trek. I’ve been a full-on Trekkie for 31 years now and the ranks have always been differentiated from each other. When Commodore Decker took over the Enterprise during the episode The Doomsday Machine, the bridge crew still called him Commodore and not Captain. If you had read my replies, when Admiral Kirk took command of the Enterprise in the movies, he was always called Admiral and not Captain, until he was demoted, and then he was referred to as Captain again.

The only way to become a Captain in Star Trek is through either promotion, field commission, or the Captain makes somebody Acting Captain. If an Admiral is on the bridge of a ship with the Captain, the Admiral is still an Admiral and the Captain is still a Captain. Jean-Luc Picard has not been known as Captain Picard since Nemesis. In Picard season 1, Rios, who wasn’t in Starfleet at the time, even addresses Picard as Admiral.

For an Admiral to be called a Captain again after being promoted to an Admiralcy would be a sign of disrespect. But the solicitation clearly states that Captain Picard is back so I am inferring that something must’ve happened to Picard within the 2 year time gap that is coming up that had cause to lead to his demotion and I am hoping and wondering if that story will be explored, either in the upcoming comics or in season 3. Live long and prosper, Flodburg 🖖.

Nope. In TMP, he’s Captain once he’s in command.

Just because Admiral Kirk takes a field commission does not mean he’s an actual Captain. He is only Captain until the end of the mission and then he goes back to being an Admiral again. What this has to do with a comic book about the Picard series, I have no idea. I used Admiral Kirk as an example because he’s the only main character besides Picard that we get to see as an Admiral on screen (excluding Janeway’s return on Prodigy, which just started.) for any length of time.

But just because somebody takes a field commission does not mean that they stay in that position. Once the crisis is averted, they go back to their regular rank, which for James T. Kirk was Admiral. Live long and prosper, Jack 🖖🙂.

Well don’t forget in the beginning of PIC season 1, Picard was asking for a ship and crew and said flat out if needed he would accept a demotion to captain. Maybe that is what happened here? I hope not but…

I forgot about that, amirami. Maybe that’s what happened? I can see Jean-Luc Picard pulling a Captain Kirk and telling Starfleet that he doesn’t want to be anywhere else but on the bridge of a ship, specifically the Stargazer because that’s his first love, like Captain Kirk’s is the Enterprise. Picard was awestruck when he boarded the new Stargazer for the first time so I definitely can see that happening.

He never got awestruck with the Enterprise. He just kept wanting to blow her up in the movies 😄. But you can clearly see on Picard’s face in the season 2 premiere of Picard this look of like rediscovering his lost love. Live long and prosper, amirami 🖖.

Yeah. I mean if he does get voluntarily get demoted I can live with it. I just think it’s unnecessary that’s all. And it’s true that unlike Kirk, the Stargazer is Picard’s first love. I mean he said as much to Scotty in Relics.

Not that it matters, but I watched TMP twice this last weekend (the Wise re-issue and then, because I missed the goofy male computer voice, the original) — Kirk is called Captain once he assumes command (and Decker’s rank is temporarily reduced to commander).

Doesn’t happen in TWOK.

He was only a temporary Captain in TMP. Admiral Kirk was still Admiral Kirk as soon as they got back to Earth and all through the Enterprise’s second mission after V’Ger he was Admiral Kirk. He did not get demoted until Star Trek IV and then he was officially the Captain of the Enterprise again. All he did was take a temporary field commission back to the Captaincy so that he could get the Enterprise home safely and save the galaxy from V’Ger because Will Decker knew that he didn’t have enough experience to do it himself.

There are countless books and comic books detailing the Enterprise’s second mission after V’Ger and in every single one they call him Admiral Kirk until Star Trek IV and the Enterprise-A. Captain/Admiral Kirk is my favorite Captain/Admiral. I watch TOS every night and the movies on the weekends so I see the same thing you do. Just because he takes a field commission does not mean he’s permanently Captain of the Enterprise.

The above solicitation makes it sound like Captain Picard has been demoted, not given a field commission by Starfleet or the current Captain of the new Stargazer, like Will Decker did with Admiral Kirk. It clearly says “Captain Picard is back” with no clue given as to why they’re calling him Captain again and that was my point. I want to know, if Picard was demoted, what the story is behind that demotion. I’m not gonna argue a character’s history that I have been following since I was 12 years old 31 years ago.

If you’re still curious, I suggest you go and read up on Admiral Kirk’s bio on Memory Alpha. Live long and prosper, Jack 🖖🙂.

Someone probably finally demoted him for losing the Federation flagship on his watch to a century year old Bird of Prey and then on his watch building a failed evacuation fleet out of robots unnecessarily programmed to act as slaves

Hey, if you don’t like Picard, then don’t watch it. What do you get from spreading hate? I’m not here to talk trash about a fictional character. Picard’s made mistakes.

So have all the Captains. Captain Kirk is my favorite Captain and he blew up the flagship of the Federation himself on Genesis. Star Trek is all about second chances. Or did you not learn that after Picard was assimilated by the Borg in The Best Of Both Worlds.

If you don’t like Picard as a character, then don’t watch him or read about his exploits. That’s the power of choice, it’s as simple as that. No is forcing you to watch or read about Jean-Luc Picard. Live long and prosper, Cmd. Bremmon.

Bremmon’s comment in no way qualified as hate. Relax, kid. Not every comment has to agree with yours. That’s not the purpose of the board. Bremmon’s comments were completely fine. If you only want to read opinions you agree with, the Internet isn’t the place for you.

One, I’m not a kid, I’m a 42 year old man, I don’t appreciate you assuming that I’m a kid. That’s pretty rude!!!! Two, how do you know how Bremmon feels about the character of Jean-Luc Picard? He might hate the character or even dislike him, how would you know?

If he was being snarky or sarcastic, then he should definitely put an emoji next to his words that are supposed to be funny in his response. I do, so that people understand what I’m trying to convey. It’s not my job to read between the lines. I don’t know who Bremmon is and he doesn’t know who I am.

