A very cool article descibing what is possible and what isn’t possible
in Star Trek:
So, what are the features of Star Trek that a person interested in
science can enjoy without guilt, and what features rightly tick off
those persnickety critics? Well, many of the star systems mentioned on
the show, such as Wolf 359, really do exist. Usually, though, the
writers just make them up! There have also been some beautiful special
effects pictures of binary stars and solar flares which were
astronomically accurate and instructive. The best accuracy and worst
stumbles can be found among the features of the show that have becom e
constant through all of the episodes. Here’s a list of the standard
Star Trek features, roughly in order of increasing scientific
incredibility: