Galactic Cartography

From TFC Galactopedia

A Cartography Overview Map of the Milky Way Galaxy

A Political Overview Map of the Far Galaxy

Stellar Cartography in dealing with one galaxy is a hurculean undertaking, requiring constant monitoring of star movements and gravitational interactions accross innumerable lightyears of space. The task of keeping track of two galaxies is surely an undertaking that will last for centuries to come. Far from providing a comprehensive catalogue of every star, planet, moon and asteroid in either of the galaxies, this document will provide an overview and partial atlas to the casual trans-galactic traveller.

Terminology

Quadrants

The United Federation of Planets traditionally divides the Milky Way Galaxy into four quadrants, defined by one meridian passing through the galactic core and the Sol Star System and a second one perpendicular to the first. This setup is largely for mapping reasons, rather than a political breakdown, as much of the Milky Way Galaxy remains unexplored.

• Alpha Quadrant
• Beta Quadrant
• Gamma Quadrant
• Delta Quadrant

The United Federation of Planets and its neighbouring powers are located in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. Sometimes, smaller sections of the galaxy are referred to as a quadrant, too. This terminology was most widely used in the 23rd Century, although some of these references still exist in the 24th Century. One example of this usage is the Morgana Quadrant.

• Quadrant 448
• Quadrant 904
• Morgana Quadrant

Imperial Usage

• In addition to the Federation usage, the Galactic Empire also makes use of the term to describe certain areas of space in the Outer Rim, such as the Ninth Quadrant.

The Deep Core, Core Worlds, Colonies, Inner Rim, Mid Rim, Outer Rim et al

Thousands of years of interstellar politics have formed the official regions of the Far Galaxy, and as such are not as easily defined as the basic quadrant system used by the Federation. Generally, the Empire is broken down into 6 regions (with one subsection), and an area of largely unexplored space called the "Unknown Regions."

• Deep Core
• Core Worlds
• The Colonies
• Inner Rim
  • The Expansion Region
• Mid Rim
• Outer Rim
• The Unknown Regions
  • Wild Space

Sectors

A sector is a much smaller, cubical volume of space. Sectors typically contain several stars and are consecutively numbered; some also have a label, normally, but not always, named after an important star system in that sector.

• List of sectors

According to the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual and the Star Trek Star Charts, a sector is 20x20x20 light-years in size. This, however, is not entirely consistent with all on-screen data.

Stellar Charts

General

• The Great Rift
• List of inhabited planets
• List of homeworlds
• List of planets - (this was an orphaned page. not sure it has a use anymore?)

Federation space

• List of Federation members
• List of Federation colonies

Klingon space

• List of Klingon planets

Romulan space

• List of Romulan planets
• Romulan Neutral Zone

Cardassian space

• List of Cardassian planets
• Demilitarized Zone

TFC Canon

Source Note

• The original version of this article comes from Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference (http://www.memory-alpha.org/en/index.php/Main_Page).
• Article (http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Stellar_Cartography)