I’m just reading words on a screen. To me, his response sounded like he doesn’t like Picard. Maybe hate was too strong of a word? Maybe I should’ve used dislike?

Once again, I don’t know Bremmon and I don’t know you so I just read the words the way that I read them. If something’s meant to be a joke, then emphasize that it’s a joke because I’m not a mind reader. And I don’t need everyone to agree with my opinion. I don’t need to be told about the internet.

And while you’re at it, why don’t you go and say the same thing to Bremmon that you’re saying to me so that he knows in the immediate future that he needs to be more clearer in his responses. Live long and prosper, Lorna Dune 🖖.

OK. Breathe.

There would be no reason to say it to Bremmon. He didn’t say anything offensive. You, on the other hand, went ballistic for reasons that are not at all clear.

One, you called me “kid”. That gives me a reason to get mad. Would you like it if I called you “chick” or “babe”, I don’t think you would. I’m 42 , not 15.

I won’t calm down until you apologize for being rude, which you were. As for Bremmon, I wasn’t mad at him. I was just stating some simple facts. Reading his words, it comes across like he doesn’t like Jean-Luc Picard.

He talks about him losing the Verity and how the Synth attack on Mars was his fault, what am I supposed to infer from those words, huh? That certainly sounds like he dislikes Picard. He certainly has disdain for him. What offensive thing did I say, huh?

You know you’re one to talk. You’re the one being “offensive” here. You call me “kid” and I find that pretty disrespectful. Between the two of us, you’re the only one who’s writing offensive stuff here.

So why don’t you relax and take a chill pill, “babe”. Live long and prosper, Lorna Dune 🖖.

Yes you do “read words on a screen”, but maybe you should read “between” the words. That would give you a better understanding of the meaning, because you seem to be completely off-track in your responses. Perfect example, don’t assume that Lorna Dune is female… my eyes aren’t actually silver.

Hey, buddy, I’m not here to play games. I’m a 42 year old male dude. I don’t hide and play games. Lorna is a woman’s name. If a dude is hiding behind the name “Lorna”, well, that’s his business.

I don’t need to hide behind a false name because I am as real as it gets. When your name’s Johnny Diamond, you don’t have to hide behind any false identities. I am not here to figure out people’s identities. I don’t need to hide behind facets and masks and pretend to be someone I’m not.

And no, I don’t think you have “silver eyes”. How stupid do you think I am? Now you’ve just insulted my intelligence and you don’t even know me. I put a simple query on here about the solicitation for the Picard comic and a bunch of keyboard ninjas have turned it into something else.

If you don’t have anything better to do than come after a 42 year old man with medical disabilities, then how sad is that? I’m through with this entire conversation and this entire charade, period! Live long and prosper, Silvereyes 🖖.

Also, all I did was put down a simple query: I wonder how Captain Picard has become a Captain again? Somebody wrote back “Well, maybe he pulled a Kirk” and all I did was point out how that’s wrong to assume that because when Kirk took command of the Enterprise when he was an Admiral, he was still Admiral Kirk. So, if Picard did that, he would still be Admiral Picard, but, quite clearly, in the solicitation above, it says “Captain Picard is back” and I am wondering why that is. That’s it!

I haven’t “lost my point”. The responders to my message, such as yourself, have lost the point, not me. Live long and prosper, Silvereyes 🖖.

Ha. If Picard should be demoted for any reason it should be for letting Kirk die for no good reason :P

I hope the “old friend” isn’t a TNG crew member at all. I hope it’s like Nuria from Mintaka III or something weird like that

Yeah, I agree with you, amirami. It would be nice if the old friend was a more obscure character. But I doubt it will be because this leads into season 3 and we all know that the TNG crew factor heavily into next season and this comic is supposed to lead into that reunion that’s why I’ve got a funny feeling that the “old friend” is Riker. The solicit reads that Picard needs the help of an old friend because a pre-warp civilization is on the brink of war and I think that the pre-warp civilization that’s on the cusp of war belongs to the planet Malcor III from the episode First Contact.

In that episode, Riker’s identity was compromised so that’s why I’m speculating that he’s the “old friend”. It would be neat to see Nuria again. But they were way pre-warp on Mintaka III. They were running around with bows and arrows.

Whereas Malcor III actually had some level of technology to it because they discovered Riker’s identity, they just didn’t have warp capability yet. I seriously doubt that the Mintakans could’ve achieved anything resembling warp drive in 30 years. I just mentioned Mintaka III because that one and Malcor III were the first two planets that came to mind where Picard had to violate the Prime Directive on TNG. But, if I had to choose between the two, I think the planet that’s more likely to show up in the Stargazer comic is Malcor III rather than Mintaka III.

Live long and prosper, amirami 🖖.

Yeah, I’m sure it will be a TNG character too. I just think it’s an unoriginal Idea, even if it is meant to be a build up to S3. If it does have to be a TNg character tho I don’t want it to be Riker because that is even more unoriginal. We did Riker so much inn S1. I was Captain Worf of the Enterprise with Captain Picard of the Stargazer. Just like we had Captain Kirk and Sulu in ST VI.

The reason I bring up Nuria is because I can totally see that story. Starfleet sets up a new, better duck blind. They witness a new civil war brewing. 1 faction still believes in religion,, the other doesn’t because of the events of the Enterprise and faction A and waging war on faction B. Something that in a lot of ways parallels today.

That’s sounds good 👍! I’d read something like that. To tell you the truth, I have no idea what planet is going to show up in the Picard comic. I know that they violated the Prime Directive I think 8 times on TNG.

Any one of those planets could be the focus for the Stargazer comic. Your guess is as good as mine. But I am pretty sure that the “old friend” is not Worf. The remaining TNG characters that we haven’t seen are going to be saved for when they make their return during Picard season 3.

