Galactic Quadrants
"Galactic quadrants" within Star Trek are based around a meridian that runs from the center of the galaxy through Earth's solar system, which is not unlike the system of quadrants used by astronomers. However, rather than have the perpendicular axis run through the Sun, as is done in astronomy, the Star Trek version runs the axis through the Galactic Center. Also, rather than ordinals, quadrants are designated by the Greek letters Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta.
According to StarTrek.com, "if the great plane of the galaxy is viewed as a clockface and the 6 o'clock position bisects the Sol system" (when viewed from the galactic north pole), then the four fictional quadrants are as follow:
- Alpha Quadrant is the quarter appearing between 6 and 9 o'clock.
- Beta Quadrant is the quarter appearing between 3 and 6 o'clock.
- Gamma Quadrant is the quarter appearing between 9 and 12 o'clock.
- Delta Quadrant is the quarter appearing between 12 and 3 o'clock.
In the original Star Trek, "quadrant" refers to an area interchangeable with a sector. However, beginning with Star Trek: The Next Generation, the term refers to a system of four Greek-letter Galactic Quadrants.
Read more about this topic: List Of Star Trek Regions Of Space
Famous quotes containing the word galactic:
“In sci-fi convention, life-forms that hadn’t developed space travel were mere prehistory—horse-shoe crabs of the cosmic scene—and something of the humiliation of being stuck on a provincial planet in a galactic backwater has stayed with me ever since.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)