I was having trouble keeping track of where Voyager was, it probably didn't help that I was also watching Deep Space 9. Hearing Alpha, Delta, and Gamma over and over without context confused me so I went looking for a map and found this one on the forums that was easy to read. My question is if it's a good reference for the show(s). I had a kinda good idea where they were up to the Hirogen Communications Network, but after that I'm kind of lost on where Voyager is. I'm on season 4 episode 25, and I feel like the giant Nebula would be a pretty clear landmark since they're making a big deal how it'd take a month to cross, but I'm just not sure where that would be. Maybe the scale is just hard to understand and the exact location doesn't matter, but Voyager has made me interested in the shape of their galaxy and how long these treks actually take. What maps do you guys prefer if you use any?
Is this an accurate map of the path Voyager has taken?
- Thread starter NachosRenard
- Start date
Really, the important part for Voyager is that they’re very, very far from anything else in any other series — out in the deep, as it were. But for a very basic idea, picture the galaxy spread out as a big disk. Draw one line all the way down the center, from top to bottom; and a second across the middle, from one side to the other, so the two lines cross at the center of the galaxy.
The bottom left “box” is the Alpha Quadrant, and the bottom right is the Beta Quadrant. The Federation and several known powers are *mainly* in the Alpha Quadrant, and the Klingons are *mainly* in the Beta Quadrant (there’s some spillover in both directions).
The top left box is the Gamma Quadrant — that’s where the Dominion is. The top right box is the Delta Quadrant — that’s where Voyager was stranded, and somewhere in there is also where the Borg come from.
All of the relevant powers are minuscule in size compared to the total sizes of the quadrants themselves.
EDIT: No idea if that map is technically accurate—I’d assume all the powers are much smaller than they appear here—but it’s certainly very nice, and probably at least as good as any other to go by.
The bottom left “box” is the Alpha Quadrant, and the bottom right is the Beta Quadrant. The Federation and several known powers are *mainly* in the Alpha Quadrant, and the Klingons are *mainly* in the Beta Quadrant (there’s some spillover in both directions).
The top left box is the Gamma Quadrant — that’s where the Dominion is. The top right box is the Delta Quadrant — that’s where Voyager was stranded, and somewhere in there is also where the Borg come from.
All of the relevant powers are minuscule in size compared to the total sizes of the quadrants themselves.
EDIT: No idea if that map is technically accurate—I’d assume all the powers are much smaller than they appear here—but it’s certainly very nice, and probably at least as good as any other to go by.
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I don't think that there is an accurate official map of Voyager's journey.
But at a glance this seems as plausible as anything I've seen.
But at a glance this seems as plausible as anything I've seen.
To give a real-world example, this image roughly shows which part of the galaxy our radio programs and signals could have reached; a 200 ly sphere. (I'd argue that should be a bit more but that isn't the point here). Minute as it seems, the area in the blue dot would still contain on the order of about 100,000 star (systems), though.
Writers (and fans) often massively underestimate the size of the galaxy (or make star faring powers ridiculously huge when they are tossing figures around of thousands of light years without a care when describing sizes of alien territories and of the UFP and such.
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It's funny that they don't mention that the Federation is 8000 LY in diameter. That means it takes...
Warp 5 speed limit: 38 years to cross.
Warp 6 cruise speed: 22 years to cross.
Warp 8 Voyager cruise speed: 8 years to cross.
Warp 9.6 Enterprise top speed: 4 years to cross.
Warp 9.975 Voyager top speed: 19 months to cross.
Warp 5 speed limit: 38 years to cross.
Warp 6 cruise speed: 22 years to cross.
Warp 8 Voyager cruise speed: 8 years to cross.
Warp 9.6 Enterprise top speed: 4 years to cross.
Warp 9.975 Voyager top speed: 19 months to cross.
Yes, but there are also some errors in those maps in Star Charts.
Like the position of Talax.
If the maps had been correct, then Voyager would have had to double back to Ocampa and then further on to visit Talax, as they did in Jetrel and then continue the trip again.
I have corrected those errors on the maps on the Kes Website and also added systems in the Voyager books from seasons 1-3.
And yet we pop back to Earth for the occasional neck scorpion, archaeology speech, Commander's head or smoked spare ribs like it's just a trip to the neighborhood Piggly Wiggly.
It takes 4 years to cross the Federation yet Earth is just a short layover in Phoenix away from DS9.
All the interesting locations like Bajor, Romulus, Cardassia, Qo'noS are just a few days from Earth, so who'd even want to fly across the whole Federation!
Or, laughably, complain after seeing maybe a few hundred planets that the galaxy is starting to feel crowded… (In terms of simple numbers, the entirety of, say, the Star Wars saga — or any other space opera with hundreds or thousands of worlds — could easily fit inside that blue dot, with many multiples of room to spare.)
Entirely true. Speed of plot.
Yes, that's one of those 'careless' statements I was thinking about.
Yes, or those complaints that the DQ has been 'done' by VOY, or the GQ by DS9, and therefore a next series should go to another galaxy .... erm, no. At best, they've seen an infinitesimal slice of it.
There's plenty of Alpha Quadrant we haven't seen.
Regarding the nebula in "ONE"... it took Voyager a month to cross at impulse.
It probably would have taken a MUCH shorter amount of time at warp. (Like a day.) It didn't seem that deep.
The width, though, was quite large. I look at it like it was a giant sheet of paper... super thin and likely wouldn't see it from that angle of the star chart.
I also think that map is not an entirely accurate showing of Voyager's path.
If my calculations are right, it would've taken them about 10 minutes to cross that nebula at full 'home in 75 years' speed.
The one in the Star Trek Star Charts/Stellar Cartography book is the one current Trek producers use for all on-screen graphics, floating hologram galaxies etc. So in that fashion, it's the most true-to-Trek one you can get.
Of course, it's a TV show bound by Speed of Plot, so there won't ever be a perfect map. The TOS Enterprise could have made Voyager's journey in a month at warp 8.2, according to "Blink of an Eye". Star Trek V went from Earth to the centre of the galaxy in no time at all.
Of course, it's a TV show bound by Speed of Plot, so there won't ever be a perfect map. The TOS Enterprise could have made Voyager's journey in a month at warp 8.2, according to "Blink of an Eye". Star Trek V went from Earth to the centre of the galaxy in no time at all.
Yeah, if you put some of TOS's journeys on a Voyager galaxy map, things are going to appear very contradictory.
AFAIK, they don't even give a reason why they couldn't just cross it at (maximum) warp (they might still need to go into stasis in that case, just much shorter). So I'm presuming they thought that was either too dangerous or the nebula was interfering with the warp field somehow.
Or just go around it. The nebula would have to be very weirdly shaped indeed if it wouldn't just be faster to end run around it at 1000c, as opposed to slogging through it at less than light speed.
Looks about right. Below is the main menu for the classic activision game Voyager: Elite Force. When I first played ~ 20 years ago, the main menu stuck with me because it was the first graphical representation I ever saw of the Milky Way and Voyager's journey home.
Comparing it to the above examples, it all jives pretty well enough for me.
Although it brings up the age old question, "Wouldn't it have made sense for Janeway to set course for Bajoran Wormhole opening in the Gamma Quadrant?"
Looks like it's a shorter distance than the 70+ year ride to AQ.
Comparing it to the above examples, it all jives pretty well enough for me.
Although it brings up the age old question, "Wouldn't it have made sense for Janeway to set course for Bajoran Wormhole opening in the Gamma Quadrant?"
Looks like it's a shorter distance than the 70+ year ride to AQ.