Plus, at this time in the Picard show itself, I don’t think Worf is in Starfleet anymore. I think he’s retired. I think they’re all retired and doing other stuff, like Riker was. Like Geordie is probably a professor at the Starfleet Corp of Engineers.

Worf I think might’ve gone home to Q’onoS. Beverly is the only one I’m unsure of because if she’s retired, then I can she her maybe doing some type of dancing school, like Gates McFadden does in real life. I don’t know but I am pretty sure that they’re all out of Starfleet. Remember we’re still in the era of Star Trek where there was a Synth attack on Mars so the other TNG characters probably got disillusioned with Starfleet, much like Picard did, because it changed so much from what they remembered of it.

That’s why I think Riker will be the one to show up in the comic because a) we’ve already seen him at this point in the timeline and b)this would be a way to bring Riker’s new ship, the U.S.S Zeng He, into the comics. Live long and prosper, amirami 🖖.

Picard: SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT

Hopefully, he’ll have a chance to say make it sew!

Why would he say “make it sew?” Is he a seamstress?

Naw he just needs a hobby for the winery,

Because “make it sow” suggests Picard has taken up riding a different farm animal.

Why do people keep calling these one-shots Alien Spotlight? That’s a different series from years ago. Not one of these covers say “Alien Spotlight” on them.

I’m just glad IDW is finally stepping away from the mirror universe. David and Scott Tipton are good writers and their older work is great. But this mirror storyline has gone on far too long and it’s getting very repetitive. IDW is only publishing a couple Star Trek titles per year these days and they’re wasting so much time on the mirror universe instead of telling stories about characters people actually care about.

Frankly, I have never found the comics themselves to be all that entertaining or well-produced. They have clever ideas and plots sometimes, and like here, they can be instructive as we speculate on future episodes/movies, but in and of themselves, not so much.

Frankly, i find it remarkable that it’s often the same people who call PIC or DSC poorly written who enjoy the comics.

“i find it remarkable that it’s often the same people who call PIC or DSC poorly written who enjoy the comics.”

That’s an absurdly over-generalized statement that is in no way supportable or based on reality. Star Trek comics have been published since 1967 and have a lot of fans, representing a very wide range of opinions about the TV shows. There is no correlation whatsoever between liking Trek comic fans and disliking PIC and DSC. Seriously, your comment is ridiculous.

I agree with your take on the Star Trek comics, Lorna Dune. I love them ❤️! They’re not all perfect but they’re fun to read because it’s Star Trek. One of the first comics I ever had was one of the Gold Key Star Trek comics, way back in the ’80s.

I was a very little kid when it came out so I can’t tell you what issue it was but it was near the end of Gold Key’s run with the license. As I got older, I collected the DC runs of TOS and TNG in the late-’80s and ’90s. I still have a lot of those comics and a good chunk of the IDW run so far. I enjoy the comics, just as much as I enjoy the novels.

I especially loved the Star Trek: New Visions comics/photo novels by John Byrne. Those were pretty cool👍!! Reading one of those stories was exactly like watching an episode of TOS. John Byrne did a fantastic job!

I love all of Star Trek because I’ve been a full-fledged Trekkie for 30 years now. I have grown to love the newer Star Trek shows the more I watch them. They’re not perfect but what is anymore. You can either move forward with the changes or allow the wheels of time to grind you into dust.

I’m not saying all the shows are perfect either. But I do understand that, in today’s TV, a lot of what goes on now is serialized so I let them tell their story and then I make a decision about it. And there are some stories that are rough to take and some that border on “canon breaking” but they’re the writers and it’s their Star Trek story that they’re telling so let them tell it, that’s how I feel. Live long and prosper, Lorna Dune 🖖.

I’ve never understood the need for somebody to comment on something they very clear dislike intensely. Surely there are more productive ways to spend your time that spreading negativity and judging others?

Not gonna lie, the Picard cover illustrations look…odd.

I was gonna ask. Who’s the bald guy on those covers?

I think he looks oddly more like Tom Hardy’s Shinzon than Stewart’s Picard.

Was thinking the same, at least about the first one. The second one looks the most lik Picard, but that’s probably due to the bald man looking old and having the dog there.

Picard looks way too young in the first one.

Regardless of rank, the commander of a ship is referred to as “Captain” in the Navy (and XOs can hold the rank of “Captain” as well.)

I feel as though this reply is supposed to be for me and my question above. It’s an interesting take but it still doesn’t answer my original question: why is Picard a Captain again and not an Admiral? My enquiry is about what happened, in story/canon, to Jean-Luc Picard for Starfleet to demote him back to being a Captain? Because that’s what the above solicitation makes it sound like, that he was demoted.

Your theory about the ranks has a flaw in it and that is that Star Trek has never played fast and loose with the ranks before, like apparently the Navy does. The only way to reach the Captaincy rank in Star Trek as far as I know, and I could be wrong about it for sure, is through promotion, field commission, or to be made an Acting Captain. The only way for an Admiral to become a Captain again in Star Trek is by demotion, just watch the TOS films. Admiral Kirk tried his hardest to get the Enterprise back, to be her Captain again, and Starfleet would not give her back to him until he was finally demoted.

In those movies and in the vast amount of TOS books and comics that follow those movies, Kirk is always referred to as an Admiral. They do not call him Captain again until he is demoted because that would be seen as a sign of disrespect. When Commodore Decker took over the Enterprise in The Doomsday Machine, the bridge crew didn’t call him Captain Decker, they still called him Commodore. So Star Trek doesn’t adhere to Navy rules when it comes to rank.

The Picard show and books and comics have consistently referred to Picard as either Admiral Picard or just Jean-Luc Picard, not Captain Picard. He has not been called Captain Picard since Nemesis. Even Rios called Picard Admiral in season 1 of Picard and he wasn’t in Starfleet at the time. So to be an Admiral is the highest honor in Starfleet and everyone recognizes that.

