Yes, it’s another update! After I did the last update to the French and Chinese Arms, I was pointed to some new data that changed the locations for some of the Brown Dwarfs used here. Most of the affected BDs shifted only slightly (not enough to change their positions in the subway map), but a few of them did change significantly, and one of the ones that moved significantly was WISE J1541-2250, whose location changed from being about 9 ly from Sol to being 44 ly away! Unfortunately, that was one of the systems at the start of the American Arm so an update was required for the American Arm – now the American Arm is back to sharing its first few systems with the Chinese Arm. All of the changes that resulted from the new data are described below:
– Since WISE J1541-2250 is no longer in the right place, the American Arm now starts at Sol and then follows the Chinese Arm through Alpha Centauri (Tirane), Barnard’s Star, Ross 154 and AX Microscopii. Serurier is now at Ross 154 (as it is in canon), and Broward is now at AX Microscopii. The American Arm now continues through the binary brown dwarf system SCR 1845-635(7), the very young red dwarf Gliese 674, and then rejoins the rest of the Arm at 36 Ophiuchi (DM -26 12026).
– As a result of these changes, Broward is no longer located at Wolf 1061, and Wolf 1061 is no longer considered part of the American Arm (though it is still accessible from it). Serurier is similarly no longer at WISE J1049-5319 (though that system is still on the French Arm and is now just a waystation on the way to Nyotekundu).
– Ross 458 has been removed from one end of the Pentapod Arm, since it is now out of range because of the new data – the Pentapod Arm now ends at Gliese 516 A.
– The brown dwarf WISEPA J1828+2650 is no longer located between Mu Herculis (Hermes) and Gliese 745 (the BD is now out of range and further away from Sol). This means that a Stutterwarp Tug is necessary to access Gliese 745 from Mu Herculis, and then from Gliese 745 another Stutterwarp Tug is required to reach Gliese 748 in the Beta Aquilae Cluster. This makes it somewhat harder to reach the Cluster, since there are no longer any brown dwarfs to bridge even part of the distance to it.
– The subway maps for all three Arms have been updated with these changes, so be sure to check them again!
– There is also now a “secret route” between the Antares and Beta Canum branches of the French Arm. I haven’t shown this route on the French Arm subway map because it’s not actually terribly useful, but I mention it here for completeness. The route goes from Gliese 518 on the Antares branch to Gliese 486 to WISEP J1217+1626 (a new Brown Dwarf) to Gliese 436 to (61 Ursae Majoris, Gliese 450, and Xi Ursae Majoris). The star Denebola can also be reached directly from J1217+1626. I originally thought that the existence of this new route might allow the Kafers to reach to Beta Canum to attack it during their invasion of human space, but it’s very unlikely that they would be able to actually locate such a dim object with their technology. It could allow a human force to travel between the arms, however.
You can check out the updated American Arm here: http://evildrganymede.net/wp/2013/09/09/2300ad-realistic-star-map-project-part-iv-the-new-american-arm/.
Hopefully this will be the last update to this 2300AD Realistic Star Map Project – I don’t intend to make any further changes or additions unless there’s something really major to update (new brown dwarfs near Sol, radically updated distance etc)!