Alpha Centauri
The closest stellar neighbor to Sol, located just four light-years from Earth. Site of the local Galactic Hyperspace Planning Council department where Earth's demolition orders were on display for fifty Earth years.
Stellar Dossier: Alpha Centauri
"There's no point in acting all surprised about it. All the planning charts and demolition orders have been on display in your local planning department in Alpha Centauri for fifty of your Earth years, so you've had plenty of time to lodge any formal complaint and it's far too late to start making a fuss about it now."
— Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Chapter 3
Alpha Centauri (also referred to in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as Alpha Proxima) is a triple star system in the Western Spiral Arm located a mere four light-years from Sol—meaning that light, traveling at $186,000$ miles per second, takes eight minutes to travel from Sol to where Earth used to be, and four years more to arrive at its nearest stellar neighbour, Alpha Proxima. In the administrative geography of the Galactic Hyperspace Planning Council, Alpha Centauri serves as the local municipal planning hub for the surrounding uncharted backwaters, including Earth.
The Local Planning Department & Earth's Demolition Orders
When Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz and the Vogon Constructor Fleet arrived over Earth to clear the star system for a new hyperspatial express route, the population of Earth reacted with uncomprehending terror and desperate panic. To the Vogon mind, this reaction was wholly inexcusable:
- Fifty Earth Years on Display: In strict accordance with galactic statutory law, all the planning charts and demolition orders for Earth had been openly on display in the local planning department in Alpha Centauri for fifty Earth years prior to demolition day.
- Only Four Light-Years Away: When a frantic radio operator on Earth broadcast a final plea back to the Vogon ships protesting that mankind had never been to Alpha Centauri, Jeltz slammed the planet-wide PA system back on in annoyance:
"What do you mean you've never been to Alpha Centauri? For Heavens's sake, mankind, it's only four light-years away, you know. I'm sorry, but if you can't be bothered to take an interest in local affairs that's your own lookout."
- The Bureaucratic Parallel: Sociologists at Megadodo Publications have long marveled at the symmetry between the Alpha Centauri planning office and the Cottington Local Planning Office on Earth, where the bypass plans for Arthur Dent's House had similarly been "on display" in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying "Beware of the Leopard."
Indigenous Ecology: The Small Furry Creatures
Alpha Centauri is celebrated in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as the ancestral home of the Small Furry Creatures from Alpha Centauri. During the heroic dawn of the former Galactic Empire—when men were real men, women were real women, and adventurers boldly split infinitives that no man had split before—these creatures achieved galactic immortality simply by being genuinely, authentically small and furry.
Algol (The Demon Star / Beta Persei)
A ferocious, eclipsing triple star system in the Western Spiral Arm. Famed for its violent thermonuclear flares, the legendary 'fires of the Algolian suns', and the terrifying apex predator known as the Algolian Suntiger.
Antares (Alpha Scorpii)
A colossal red supergiant star in the Western Spiral Arm, renowned throughout the decadent circles of the Galaxy as the exclusive native habitat of the Antarean Parakeet.