But for them to put in the solicitation that “Captain Picard is back”, then that means he must’ve been demoted somewhere along the line and that’s what I want to know. That’s the story I want to find out about. Live long and prosper, Herb Flynn 🖖.

I like the Kelvin comics but they died around the same time as the film series. There hasn’t been any post Beyond Enterprise A comics. Boldly go was a wasted opportunity.

The funny thing about the Kelvin comics was that they were set in the Prime universe and were supposed to be canon. But then Star Trek Picard came around and blew that idea out of the water.

Who is drawing those covers? Fans? None of the three look remotely like Picard.

I’m a little bothered Picard is being called Captain. One can be an Admiral and still command a Starship (see Riker in All good Things or Janeway in Prodigy). And something tells me this now means that Seven’s rank was only temporary.

'Star Trek: Discovery' Finale Easter Eggs You Might Have Missed

From Trill spots to Khan's eels.

The final episode of Star Trek: Discovery’s first season had a lot of surprises, twists, and thankfully, many resolutions, too. But, because there won’t be any new Trek on the air for awhile, the finale was also stuffed with a fair amount of geeky Easter eggs.

But not all the references were the size of a Constitution-class starship . Instead, the finale was strewn with a bunch of small nods to the rest of Trek, some of which were brief enough to have been missed by even the most cunning fans. From very snappy references to the original series, The Next Generation , Deep Space Nine , and even Khan himself, this episode was packed .

Here’s a guide to every Trek deep-cut you might have missed in the Discovery Season 1 finale, “Will You Take My Hand?”

Spoilers ahead for Star Trek: Discovery’s finale. Including, one very, very big reveal.

Orions! LEFT: Vina in 'The Cage' (or 'The Menagerie",1966) RIGHT: Gaila in 'Star Trek' (reboot, 2009)

Most of the action in the finale takes place on an Orion outpost, situated on the Klingon homeworld Qo’nos (Kronos.) The green-skinned Orions go all the way back to the very first Star Trek pilot episode ever , “The Cage,” where the human Vina appears as an Orion in a telepathic illusion projected into Captain Pike’s mind. This footage was later reworked as a flashback into the two-part episode “The Menagerie.” And, although the shot of Vina dancing was often used over the closing credits of the original series, the Orions appeared sporadically in the original series and the animated series. None appeared in The Next Generation , Deep Space Nine , or Voyager. But, the Orions made a comeback in the prequel series Enterprise , and then, in all three of the reboot films. Uhura’s roommate in the 2009 Star Trek was an Orion named Gaila.

RIGHT: Riker and Troi disguised as Mintakans in 'Who Watches the Watchers" (1989). LEFT: Troi as she appeared in most episodes of 'The Next Generation.'

Mintaka III and Betazoids

The evil Terran version of Philippa Georgiou mentions that she and the Mirror Tilly subjugated the Betazoids and destroyed the planet Mintaka III in her universe. This references two aliens races from The Next Generation . Mintaka III was a planet of proto-Vulcans which Riker infiltrated in an anthropological fact-finding mission in the episode “Who Watches the Watchers.” The irony of saying that the Terrans destroyed Mintaka III in the Mirror Universe is that in the Next Generation episode, they feared Picard would blow up their planet, but he hand to convince them that humans were nice.

And the Betazoids, of course, reference a race of telepaths and empaths. The most famous Betazoids are Lwaxana Troi, and her half-human daughter, Counselor Deanna Troi, both from The Next Generation . Weirdly enough, Counselor Trio went undercover with Riker on Mintaka III, too.

Khan's eel in 'Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan'

Khan’s Ceti Eels

When the crew is walking through the Orion marketplace, there are a few Ceti eels being cooked by someone in a frying pan. These are the same kind of eels Khan stuck in Chekov and Captain Terrel ears in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan . Khan knew these eels had mind-control powers. Apparently, the people cooking them in this Discovery episode have no idea that using these things for mind control is probably way smarter than eating them.

Young  Jean-Luc Picard fights a Nausicaan in 'Tapestry.' (1993)

Nausicaan Disruptor Pistols

When Terran Georgiou decides the crew needs some black market items to trade at the Orion outpost, she says, “Gabriel must have found something interesting lying around in this universe.” Later, Tilly and Georgiou bust out some “Nausicaan disruptor pistols” to sell in exchange for hard currency. The Nausicaans are a race of aliens first seen in The Next Generation episode “Tapestry.” In that one, we learned that Captain Picard was stabbed by a gang of Nausicaans in a bar fight as a young cadet, which resulted in him needing an artificial heart for the rest of his life.

Spock, Bones and Kirk in "Bread and Circuses."

“Bread and Circuses”

At one point in the Orion marketplace, Terran Georgiou gets annoyed with the general shenanigans and says, “We didn’t come here for bread and circuses.” The phrase itself comes from a Roman poet named Juvenal, and it usually means “a diet of entertainment or political policies on which the masses are fed to keep them happy and docile.” And, it’s also the title of an original series Star Trek episode!

In the episode Bread and Circuses , the Enterprise encounters a duplicate version of Earth ruled by a contemporary version of the Roman Empire, complete the televised gladiatorial contests. This quip is perfect for Terran Georgiou since it’s heavily implied that the Mirror Universe had a Roman Empire that lasted longer than it did in our universe.

Dax on 'Deep Space Nine.'

Trill Spots!

In what looks like a tattoo parlor on Kronos, Burnham sees someone who looks like they have spots on their neck exactly like those of a Trill. In Deep Space Nine , the Trill were a species of aliens consisting of a humanoid host, and a worm-like symbiot that lived inside them. This allowed someone several lifetimes, personalities, and genders. The most famous Trill was Jadzia Dax.

You know the name. Look up the number.

Old School Distress Call

When the Discovery gets a distress call from the USS Enterprise at the very end of the episode, the sound-effect heard on the bridge is a duplicate of the same distress call Spock got in the episode “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” Also, the registry number of the Enterprise (NCC-1701) is teased out on a display screen just before the ship appears.

