Deneb in fiction

Estimates for Deneb's radius range from 200 to 300 times that of the Sun, right

Deneb (Alpha Cygni), a highly luminous blue-white supergiant star, is the brightest star in the constellation Cygnus and one of the brightest stars in the night sky. Perhaps for this reason, it is frequently mentioned as a location or destination in works of science fiction.

Literature

Map of the Denebian planet Aar, from the 1943 Captain Future story "Star of Dread"

• Deneb is the home of Jeff Raven in the Talents series of books (The Rowan, Damia, Damia's Children, Lyon's Pride, The Tower and the Hive) by Anne McCaffrey. The planet is the first human planet in the series to be attacked by the bug-like Hive.

• Denebian characters and events are part of the Isaac Asimov universe, e.g. in the short stories "The Machine that Won the War" and "The Feeling of Power".

• Hal Clement's short story "Uncommon Sense" takes place on an unnumbered planet around Deneb.

• In David Weber's Honor Harrington series, the Deneb Accords govern treatment of military prisoners, much like relevant parts of the Geneva Convention.

• In Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos, Deneb Drei and Deneb Vier are the (inhabited) third and fourth planets around Deneb. Given their names, they were likely settled by Germans or other German-speaking peoples (drei and vier are the German words for three and four).

• In the Marvel Comic Universe, Zenn-La is a fictional planet located in the Deneb System. It is the birthplace of the Silver Surfer, also known as Norrin Radd.

• In the Captain Future books, Deneb is the origin of Earth humans, as well as many other humanoid races across the Solar System and beyond.

Television

• Deneb is frequently mentioned in various versions of the Star Trek television series:
  • In the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before", Captain Kirk and Gary Mitchell briefly mention a night Mitchell spent on Deneb IV. Mitchell describes the Denebian woman involved as "a nova". Mitchell's medical record mentions that the inhabitants of Deneb IV are telepathic.
  • In the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "I, Mudd", Harry Mudd and Mr. Spock note that capital punishment (in whatever form the condemned choses) is the penalty for fraud on Deneb V.
  • In the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "The Trouble With Tribbles", Korax describes Captain Kirk as being a "Denebian slime devil".
  • Deneb IV is also mentioned in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Encounter at Farpoint".

• Deneb IV is the location of an Earth colony in the Babylon 5 universe.

• The Deneb System is home of the Yrrillians, the makers of the life-pod in the British television series Aquila.

• The Deneb System may be the location of the Cygnus Alpha penal colony in Blake's 7. Deneb is also known as Alpha Cygni.

Games

Deneb within the constellation Cygnus

• Deneb is the location of two major battles in the FreeSpace space-sim universe, the first between the Terrans and Vasudans against the Shivans during the mid 24th century, and the second between Galactic Terran-Vasudan Alliance and the Neo-Terran Front several decades later.

• Deneb is a system in the outskirts of the Earth & Beyond universe.

• The Domain of Deneb is a region of the Imperium in the universe of the Traveller role-playing game. It includes the Deneb Sector, whose capital is at Deneb itself.

• Deneb is the 4th level in the PC game: Stellar 7.

• Deneb is a default system name in the Spaceward Ho! series.

• Deneb is the border system between the Itani and Serco factions in Vendetta Online.

Music

• The song Cygnus X-1, by the progressive rock band Rush features the lyric: "I set a course just east of Lyra, northwest of Pegasus. Flew into the light of Deneb, sailed across the Milky Way."

• The song Deneb, by contemporary post-metal band Rosetta from the second disk of their debut two-disc release, The Galilean Satellites is named after the star.