The Star Wars Galaxy...

[Trekker4747]

So, presumably, the life in this galaxy has been space-farers for 1000s of years, countless years. Eons. The notion in this universe is the concept of "old technology" where pretty much anything and everything that can be done and thought of has been done and come to be.

.... But they still haven't mapped and charted their entire galaxy even with their hyperdrive travel that allows them rapid transit between star systems? Hell, travel speeds that'd likely make Trek's fastest warp-drive look slow?

How are there uncharted or unknown systems?!

 

[Kor]

I don't think the entire galaxy is well-traveled and densely populated. There are various well-known regions including core worlds and the outer rim, but also huge swaths that have remained largely unknown, avoided, etc. for one reason or another.

Kor

 

[TheFlutteringHorde]

As I understand, from the old EU at least, space exploration was a lot more dangerous than in Trek. Hyperdrive while really freaking fast relies on good knowledge of the area of space you're traveling into. Otherwise you might hit a rogue planet, blackhole, or something that sensors have difficulty detecting. So scouting tended to be a much more risky, and slow business by and large. This was also what allowed Smugglers to evade the law more easily, since they'd use routes that weren't known to possibly anyone but themselves to get from A to B.

Travel in more trafficked areas of the galaxy could be quite fast on the other hand, as the route was established, and if any trouble arose it would be noted rather quickly.

The old EU was extraordinarily inconsistent however, and there was also space magic that somehow made half the galaxy more difficult to explore as well. So YMMV.

 

[Ithekro]

Billions of star systems. 25,000 years of hyperspace travel that has been slowly expanding the Republic for a thousand generations. Add to this several regional and galactic wars, the exploration side of things drops of from one decade to the next.

It is also possible there are other powers. Regional powers that don't want the Republic, Sith, Empire, or whoever wondering about their territory and are aggressive enough about it so the various starfleets basically leave those regions alone.

Also the mention of hyperspace travel is fast and you can't really scan were you are going all that well. Until Star Trek were you are still able to scan were you are and where you are going to do star charting. Star Wars would seem to be trial and error jumping from system to system and hope something isn't in your way.

 

[JRoss]

That's a good question. I'm going to work it out as I type. Let's see, Film Canon states that the Republic was 1,000 years old. Old EU goes back 25,000 years. How many stars in their galaxy? 200 billion? Let's assume that the vast majority of those have planets.

So the idea is that you somehow chart a course in hyperspace. It can't be as simple as a straight line from one star to the next or they wouldn't need to scout.

Maybe the process of discovering viable routes is expensive and dangerous. Maybe the political systems expanded to a point where exploration was put on hold or just relegated to the back burner.

 

[Kor]

Let's see, Film Canon states that the Republic was 1,000 years old.

"Over a thousand generations." That's what the EU history stretching back 25-35,000 years was based on.

Kor

 

[Ithekro]

The old EU had Palpatine stop and disband the old Exploration corps. Though he also would fund secret military missions of his own into the Unknown Regions and the Deep Core to hide nest eggs for the future of the Empire. The First Order might have even used some of that to establish themselves beyond the Republic's view.

 

[bbjeg]

.... But they still haven't mapped and charted their entire galaxy even with their hyperdrive travel that allows them rapid transit between star systems? Hell, travel speeds that'd likely make Trek's fastest warp-drive look slow?

How are there uncharted or unknown systems?!

There are 100 billion solar systems in our galaxy. Even if it only took one minute to travel to a solar system and survey it, it would take roughly 190,000 years to chart it.

 

[Shawnster]

Let's see, Film Canon states that the Republic was 1,000 years old.

"Over a thousand generations." That's what the EU history stretching back 25-35,000 years was based on.

Kor

Either Ep II or III explicitly states the Republic is 1,000 years old. The Jedi must have been around longer than the Republic, since they have been around for a thousand generations.

.... But they still haven't mapped and charted their entire galaxy even with their hyperdrive travel that allows them rapid transit between star systems? Hell, travel speeds that'd likely make Trek's fastest warp-drive look slow?

How are there uncharted or unknown systems?!

There is 100 billion solar systems in our galaxy. Even if it only took one minute to travel to a solar system and survey it, it would take roughly 190,000 years to chart it.

Does this math assume it's only 1 ship making 1 minute stops at every star? What if you had 100 ships charting? 1,000?

 

[Ithekro]

Given what we see in various media, the Republic has risen and fallen many times. The Jedi however are always around. But then so are the Sith.

 

[Set Harth]

Either Ep II or III explicitly states the Republic is 1,000 years old. The Jedi must have been around longer than the Republic, since they have been around for a thousand generations.

AOTC says that the Republic has "stood for a thousand years". The EU of the time took this to mean the Republic was restructured after the New Sith Wars.

