First look inside the new Stellar Cartography

[Christopher]

It is to the south, because the galactic north-south axis is perpendicular to the plane of the page. I guess you mean more to rimward and spinward. But that wouldn't work because it would put the Expanse too close to Ceti Alpha.

And the Expanse was said to be 2000 ly across, not 10,000. Although "The Xindi" complicates things by having a member of the Council say Earth is only 50 ly away, which is inconsistent with the lengthy travel time specified in the previous episode. I think we have to discount that reference (maybe a Xindi year was much longer than an Earth year).

True, fitting a 2000-ly-wide region into a galactic disk only c. 1000 ly thick is tricky, but maybe it's a relatively flat region, hugging the southern face of the disk. (There was no indication that the Expanse extended into the relatively starless region beyond, and then there's the Barrier to consider.) Although then it would have to be far wider than shown in the new map, pretty much extending "beneath" the whole depicted territory. Still, other than that, the position selected is very logical and seems like the best fit to the canon evidence.

 

[DEWLine]

We could move the discussion to the Trek Tech forum, if that's an issue...?

Sidebar: Is Masao lurking in this discussion? Been stumbling across and refreshing my memory re: some of his map-work...

 

[Admiral_Young]

I don't think Gamma and Delta Quadrant Maps were announced for this in the first place.

 

[Ethros]

mythme's post is a bit dishearting I mist admit, esp as I loved Star Charts so much. I think I'll still get it, but its the price that's making me waver.
The cheapest I can find it on Amazon.co.uk is £35! I don't care how big and fancy these fold out maps are, that's a lot of money for one book, especially one that's not even that thick is it? Smaller than Federation 150? And that's hardly the biggest book ever.
I can afford it, but, wow...


(Amazon US has it at $47.99, that works out at £30, so not far off.)

 

[DEWLine]

Could they have meant 2000 cubic lightyears? Suspecting that may be too small a volume for ENT's plot purposes...

 

[Christopher]

^I've found over the years that as a general rule, it's best not to take numbers in Star Trek too literally. There are too many different people making them up without comparing notes or using the same assumptions, so they're wildly inconsistent, whether it's distances, stardates, ship registries, or whatever.

 

[DEWLine]

Point taken.

Looking forward to seeing this for myself, whatever flaws there may be. And if we get "Novel'verse" and "Abramsverse" variations on this concept into print someday, I'll consider that cause for additional joy. The order's been placed with my bookstore, and I'm told that it shouldn't be too long.

 

[Ronald Held]

My view is that it is nice work but not particularly useful compared to the Star Charts.
I expected two pages of current(circa 2386) star maps of the Alpha and Beta quadrant with a density the same or greater than the SC with grid references.

 

[DEWLine]

Aaaand my own copy is finally in hand.

As noted before, it's designed to be consistent with the TV shows and movies, and with Federation 150 (and I hope Mr. Goodman and 47North will forgive me my title-shorthand here) as well. I'd have liked something more in line with the novelverse, but perhaps that's something for us to persuade Pocket Books about in the months to come.

That second assumption strongly affects the content of at least one component of the collection, the Earth-Romulan War map.

An acknowledgement of reality: I'd also love to see sector-by-sector stuff, but that will take more work than the involved artists likely can spare the time for even if they got the $$$ they'd like to get. Star Charts got as close as we're likely to get without switching to CD/DVD media.

(And if the professional astronomy software publishers want to take a run at this, they'll probably find enough interested parties to design - and pay for - plug-ins to fit the need.)

 

[DEWLine]

Have set up a thread on Trek Tech in case that's a more appropriate venue now that the volume is in the shops.

 

[publiusr]

I am just glad that more oversized technical offerings are back. It had been a dry spell.

 

[CaptJack]

I was also hoping that this project would expand upon Star Charts, and would attempt to integrate more material from the novels. The end result has left me feeling somewhat underwhelmed, though not to the point of saying that those interested in Star Trek and maps should avoid the purchase.

I like the direction it has gone in artistically with its depiction of stars and with the multiple alien-language maps (although I agree that including information in English below the alien language call-outs would be helpful, as would sector grids). I dislike the lack of any expanded detail on member worlds of the Federation or on other civilizations similar to the treatment that Bajor was given in Star Charts, and the lack of any maps of the Gamma and Delta Quadrants. The depiction of the Earth-Romulan War in Federation: The First 150 Years was also largely disappointing to me as compared to the conflict depicted in the novels in terms of scale and stakes, so the Romulan War map based upon David Goodman's work there included in Stellar Cartography doesn't draw me in as I was hoping it would.

Aside from that, I have a few minor quibbles - the multiple Denobulas and the use of the Klingon Imperial Empire/Imperial Klingon Empire (yes, this was used in one episode of TNG, but it still doesn't really strike me as correct) - but I think it is still a nice work of Star Trek related art overall, if not anything near what I was hoping for.

 

[Christopher]

There are multiple Denobulas? (Denobulae?)

 

[Avro Arrow]

Aside from that, I have a few minor quibbles - the multiple Denobulas and the use of the Klingon Imperial Empire/Imperial Klingon Empire (yes, this was used in one episode of TNG, but it still doesn't really strike me as correct)

I agree with you. I saw this printed on the map a groaned a little bit. Picard did say that in Sins of the Father, but it always just struck me as Picard being pompous and needlessly aggrandizing. IIRC, no one ever used that phrase before or since, and I think all on-screen displays consistently read just "Klingon Empire".

 

[CaptJack]

There are multiple Denobulas? (Denobulae?)

The large History of the United Federation of Planets fold out, and I believe the image shown in the book as well, shows Denobula Triaxa near Tellar, and a Denobula Prime between the Delphic Expanse and the Romulan Star Empire.

 

[Christopher]

Odd. There was never a "Denobula Prime" referenced in Enterprise.

You know what -- I'm not sure, but the position you refer to might be about where Denebola, the real star also known as Beta Leonis, would appear on the map. It's possible the mapmaker saw "Denebola" and misread it as "Denobula," and coined the "Prime" to differentiate it from the established Denobula.

 

[DEWLine]

Hmmm. Fair point, that, re: Denebola being misinterpreted as "Denobula Prime".

 

[Ronald Held]

Can we ask someone from the SC and this book to explain their decision making of where to place Denobula?

 

[DEWLine]

We could.

 

[British Khan]

Therin posted a map earlier and I was wondering why part of Federation space is cut off by Klingon territory?