Isn’t It Convenient
That the list of the nearest sun-like stars, those most like our sun in brightness and age, and thus most likely to have an Earth-like planet around them with some sort of evolved life, already have names that look like they were coined by science-fiction writers?
Epsilon Eridani
Tau Ceti
Sigma Draconis
Delta Pavonis
82 Eridani
Beta Hydrii
Zeta Tucanae
Beta Canum Venaticorum
Gliese 67
Gliese 853
18 Scorpii
51 Pegasi
Most of them go back to the 17th or early 18th centuries, thanks to the Bayer and Flamsteed catalogues.
-Miles Lascaux
Ambiance 
amba12 said,
April 21, 2009 at 1:00 am
Pavonia was a stop on the PATH train to Newark. We used to joke that it sounded like the name of a small country on Mission: Impossible.
I’d feel right at home in that star system. Planet Secaucus . . .
Oh no, it’s Pavonis. The Peacock? I can’t read this tiny type on my own home blog!
amba12 said,
April 21, 2009 at 1:01 am
I haven’t been around much because I am absolutely buried under a Secaucus-sized mound of work.
Icepick said,
April 21, 2009 at 11:37 am
Miles, given that many science fiction writers have been heavily involved in science and engineering it would be more appropriate to say that they choose the names in their stories to align with reality.