Stellar Cartography
Ok, let's start with the basics. To know where you might want to go, you need to use a map of where there is to go and how to get there. Drawing maps is Cartography. Man evolved on a terrestrial world. We are basically 2-dimensional creatures. There has always been an up & down, but since there was nothing in the sky or underground we could visit . . . who cares. Even basic Astronomy is 2-dimensional. The view of the stars is across a black sheet. When man goes into space, all Cartography changes. All points of reference to measure the position of stars in 2-dimensions won't work. Three-dimensional mapping of stars becomes even more complicated when most stars look similar, stars are moving in random directions & speeds, and movement is affected by the mass of other stars. Cartography is suddenly a lot more complicated.

Star Trek may pretend to be about people meeting aliens, but the ultimate challenge is Exploration. And to explore you need to plan where you are going and know where you are. Enter "Stellar Cartography". In the original fictional development of Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry used Science Fact as a basis for painting his Universe and used poetic license to tell his stories. As the series became popular Star Trek fans embraced Star Trek for its pseudo-real image. While the writers felt their stories should be enough, techie Trekkies wanted an explanation of how the ST Universe worked. How would FTL work? Where is Vulcan in relation to Earth? How is a Stardate determined? How can you see and communicate while traveling FTL? To this day the Star Trek writers still don't understand. They still think the story is enough. They think the Trekkie's afore mentioned questions are petty and unimportant. Well they aren't. The need to have these questions answered are the same as asking the Mystery writer, "How can the Butler be the murderer when he was killed in Chapter 2?" Just as Stellar Cartography is far more complicated than terrestrial-based cartography, modern Science Fiction writing is more complicated than other writing. Consistency is important.

Well the sad truth is, the writers don't care. They write stories by formula. I believe Gene Roddenberry intended his Universe to be designed as closely as possible to the real one. To that end this Stellar Cartography page will have elements of the Star Trek Universe and the real Universe. If you want a map of the stars in the Star Trek Universe, you won't find one. No canon Star Trek maps exist. There are small clips and scenes but they don't show you anything useful. I believe that Gene Roddenberry's intent (as well as that of all Science Fiction in general) is to inspire you to go out and learn the answers yourself. Unfortunately when you lookup the names of the stars referenced in Star Trek you will find flagrant inconsistencies. Planets supposedly close to each other, aren't, and vice versa. And suddenly from your discovery you gain a sudden empty feeling . . . Welcome to your first Snipe Hunt.

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