Where is Alighieri?

Introduction

Alighieri is a potential colony world, which is briefly mentioned in Clay Johanson's AECA article; Unfortunately Clay did not provide its location in the article.

In a private email, Clay has admitted that he has forgotten -- after all these years -- which solar system he had placed it.
 

Detective Work

Per Clay's article, most of AECA's efforts ( circa 2300) are focused on two sub-branches of the American Arm, that split off at Vega ( ASF FARS-5).

• The "Western" Zone is the DM +43 2796 sub-arm ( branch).
• The "Eastern" Zone is the route which leads to the Beta Aquilae Cluster.

Eliminating suspect systems

• Avalon, per the AECA article, is in DM +51 2402.  Since the Lowe Act, if passed, would allow Indonesia, the Scandinavian Union, and New Zealand to set up colonies there, I doubt it is in that system.  There would be a risk that they would be able to extract the most profits, not the US.
• DM +45 2743 is 7.6 light-years closer to the Earth than the Avalon system, so I doubt it is there for the same reasons that rule out Avalon.  If the planet Alighieri is so rich in minerals, these three nations would have been foolish not to settle there, instead of going to a system ( Avalon) further away from Earth.
• DM +52 2994 is 1.2 light-years closer to the Earth than the Avalon system, and so is ruled out for the same reasons as DM +45 2743.

  By the way, there is no link from DM +52 2994 to Ross 165, like is drawn on the maps at the back of the 2300 rules.  Why?  The distance is 20.8 light-years, which is way too far.

• Highland is in DM +38 3095 system, and the Highland article doesn't mention Aligheiri as another planet in the system.
• DM +43 2796 is too close to Vega ( one flight/leg ), and if this had been Aleghieri's location, the planet would have been discovered and exploited earlier.
   

Fingering the "guilty" solar system

After eliminating the other suspects, we are left with the following system as a possible location for Alighieri:

Alighieri is in the DM +45 2688 system, which lies off by itself*, 5.7 light-years from Avalon.

*NOTE: it is close enough to the edge of the Near Star Map's "globe" that it could link to stars beyond/outside the NSM.

The sun has a spectrum of "M0 V", a small Red Main Sequence star, according to GDW.  So she could have a large almost normal-gravity near-Mercury type of a planet, if it was orbiting very close, and most likely tide-locked.
 

P.S. The Planet's Name

Alighieri is named after the Italian poet Dante Alighieri ( b. 1265 - d. 1321).  He is most famous for his works titled Divine Comedy and Inferno ( aka Dante's Inferno) -- the latter of which inspired this planet's name.

For more information, see http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04628a.htm.