Clint Howard in 'Star Trek' in 1966 and in 2018

Clint Howard as an Orion

Veteran character actor Clint Howard appears as a shady Orion who gets Tilly way too high on some volcanic ash on Kronos. The brother of actor/director Ron Howard, Clint Howard is perhaps most famous for starring in the original series episode “The Corbomite Maneuver” where he played a super-intelligent child-like alien, who pretended to be evil and scary. Discovery showrunner Aaron Harberts tells Inverse that his spouse considers Clint Howard to be “his favorite actor.” Howard has actually appeared in two other Trek series as a guest star at one point or another.

Burnham and Sarek in 'Discovery'

“Isik For Your Thoughts?”

In an alteration of the idiom “penny for your thoughts,” both Tyler and Amanda Grayson say “Isik for your thoughts?” Burnham asks her adoptive mother, “What is an isik anyway?” Amanda says she doesn’t know. Think it might be a future form of cryptocurrency that has gone away by the time of the 23rd century? Nope. It’s a just a type of faux-gold that was mentioned once in an episode of Deep Space Nine called “Rivals.”

The new Enterprise is the old Enterprise

The USS Enterprise

Actually, nobody missed this one.

Star Trek: Discovery has been renewed for a second season. No air date is scheduled at this time.

• Cast & crew
• User reviews
• Episode aired Mar 24, 1990

Picard is kidnapped and held with three different aliens and meanwhile replaced with a replica as impostor captain. Picard is kidnapped and held with three different aliens and meanwhile replaced with a replica as impostor captain. Picard is kidnapped and held with three different aliens and meanwhile replaced with a replica as impostor captain.

• Winrich Kolbe
• Gene Roddenberry
• Richard Manning
• Hans Beimler
• Patrick Stewart
• Jonathan Frakes
• LeVar Burton
• 12 User reviews
• 11 Critic reviews

• Captain Jean-Luc Picard

• Commander William Thomas 'Will' Riker

• Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge

• Lieutenant Worf

• Doctor Beverly Crusher

• Counselor Deanna Troi

• Lieutenant Commander Data

• Wesley Crusher

• Mitena Haro

• Crewman Garvey
• (uncredited)
• Crewman Martinez

• Ensign Russell

• Operations Division Ensign

• Command Division Officer
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Did you know

• Trivia The Offspring (1990) and "Allegiance," with their minimal sets, were written in part to balance the series' budget after Yesterday's Enterprise (1990) .
• Goofs Data describes the nearest pulsar as "a rotating neutron star of approximately 4.656 solar masses". This might anticipate a future breakthrough. Current physics has been putting the maximum possible mass of neutron stars at 3 solar masses (the Richard Tolman - J. Robert Oppenheimer -George Volkoff limit, calculated in 1939).

Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Well. I think this charade has gone far enough.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard : [to Haro] Don't you?

Mitena Haro : I don't understand.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Oh yes, you do. This isn't a holding cell. It's a laboratory maze, a carefully structured test. It's an experiment to see how well we react under pressure.

Esoqq : How do you know?

Captain Jean-Luc Picard : It's the only explanation. Look at the four of us. We do have something in common: we all react differently to authority.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard : [to Tholl] You, the collaborator, defer to whoever has control.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard : [to Esoqq] You, the anarchist, reject authority in any form. I, a Starfleet captain, trained to command.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard : [to Haro] And you, a Starfleet cadet, sworn to obey a superior officer's authority. - Our captors have placed us here, and have devised obstacles for us to overcome. They give us food, which Esoqq can't eat, to make him a threat. They give us a door we can't open - until the four of us cooperate. And each time we succeed, they deal us reverses, to set us against each other again,

Captain Jean-Luc Picard : [to Haro] while *you*... observe our reactions.

Mitena Haro : Sir, I've been trying to help...

Captain Jean-Luc Picard : I found it unlikely that a first-year cadet would know of the Enterprise's visit to Mintaka III, so I tested you. Starfleet has classified the Cor Caroli V plague a secret. No cadet would have knowledge of that incident.

Mitena Haro : [whispering] Captain...

Captain Jean-Luc Picard : So, you may as well drop this pretense. I'm not playing any further. I'm quitting this game! As far as I am concerned, this experiment is over!

Mitena Haro : You are correct, Captain Picard.

• Connections Features Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Survivors (1989)
• Soundtracks Star Trek: The Next Generation Main Title Composed by Jerry Goldsmith and Alexander Courage

User reviews 12

• Jun 24, 2021
• March 24, 1990 (United States)
• United States
• Official site
• Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA (Studio)
• Paramount Television
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 45 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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© 1999-2002 by Star Trek Dimension / Webmaster . Last update: April 19th, 2002

Class O stars are very hot and very luminous, being bluish in color; in fact, most of their output is in the ultraviolet range. These are the rarest of all main sequence stars. About 1 in 3,000,000 of the main sequence stars in the solar neighborhood are Class O stars. Some of the most massive stars lie within this spectral class.

Class B stars are extremely luminous and blue. As O and B stars are so powerful, they only live for a very short time, and thus they do not stray far from the area in which they were formed.

A Class A is a light blue star that is made up of strong hydrogen and some ionized metals. The temperature ranges from 7,500 to 10,000 degress K.

A Class F star is white and is made up of hydrogen and ionized metals. Also in the star there is calcium and iron. The temperature in this type of star is between 6,000 and 7,500 K.

A G-class (or G-type) star is a stellar classification for stars composed of both neutral and ionized atoms of metallic substances, including ionized calcium, emitting in the neighborhood of 5,000 to 6,000 Kelvin, generally referred to as being yellow in color. G-type stars in the main sequence tend to be median in terms of absolute magnitude, and in the "cooler" half of the stellar classification system. Yellow G-type stars can range in size from yellow giants to the more diminutive yellow dwarf.

