(written from a Production point of view)
Star Trek: Star Charts is a guide to the Star Trek universe – the stars and planets of the United Federation of Planets and the other powers of the Milky Way Galaxy. It includes background information on the classification systems used for identifying stars and planets.
Star Trek: Star Charts was announced in April 2002. [1]
Summary[]
- From the book jacket
- "…all I ask is a tall ship, and a star to steer her by."
- From the earliest days of explorations, there has always been one tried-and-true way to navigate through uncharted reaches and one to find the way home – the stars. Ancient mariners prized their star charts, knowing that they could guide them safely into a friendly port or lead them to the reaches of the mysterious East. Modes of transportation have changed but the stars are still our constant guides. When man took his first step into space armed with the very latest in computers, he took with him the same tool for reading the stars that the men who sailed under canvas carried.
- When Humans launched the first ship designed for long-range missions into the deep waters of interstellar space, the Vulcan High Command provided their star charts for Enterprise NX-01. But Jonathan Archer was not content with relying on the known. Although he used the Vulcan charts, he also added to them, and greatly expanded Starfleet's knowledge of the galaxy. Every generation of starship captain that followed has built on Archer's first steps.
- Follow the course set by Archer, Kirk, Picard, Sisko, and Janeway. Relive their extraordinary adventures as you find here, for the first time, the star maps that chart the routes these famous explorers took. This book will be a Star Trek cartographer's dream, without a doubt.
- Excerpts of copyrighted sources are included for review purposes only, without any intention of infringement.
Contents[]
Spectral classification[]
Class | Description | Temperature | Composition | Examples |
---|---|---|---|---|
Class O | Dark Blue | 28,000-50,000 K | Ionized atoms, especially helium | Mintaka (O1-3III) |
Class B | Blue | 10,000-28,000 K | Neutral helium some hydrogen | Alpha Eridani A (B3V-IV) |
Class A | Light Blue | 7,500-10,000 K | Strong hydrogen, some ionized metals | Sirius A (A0-1V) |
Class F | White | 6,000-7,500 K | Hydrogen and ionized metals, calcium, and iron | Procyon A (F5V-IV) |
Class G (yellow dwarf) | Yellow | 5,000-6,000 K | Ionized calcium, both neutral and ionized metals | Sol (G2V) |
Class K | Orange | 3,500-5,000 K | Neutral metals | Alpha Centauri B (K0-3V) |
Class M (red dwarf, red giant) | Red | 2,500-3,500 K | Ionized atoms, especially helium | Wolf 359 (M5-8V) |
Planetary classification[]
Class | Description | Age (bil. yrs) | Diameter (kms) | Location | Atmosphere | Lifeforms | Examples |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Class A | Geothermal | 0 to 2 | 1,000 to 10,000 | Exosphere/Cold Zone | Hydrogen compounds | None | Gothos |
Class B | Geomorteus | 0 to 10 | 1,000 to 10,000 | Hot Zone | Extremely tenuous, negligible | None | Mercury |
Class C | Geoinactive | 2 to 10 | 1,000 to 10,000 | Ecosphere/Cold Zone | Frozen | None | Pluto, Psi 2000 |
Class D | Asteroid/Moon | 2 to 10 | 100 to 1,000 | All | Negligible | None | Moon (Sol IIIa), Regula |
Class E | Geoplastic | 0 to 2 | 10,000 to 15,000 | Ecosphere | Hydrogen compounds/reactive gases | Carbon-cycle (Excalbian) | Excalbia |
Class F | Geometallic | 1 to 3 | 10,000 to 15,000 | Ecosphere | Hydrogen compounds | Silicon-based (Horta) | Janus VI |
Class G | Geocrystalline | 3 to 4 | 10,000 to 15,000 | Ecosphere | Carbon dioxide | Primitive single-celled organisms | Delta Vega |
Class H | Desert | 4 to 10 | 8,000 to 15,000 | All | Heavy gases/metal vapors | Drought- and radiation-resistant plants, animal life | Rigel XII, Tau Cygna V |
Class I | Gas supergiant | 2 to 10 | 140,000 to 10,000,000 | Cold Zone | Varying zones/Water vapor may be present | Unknown | Q'tahl |
Class J | Gas giant | 2 to 10 | 50,000 to 140,000 | Cold Zone | Varying zones | Hydrocarbon-based (Jovian) | Jupiter, Saturn |
Class K | Adaptable | 4 to 10 | 5,000 to 10,000 | Ecosphere | Carbon dioxide | Primitive single-celled organisms | Mars, Mudd |
Class L | Marginal | 4 to 10 | 10,000 to 15,000 | Ecosphere | Oxygen, argon, carbon dioxide | Limited to plant life; suitable for humanoid colonization | Indri VIII |
Class M | Terrestrial | 3 to 10 | 10,000 to 15,000 | Ecosphere | Nitrogen, oxygen, trace elements | Extensive vegetation, animal life, humanoids | Earth, Vulcan, Cardassia Prime |
Class N | Reducing | 3 to 10 | 10,000 to 15,000 | Ecosphere | Carbon dioxide/sulfides | Unknown | Venus |
Class O | Pelagic | 3 to 10 | 10,000 to 15,000 | Ecosphere | Nitrogen, oxygen, trace elements | Aquatic vegetation, animal life, humanoids | Argo |
Class P | Glaciated | 3 to 10 | 10,000 to 15,000 | Ecosphere | Nitrogen, oxygen, trace elements | Hardy vegetation, animal life, humanoids | Exo III, Breen |
Class Q | Variable | 2 to 10 | 4,000 to 15,000 | All | Ranges from tenuous to very dense | Highly variable | Genesis Planet, Remus |
Class R | Rogue | 2 to 10 | 4,000 to 15,000 | Interstellar space, cometary halos | Primarily volcanic outgassing | Non-photosynthetic plants, animal life | Dakala |
Class S | Ultragiant | 2 to 10 | 10,000,000 to 50,000,000 | Cold Zone | Varying zones/water vapor may be present | ||
Class T | Ultragiant | 2 to 10 | 50,000,000 to 120,000,000 | Cold zone | Varying zones/water vapor may be present | ||
Class X | Environment is particularly hostile to humanoid life | ||||||
Class Y | "Demon" | 2 to 10 | 10,000 to 15,000 | All | Thermionic radiation | Mimetic | Silver Blood homeworld |
Class Z | Environment is particularly hostile to humanoid life |
- Note: For planets that are 15,000 to 50,000 kilometers in diameter, such as Neptune, no classification was provided. It might be possible that, like with the examples of Class X and Class Z, that the planetary classification for these worlds did exist, but wasn't included in the book.
Background information[]
Star Trek: Star Charts was written and illustrated by Geoffrey Mandel, with the help of Doug Drexler, Tim Earls, Larry Nemecek, and Christian Rühl (see below). André Bormanis, Michael Okuda, Rick Sternbach, and Timo Saloniemi gave technical advice. Mandel and Sternbach also worked on the original 1980 Star Trek Maps; Nemecek contributed items to that older work – the Federation members, and a planet/star pairing list, among others – that survived his earlier, aborted mapping project that was based on the star grid scale of the original Star Fleet Technical Manual. That project, due to be updated with Mandel for self-publication, was abandoned when the Bantam 1980 maps project surfaced.
Appendices[]
See also[]
External link[]
- Star Trek Dimension by Christian Rühl, which formed the basis of this book