This interpretation arises because ANH Obi-Wan didn't just say that the Jedi had been around for a thousand generations, he also gave that as the timeframe in which they were guardians of peace and justice in the "Old Republic".

 

[Kor]

Let's see, Film Canon states that the Republic was 1,000 years old.

"Over a thousand generations." That's what the EU history stretching back 25-35,000 years was based on.

Kor

Either Ep II or III explicitly states the Republic is 1,000 years old. The Jedi must have been around longer than the Republic, since they have been around for a thousand generations.

That would be Palpatine referring to "this Republic that has stood for a thousand years."

In ANH, Ben said, "For over a thousand generations the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic."

I'll just go with the OT explanation.

Kor

 

[MacLeod]

"Over a thousand generations." That's what the EU history stretching back 25-35,000 years was based on.

Kor

Either Ep II or III explicitly states the Republic is 1,000 years old. The Jedi must have been around longer than the Republic, since they have been around for a thousand generations.

That would be Palpatine referring to "this Republic that has stood for a thousand years."

In ANH, Ben said, "For over a thousand generations the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic."

I'll just go with the OT explanation.

Kor

Not the phrasing "this republic" not "The Republic".

i.e Isn't France on something like it's Fifth Republic now? Perhaps something similar occured for the Republic.

 

[Ithekro]

The galaxy does have a slow technology progression. Not so many breakthroughs, just improvements. And sometimes it is not really improvements, but finding something that was sort of forgotten from thousands of years before.

They've had hyperdrive for maybe 25,000 years, though it might not always have been as fast at it is in the "present". The lightsaber has been around for at least part of that time, though not always as elegant as those in the Clone Wars.

The Death Star is not the first huge superweapon the galaxy has ever seen.

 

[bbjeg]

.... But they still haven't mapped and charted their entire galaxy even with their hyperdrive travel that allows them rapid transit between star systems? Hell, travel speeds that'd likely make Trek's fastest warp-drive look slow?

How are there uncharted or unknown systems?!

There is 100 billion solar systems in our galaxy. Even if it only took one minute to travel to a solar system and survey it, it would take roughly 190,000 years to chart it.

Does this math assume it's only 1 ship making 1 minute stops at every star? What if you had 100 ships charting? 1,000?

Well, we can't assume 10,000 ships would have taken 19 years to survey it. Depending on where you are in the galaxy, it may take minutes or hours to travel to a specific system in the galaxy. Then you have to factor in migrating within the galaxy. Between ANH and TESB Hoth, which was uninhabited/abandoned, had a new colony, and I bet within the Star Wars galaxy during its 25,000 year span with hyperdrives, there were multiple colonizations and abandonments. I bet surveying that galaxy is like counting grains of sand during a tornado.

 

[Ithekro]

It would also take time to chart the system. Also you have to chart the space between systems for things that would cast a gravity shadow in hyperspace. Chart safe routes around said objects, and then figure out what to do with the newly charted system.

Also resupply back in a civilized system before heading back out to chart yet another route or system.

A lot of the exploration work might have been to chart route between one system and all the other systems in the galaxy that are already known. After all that is done, than you can go anywhere in the galaxy from anyplace, rather that take one of the long trade routes that round the galaxy.

 

[Skywalker]

Traveling through hyperspace in Star Wars isn't as simple as "pick a star and go," like in Star Trek. In Star Wars, they use a series of different routes through hyperspace which takes them to specific points in the galaxy. Expansion of commerce and civilization only occurs as new hyperspace routes leading to new locations in the galaxy are discovered.

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

I doubt the Star Wars has centralized knowledge the way we do on Earth. If there is an internet (or extra-net, in this case), it's probably more akin to ARPANET, or 1980s-vintage internet. I think there's more of a pre-21st century information paradigm, leaving the galaxy susceptible to knowledge-loss catastrophes like the burning of the Great Library of Alexandria. It feels right with the old-fashioned aesthetic of the universe.

Also, refer to various maps from before the modern era, particularly charts from the age of sail (such as the Piri Reis Map, a long-time favorite of wingnuts) - note how some are accurate in some places, and inaccurate in others. That's where the erroneous assumption that California was an island came from, hence the name. It's possible, also, that not everybody uses the same charts.

 

[Ithekro]

Even the records in the Jedi Temple were not perfect. Or safe from tampering.

Plus after the rise of the Empire, much of that could have been destroyed under order of Palpatine, so he could do what he wanted without anyone being able to look places up.

 

[Venardhi]

Until something on screen conflicts with the theory, I'm going with the map being of a "forgotten" dwarf galaxy existing in the far outer rim for which ancient surveys and maps were in the process of being recreated for some nefarious Imperial purpose involving the old Jedi civilization which previously ruled it. It was never officially completed but whoever was in charge of the project did have one working copy of the incomplete segment and Luke got his hands on it in some unseen adventure following RotJ.