A K class (also K type or orange star) is a type of star that is made up of neutral metals. The temperature is around 3,500 through 5,000 Kelvin. Some K stars are giants and supergiants, such as Arcturus, while orange dwarfs, like Alpha Centauri B, are main sequence stars.

Class M is by far the most common class. About 76% of the main sequence stars in the solar neighborhood are Class M stars. Although most Class M stars are red dwarfs, the class also hosts most giants and some supergiants such as Antares and Betelgeuse, as well as Mira variables.

A protostar is a star in the very earliest stage of development, when interstellar gas is still undergoing gravitational collapse, and nuclear fusion at the core has just begun. The Argolis Cluster is an example of a protostar cluster.

Collapsing protostars sometimes emit E-band bursts and are often marked by high levels of magnetascopic interference, which impair sensor function.

In theory, a type-6 protostar could be used to generate a wormhole.

A flare star is a type of star which regularly experiences brief, random outbursts of solar flares over its surface disrupting energy patterns in its system and sometimes endangering lifeforms.

The rare hypergiant star is one which shares similar characteristics with a supergiant star, but is 100 times more massive than Sol. The theoretical lifespan of a hypergiant is one to two million years. Supposedly, like its supergiant companions, a hypergiant star will go supernova when it exhausts its supply of fuel and gravity crushes the inert remains.

The Enterprise NX-01 was the first Earth ship to research a red hypergiant at close range in 2152; it was nearly a billion kilometers in circumference and was not expected to go supernova for another one hundred or two hundred years.

A neutron star is a type of remnant that can result from the gravitational collapse of a massive star during a Type II, Type Ib or Type Ic supernova event. Such stars are composed almost entirely of neutrons, which are subatomic particles without electrical charge and a slightly larger mass than protons. Neutron stars are very hot and are supported against further collapse because of the Pauli exclusion principle. This principle states that no two neutrons (or any other fermionic particle) can occupy the same place and quantum state simultaneously. Some neutron stars, called pulsars, emit beams of electromagnetic radiation from their poles.

A red dwarf is a small, cool, very faint, main sequence star with a surface temperature under about 4,000 K. Red dwarves are the most common type of star.

Proxima Centauri and 40 Eridani C are examples of red dwarf stars.

A red giant is a very large, relatively cool star, formed when a main sequence star runs out of hydrogen and begins fusing helium. Some red giants are considered B class stars.

Supergiants are among the most massive stars. Supergiants can have masses from 10 to 70 solar masses and brightness from 30,000 up to hundreds of thousands times the solar luminosity. They vary greatly in radii, usually from 30 to 500, or even in excess of 1,000 solar radii. The Stefan-Boltzmann law dictates that the relatively cool surfaces of red supergiants radiate much less energy per unit area than those of blue supergiants; thus, for a given luminosity red supergiants are larger than their blue counterparts. Supergiants occur in every spectral class from young blue class O supergiants stars to highly evolved red class M supergiants. Rigel, the brightest star in the constellation Orion is a typical blue-white supergiant, whereas Betelgeuse and Antares are red supergiants.

A T-Tauri type star is one in the earliest phase of its lifespan. The type is named for the first discovered star of this type, seen from Earth as part of the Taurus constellation.

Small, extremely unstable wormholes are a phenomenon sometimes encountered in T-Tauri systems - in the century between 2267 and 2367, thirty-nine had been mapped.

A white dwarf is a star formed when a red giant runs out of helium fuel after losing most of its mass into space.

White dwarfs are the only natural source of vertion particles. In 2370, a network emergent circuit nodes aboard the Enterprise-D collected vertions from the white dwarf Tambor Beta-6 to sustain their growth, but the supply from a single star proved insufficient.

A yellow dwarf is a classification of star which is undergoing hydrogen-helium conversion. Sol is a well-known yellow dwarf star. Such a star has about 0.8 to 1.2 solar masses and a surface temperature of between 5,300 and 6,000 K. A yellow dwarf star will fuse hydrogen for approximately 10 billion years, until it is exhausted at the center of the star. When this happens, the star expands to many times its previous size and becomes a red giant, such as Aldebaran. Eventually the red giant sheds its outer layers of gas, which become a planetary nebula, while the core cools and contracts into a compact, dense white dwarf

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Star Facts: Mintaka

July 3, 2017 James Miller Stars 0

Mintaka (Delta Orionis), a white-blue star situated 1,200 light years away in the “belt” of the famous constellation Orion, is located so close to the celestial equator that its rising and setting follows an almost exact east and west direction. However, Mintaka is actually a complex multi-star system with a combined apparent visual magnitude of +2.23 or +2.25, which makes it either the 67rd or the 73th brightest star in the entire night sky, depending on the source consulted and the method used to establish the star’s magnitude.

Orion is one of the most easily recognized constellations in the night sky, and can be seen by observers located between latitudes of +85° and -75°. A famous asterism within this constellation called Orion’s Belt is one of the straightest lines formed by three or more stars in the night sky, and consists of Alnitak (Zeta Orionis), Alnilam (Epsilon Orionis), and Mintaka. When Orion is close to the meridian, observers in the northern hemisphere looking south can see Mintaka as the right-most star in the “belt”.

Physical Properties

Multi-Star System

Mintaka (d Ori A) is a rather complex multi-star system whose primary component (Aa1) is a very hot, 09.5-type blue giant star that forms a tight eclipsing binary with Aa2, a 7th magnitude B-class main sequence star located roughly 52 seconds of arc away, with the pair having an orbital period of 5.73 days. There is also an exceedingly faint third member called Ab situated between the primary pair that orbits the system once very 346 years.

