The Delphic Expanse, commonly abbreviated as "The Expanse", was the setting for the entire third season of Star Trek: Enterprise, first screened in 2003 and 2004.
The Expanse was approximately 2,000 light years across, surrounded by thick thermobaric clouds. Its edge was located approximately 50 light-years from Earth. It was the home of the previously unknown hostile races collectively known as the Xindi, but the crew of the Enterprise (NX-01) discovered that the Xindi were being manipulated into their enmity against humanity by other forces with vested interests in the region.
Intense gravitational distortions, similar to quantum singularities, made travel through the Expanse extremely difficult as it appeared that space did not obey the known laws of physics in the region. Travellers risked injury, disfigurement, or death if their vessels were not lined with the protective metal Trellium-D.
Species native to the Expanse included the Loque'eque, the Skagarans, the Triannon, as well as the Xindi.
Locations in the Expanse featured in the series included Azati Prime, the Calindra system, Oran'taku, Triannon, and Xindus.
Read more about this topic: List Of Star Trek Regions Of Space
Famous quotes containing the word expanse:
“Let us, then, take our compass; we are something, and we are not everything. The nature of our existence hides from us the knowledge of first beginnings which are born of the nothing; and the littleness of our being conceals from us the sight of the infinite. Our intellect holds the same position in the world of thought as our body occupies in the expanse of nature.”
—Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)