Editing Foundation and Earth (section)

===Part VI: Alpha===
They arrive at the planet [[Alpha (planet)|Alpha]], which orbits [[Alpha Centauri]] and is all ocean except for an island {{convert|250|km}} long and {{convert|65|km}} wide on which live a small group of humans.  In a reference to the radioactive Earth of Asimov's novel ''[[Pebble in the Sky]]'', the restoration of Earth's soil was eventually abandoned in favour of resettling the population to "New Earth", which the First Galactic Empire had already been [[terraforming]]. The natives appear friendly, but secretly they intend to kill the visitors with a microbiological agent to prevent them from informing the rest of the galaxy of their existence. They are warned to escape before the agent can be activated by a native woman who has formed an attraction to Trevize and was impressed by Fallom's ability to play a flute with just her mind. Now certain that Alpha Centauri is not Earth but near it, they approach a system close by and are puzzled by the very strong similarities between this star and the larger sun of the Alpha Centauri system.  Asimov here is making use of an astronomical curiosity: the nearest star system to Sol contains a star that has the same [[Stellar classification|spectral type]], G2 V, though Alpha Centauri A is a little larger and brighter.