Furthermore, Aa2 is a rare type of B-class sub giant that is itself a close spectroscopic binary with a faint 14th magnitude A-type companion that orbits once every 30-days. This faint 14th magnitude star is believed to be located at the same distance that Aa2 is from Aa1, but almost nothing is known about this star, and it is far from certain whether it is related at all to the primary pair or not. To put this into perspective, it must be noted that Mintaka is all but surrounded by a cluster of faint stars that may or may not be part of the larger cluster of stars that surround the nearby star Sigma Orionis.

While parallax measurements made by the Hipparcos satellite state that the distance to the Mintaka system is 212 ± 30 parsecs (1 parsec = 3.26 light years), other methods to determine the distance, such as spectroscopic studies, comparisons to similar stars, and cluster membership all reveal that the distance to the system should be at least twice the Hipparcos value. However, this kind of irreconcilable difference is not unique to the Mintaka system, although there is as yet no workable explanation as to why these differences occur in the first place.

Quick Facts

Mintaka (d Ori A)

• Constellation: Orion • Coordinates d Ori A (Aa1 + Aa2 + Ab)): RA 05h 32m 00.40009s|Dec. -00° 17′ 56.7424″ • Distance: ± 1,200 light years • Apparent Magnitude (d Ori A (Aa1 + Aa2 + Ab)): 2.23 (2.50 + 3.90) • Luminosity (d Ori A (Aa1 + Aa2 + Ab)): 190,000 sol

The following information applies only to the systems’s three main individual component stars, whose combined details have been noted above:

• Star Type : (O9.5II + B1V +B0IV) + B3V • Mass: 24 sol • Radius: 16.5 sol • Surface Temperature: 29,500 • Rotational Velocity: 130 km/sec • Age: Undetermined • Other Designations: d Orionis, 34 Orionis, 88 G. Orionis, FK5 206, HIP 25930, ADS 4134, CCDM J05320-0018, WDS J05320-0018

Mass: 8.4 sol Radius: 6.5 sol Luminosity: 16,000 sol Temperature: 25 600K Rotational velocity: 150 km/s

Mass: 22.5 sol Radius: 10.4 sol Luminosity: 63,000 sol Temperature: 28,400K Rotational velocity: 220 km/s

Collectively, the three “belt stars” have had many names in different cultures. For instance, some old Arabic names include “Al Nijad”, meaning “The Belt”, “Al Nasak, meaning “The Line,” Al Alkat” , meaning “Golden Grains” or “Nuts”, while a modern Arabic name, “Al Mizan al H•akk”, means “The Accurate Scale Beam”. The star also appears in old Chinese mythology as “The Weighing Beam”. In Spain and Portugal, the “belt stars” are known as “The Three Mary’s”, while in some other Christian traditions, the star Mintaka is also known as the third member of the troupe of Wise Men that travelled to the town of Bethlehem.

Related Post:

• Locating the Orion Constellation
• Deep Sky Objects in Orion
• Orion Constellation Myths

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As of 2366, the Mintakans are a non-spacefaring culture, with a technological level akin to the Bronze Age. Their technology is limited but includes huts, tapestry and bows and arrows.

Culture and society [ ]

Like most humanoids, the early Mintakans were superstitious and assigned supernatural explanations to things they couldn't understand. This had already began to change during the 24th century, as many Mintakans no longer believed in spirits or deities.

According to Deanna Troi, Mintakans have highly-ordered minds, similar to the Vulcans, although they do not repress emotions. It is customary for Mintakan women to precede their mates as a signal to other women that if they want that man to perform any kind of service for them, it's with her that they have to negotiate.

Appearances [ ]

• Star Trek: The Next Generation , season 3 episode 4, "Who Watches the Watchers" (1989)
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• 2019-09-07 2024-01-24

Mintaka, Delta Orionis (δ Ori), is the westernmost star of Orion’s Belt . It is a multiple star system with a combined visual magnitude of 2.23, located at an approximate distance of 1,200 light years from Earth. Mintaka is the seventh brightest star in Orion and the 73rd brightest star in the sky. It is the faintest of the stars that form Orion’s familiar hourglass shape, but only slightly dimmer than Saiph , the bright supergiant star that marks the Hunter’s right knee.

Star system

Mintaka consists of several components. Mintaka A, the primary one, is itself a triple star, composed of three blue stars: a class O bright giant, a class B star still on the main sequence, and a class B subgiant. The first two stars, usually referred to as Mintaka Aa1 and Aa2 or Delta Orionis Aa1 and Aa2, orbit each other with a period of 5.73 days, causing slight variations in brightness as they eclipse each other during their orbit. Delta Orionis Aa is the closest massive eclipsing binary system to Earth and has been extensively studied by scientists as it helps them understand the properties and mechanics of such systems.

The subgiant star, Mintaka Ab, is separated by 0.26” from the main pair and orbits Mintaka Aa with a period of more than 400 years. The primary eclipse causes the magnitude to drop from 2.23 to 2.35, while the secondary one makes it drop to 2.29.

Mintaka and Orion’s Belt, image: Wikisky

Mintaka B is a dim 14th magnitude star that may or may not be physically related to the other stars. Its properties are mostly uncertain.

Mintaka C, designated HD 36485 and sometimes referred to as B, is a main sequence star with the spectral classification B and an apparent magnitude of 6.85. It is in fact a spectroscopic binary system with a dim class A companion. The stars orbit each other every 30 days.

Orion’s Belt

Mintaka, Alnilam and Alnitak form Orion’s Belt , one of the most recognizable asterisms in the night sky. Mintaka lies west of the two stars and is in fact slightly closer to Alnitak , the easternmost Belt star, than it is to Alnilam , the central star, because the latter is located at a much greater distance.

Orion’s Belt has been known since ancient times and the three stars were known by many names. In English-speaking countries, they are known as Jacob’s Rod, Peter’s Staff, the Yard-stick, the Three Marys, the Three Kings, and Our Lady’s Wand. Similarly, in South America and Portugal, their names include “Las Tres Marías” (Spanish) and “As Três Marias” (Portuguese). In Puerto Rico and the Philippines, they are associated with The Three Kings and called “Los Tres Reyes Magos.”

