Gliese 68

Gliese 68 (107 Piscium)

Factual

Other names or catalog designations for this star include 107 Piscium, HR 493, Hip 7981, and HD 10476. It is a K1 type star, about 89% the mass of our sun, with 37% the luminosity. It is located 24.4 light years away in the constellation Pisces. It is an old star (slightly older than Sol), and a planet in the middle of its habitable zone would have an orbit of about 202 (Earth) days.

Fictional

Gliese 68 is mentioned in The Chara Talisman as a place Carson is looking at mounting an expedition to, and Quentin Ducayne uses that to hook his interest, saying he wants someone to do "a little side investigation for us in that direction". This is just a ruse to get Carson to meet with Ducayne. Carson ends up going off in a totally different direction.

Because of Carson's interest, it's safe to assume that Gliese 68 has an Earthlike, probably terraformed, planet with some indication that there is something of archeological interest there. An orange star (K1), Gliese 68 is similar to Alpha Centauri B (also K1, but very slightly larger and brighter), around which Kakuloa orbits.

No T-Space stories (as of mid-2017) have any information about this system. Other authors have mentioned the system (usually as 107 Piscium):

• Absolution Gap (2003), novel by Alastair Reynolds. 107 Piscium is orbited by the gas giant Haldora which is in turn orbited by the habitable moon Hela, colonized in the 27th century.
• Starhawk (2013), novel by Jack McDevitt. 107 Piscium is orbited by the planet Selika, undergoing controversial terraforming operations.

Presumably by coincidence, Starhawk is also the name of Hopkin's ship in The Chara Talisman (published 2011).