Star Trek: Star Charts

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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.

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 the 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

Planetary classification

Class	Description	Age (bil. yrs)	Diameter (1,000 kms)	Atmosphere	Solar system zone	Life-forms	Examples
Class A	Geothermally active	0 to 2	1 to 10	hydrogen compounds	Ecosphere	?	Gothos
Class B	Geomorteus	0 to 10	1 to 10	extremely tenuous; negligible	Hot	?	Mercury
Class C	Geoinactive	2 to 10	1 to 10	frozen	Cold	?	Pluto, Psi 2000
Class D	Rocky moon/asteroid	2 to 10	0.1 to 4	negligible	Ecosphere		Regula, Luna
Class E	Geoplastic	0 to 2	10 to 15	hydrogen compounds	Ecosphere	carbon-cycle	Excalbia
Class F	Geometallic	1 to 3	10 to 15	hydrogen compounds	Ecosphere	silicon-based	Janus VI
Class G	Geocrystalline	3 to 4	10 to 15	carbon dioxide	Ecosphere	single-cell organisms	Delta Vega
Class H	Desert	4 to 10	8 to 15	Heavy gases, metal vapors	Ecosphere, cold	Drought-resistant	Nimbus III
Class I	Gas supergiant	2 to 10	140 to 1,000	varying zones	Ecosphere, Cold	?
Class J	Gas giant	2 to 10	50 to 140	Varying zones	Ecosphere, cold	Hydrocarbon-based	Jupiter, Saturn
Class K	Adaptable	4 to 10	5 to 10	Carbon dioxide	Ecosphere	Single-cell organisms	Mars, Mudd, Elba II
Class L	Marginal	4 to 10	10 to 15	Oxygen, argon, carbon dioxide	Ecosphere	Plants	Indri VIII
Class M	Terrestrial	3 to 10	10 to 15	Nitrogen, oxygen, argon, carbon dioxide	Ecosphere	Plants/humanoid	Earth, Vulcan, Bajor
Class N	Reducing	3 to 10	10 to 15	Carbon dioxide, sulfides	Hot	?	Venus
Class O	Pelagic	3 to 10	10 to 15	nitrogen, oxygen	Ecosphere, Cold	water-based	Azati Prime
Class P	Glaciated	3 to 10	10 to 15	nitrogen, oxygen	Cold	hardy plants/animals	Exo III
Class Q	Variable	2 to 10	4 to 15	highly variable	All	highly variable	Genesis Planet, Remus
Class R	Rogue	2 to 10	4 to 15	negligible	*Outside solar system	non-photosynthetic	Dakala, Founders' homeworld
Class S	Small ultragiant	2 to 10	10,000 to 50,000	varying zones	Cold	?
Class T	Large ultragiant	2 to 10	50,000 to 120,000	varying zones	Cold	?
Class Y	"Demon"	2 to 10	10 to 15	Thermionic radiation	All	Mimetic	Silver Blood planet

Known errors

Aside from mere speculations without any reference whatsoever and planets or stars simply missing on the maps or certain lists, the Star Charts show numerous clear contradictions, not least due to the fact, that the last three seasons of Star Trek: Enterprise aired after the book's release. Examples:

• The M-class planet explored by the Enterprise (NX-01) in ENT: "Strange New World" is called Loracus Prime by the Star Charts, which actually is a misinterpretation of a prop seen early in the episode. As a consequence, the star "Archer", which Archer IV (the planet's true name revealed in the show's fourth season) supposedly orbits, is placed near Klingon territory several hundred light years away from Sol according to the book.
• In the book, Klach D'Kel Brakt is shown to be a Klingon star system. In ENT: "The Augments", it is stated to be the Klingonese term for the Briar Patch, which actually is a nebula and placed several hundred light years away from Klach D'Kel Brakt according to the Star Charts.
• While being stated to be a Class M planet in the book, Andoria is shown to be the icy moon of a gas giant in ENT: "The Aenar".
• In ENT: "Babel One", Andoria is described to lie between Babel and Tellar. The Star Charts, put Andoria well off any reasonable route between Tellar and Babel.
• AR-558 and Chin'toka are depicted as separate star systems despite DS9: "The Siege of AR-558" stating that AR-558 is in Chin'toka system.
• The Star Charts place Berengaria at least 100 light years from Sol near Breen territory. In ENT: "Bound", this location is more or less contradicted, however, as it would be way off the Klingon Qu'Vat colony visited by Enterprise (NX-01) a few weeks before according to the Charts. Furthermore, Enterprise would have to make it back to Earth mere three weeks later for ENT: "Demons", further contradicting this proposed location of Berengaria.
• The Star Charts place Denobula at least 100 light years from Sol at Iota Boo, an A9 spectral type (too hot and too far). In ENT: "Bound", this location is more or less contradicted, however, with celestia the best location is I Boo a G2 star with two little companions at 40 light years.
• The Romulan Star Empire is located in the Beta Quadrant and does not border the Cardassian Union, which the dialogue in the Deep Space Nine episodes "In the Pale Moonlight" and "Tears of the Prophets" suggest.

Background information

This book 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.

External link

• Star Trek Dimension by Christian Rühl, which formed the basis of this book