Orion’s Belt, image: Davide De Martin (http://www.skyfactory.org); Credit: Digitized Sky Survey, ESA/ESO/NASA FITS Liberator

In the Arabic-speaking world, the stars’ names include Al Nijād (the Belt), Al Alkāt (the Golden Nuts) and Al Mīzān al Ḥaqq (the Accurate Scale Beam). In ancient Egyptian culture, Orion was associated with Osiris and the bright star Sirius with his wife. The controversial Orion correlation theory suggests that the three pyramids at Giza were arranged to represent Orion’s Belt .

The Chinese know the Belt stars as the Weighing Beam. The stars are also part of an asterism called Three Stars (參宿), which originally only consisted of the three stars of the Belt, but several other bright stars – Betelgeuse , Rigel , Bellatrix and Saiph – were added to it later. In reference to the asterism, Mintaka’s Chinese name is the Third Star of Three Stars (參宿三).

The stars of Orion’s Belt are best seen during the northern hemisphere winter/southern summer, especially in January around 9 pm. They reach the highest point in the sky on December 15.

In 1900, French astronomer Henri Alexandre Deslandres carried out radial velocity measurements at Paris Observatory and found that Mintaka had a variable radial velocity. This indicated that it was a spectroscopic binary star. Deslandres’ measurements led to an estimate of the system’s orbital period – 1.92 days – which was proven incorrect in 1904, when German astronomer and physicist Johannes Franz Hartmann showed that the period was in fact 5.7 days. Hartmann used photographic plates taken at Potsdam Observatory and his observations led to the first ever detection of the interstellar medium. While studying Mintaka’s spectroscopy, Hartmann noticed that most of the stellar spectrum had a shift due to the star’s orbital motion, with the exception of calcium lines. He theorized that this indicated the presence of a cloud that contained calcium in the line of sight to Mintaka.

Mintaka is the closest bright star (of all the first through third magnitude stars) to the celestial equator. It lies only a quarter of a degree to the south. The star’s proximity to the equator makes it an excellent guidepost for finding east and west. For observers at the equator, the star rises and sets in an almost exact east and west direction. It stays in the sky for almost exactly 12 hours. Being so close to the equator, it also shows where the northern and southern celestial hemispheres meet.

Like many other exceptionally bright stars, Mintaka has often been used and referenced in works of fiction. It was memorably used in the episodes “Who Watches the Watchers” of Star Trek: The Next Generation and “Durka Returns” of Farscape , in Piers Anthony’s Cluster series of novels, and in the Baten Kaitos video games.

The name Mintaka (pronunciation: /ˈmɪntəkə/, with stress on the first syllable) comes from the Arabic manṭaqa , meaning “belt.” It was approved for Delta Orionis Aa by the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) on July 20, 2016.

Mintaka is very easy to identify because it is part of Orion’s Belt and Orion ‘s larger hourglass asterism, also formed by the bright Rigel , Betelgeuse , Bellatrix and Saiph . It is the western star of Orion’s Belt, appearing to the right of Alnilam and Alnitak to northern observers when Orion is near the meridian.

Orion stars, image: Wikisky

The best time of year to observe Orion’s Belt stars is the northern hemisphere winter/southern summer, when Orion constellation rises highest in the sky. The constellation is visible in the evening from November to May and can be seen before dawn from late July to November. To southern observers, the hourglass shape appears upside down.

Orion’s Belt and the Orion Nebula (M42), image: Wikisky

Constellation

Mintaka is located in the constellation Orion , the Hunter. Known since prehistoric times, Orion is one of the most recognizable constellations in the sky . It is home to two first magnitude supergiants – Rigel and Betelgeuse – as well as to a number of notable deep sky objects. Most of these are portions of the immense star forming region known as the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. They include the bright Orion Nebula (Messier 42) with the Trapezium Cluster , the neighbouring De Mairan’s Nebula (Messier 43), the reflection nebula Messier 78 , and the emission nebulae Barnard’s Loop (Sharpless 276), the Flame Nebula (NGC 2024) and IC 434 with the dark Horsehead Nebula (Barnard 33).

Orion constellation map by IAU and Sky&Telescope magazine

The 10 brightest stars in Orion are Rigel (Beta Ori, mag. 0.05 – 0.18), Betelgeuse (Alpha Ori, mag. 0.0 – 1.3), Bellatrix (Gamma Ori, mag. 1.59 to 1.64), Alnilam (Epsilon Ori, mag. 1.64 – 1.74), Alnitak A (Zeta Ori A, mag. 2.00), Saiph (Kappa Ori, mag. 2.09), Mintaka AB (Delta Ori AB, mag. 2.23), Hatysa (Iota Ori, mag. 2.77), Tabit (Pi 3 Ori, mag. 3.16), and Eta Orionis (mag. 3.31 – 3.6).

Mintaka – Delta Orionis

• View history

Nuria was a leader of a community of Mintakans , who were a pre-industrial proto-Vulcan humanoid civilization of the planet Mintaka III .

In 2366 , a team of Federation anthropologists , observing the Mintakans out of a duck blind , were observed by the Mintakans when the fusion reactor powering their hidden station malfunctioned. One of the scientists , Palmer , was injured and subsequently recovered by the Mintakans and Nuria, who helped to treat his injuries.

In an effort to mitigate the cultural contamination which had begun to revive the Mintakan belief in a supreme deity , Jean-Luc Picard beamed Nuria aboard the USS Enterprise -D and attempted to explain to her the workings of 24th century exploration. Despite first failing to grasp the meaning of Picard's message, Nuria eventually came to understand that their planet's visitors were no less mortal than themselves and relayed this message to her people. Grateful for the understanding that Picard had bestowed, Nuria and her community presented him with a Mintakan tapestry as a gift before the Enterprise -D departed. ( TNG : " Who Watches The Watchers ")