Where Is The Gamma Quadrant In Star Trek?
The Gamma Quadrant can only be accessed through the Bajoran Wormhole, which crosses 90 million lightyears of space.
One way Star Trek has helped to “organize” itself, at least in terms of space, is to divide the Milky Way Galaxy into Quadrants. Essentially mapping out this area has given us a mystery of sorts with one of them.
There are four quadrants: Alpha Quadrant (where Earth is), Beta Quadrant, Delta Quadrant, and Gamma Quadrant. So what exactly is the Gamma Quadrant in Star Trek and where is it?
In Star Trek lore, the Gamma Quadrant area of the galaxy produced some of the franchise’s most formidable foes, the Dominion, and it has been notoriously difficult to access.
Of The Four Quadrants Of The Galaxy In Star Trek, The Gamma Quadrant Is Furthest Away From Earth
The minds behind Star Trek have tried, in some ways, to simplify just how we view space in order to make it a bit easier on the viewer (and the Starfleet by proxy). The four major Quadrants are Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Gamma with some minor ones thrown in there as well.
Earth sits basically on the border of the Alpha and Beta Quadrant (but on the Alpha side). This has been confirmed in a number of different series and stories.
The best way to think about the Milky Way Galaxy in these terms is to picture it as a clock. Alpha is between six and nine o’clock, Beta is between three and six, Delta is between 12 and three, and Gamma is between nine and 12.
Whether this mysterious Quadrant was meant to purposefully finish off “the day” in this sense or that was just a coincidence isn’t totally clear. Regardless, this is how the galaxy is laid out and over the years there have been all kinds of conflicts related to the borders established by the Federation.
The Bajoran Wormhole Is The Only Access To The Gamma Quadrant
Though we’ve established where is the Gamma Quadrant in terms of a functional universal layout, the “where” does still have somewhat of a tricky answer with the way Star Trek has thought about the galaxy. Though its location is “known” in this sense, how to access it has become part of the larger Star Trek story.
Basically, the way to get a ship into the Gamma Quadrant is through the Bajoran Wormhole. On the Federation side, the wormhole is guarded by the Federation space station Deep Space Nine.
The wormhole was first discovered about during the events of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. While the wormhole was relatively close to Bajor and was there for at least 10,000 years, very few people on or near Bajor saw it before the premiere of Deep Space Nine. The few times it was witnessed before the series, it was lent religious significance by the Bajorans who referred to it as the “Temple of the Prophets.”
In the two-part Deep Space Nine series premiere “Emissary,” Sisko and Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell) discover that if a ship hit impulse speeds with a trajectory pointed toward the wormhole entrance’s location, the wormhole entrance would become visible and the ship could access it. The endpoint was the Gamma Quadrant.
Finding this wormhole had major ramifications on the overall story, specifically with who we met on the other side.
As seen in the Star Trek: The Next Generation season 3 episode “The Price,” there used to be another path to the Gamma Quadrant through the Barzan Wormhole, but that bad boy destabilized in a big way, even shifting at one point to another Quadrant. It had to eventually be shut down, leaving only the Bajoran wormhole as the easier access point.
The Bajoran Wormhole Crosses 90 Million Lightyears To Reach The Gamma Quadrant
Because space isn’t exactly a collection of highways along a rather 2D landscape, getting to the Gamma Quadrant in the world of Star Trek isn’t a simple A-to-B venture. Instead, you simply need to travel through the aforementioned Bajoran Wormhole to get there. To do that means traveling through it which deposits you on the other side of the connection.
This wormhole connected two plots in the universe that were basically (let’s just say roughly) 90,000 light-years apart from each other. So the good news is that if working through deep space at your own leisurely warp speed pace, the distance would have been such that it would have taken nearly 70 years of non-stop travel to cross the distance to the Gamma Quadrant. A literal space bridge too far.
But getting to the Gamma Quadrant through the Bajoran Wormhole made that trip nearly instantaneous, thereby saving more than a couple of space bathroom breaks (and furthering along a number of story arcs). Its discovery definitely opened up the universe in this sense and was a major plot point during the events of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, basically starting off the series with its discovery.
The Prophets were the ones who created the connection and also reside within the confines of the wormhole. They are a mysterious race who exist outside the bounds of normal time. Star Trek folks have had various run-ins with them over the years and Captain Benjamin Sisko was the first one to actually come into contact with The Prophets.
Earth Is 30 Million Lightyears From The Gamma Quadrant’s Edge
For all the talk of distance when discussing the Gamma Quadrant, it’s worth noting that Earth is actually a bit closer to the closest edge of this area. It was posited that covering this distance would be around 30,000 light-years.
So in the grand scheme of things, Earth is definitely closer to the edge of the Gamma Quadrant than the distance crossed by the Bajoran Wormhole, but still too far a distance to cover reasonably for a Federation Starship. This is why traveling to Bajor makes the most sense in trying to access this mysterious part of space. And a hat-tip to the Prophets for keeping it up and running.
The Dominion Runs The Gamma Quadrant
There are many species and planets in the Gamma Quadrant. After all, this is a massive (understatement) region of space we are dealing with. But as far as species we’ve met in Trek, the dominant races were those who were members of the Dominion.
The Dominion was formed by the shape-shifting Founders, aka Changelings. Founders saw all non-shapeshifters as potential threats, referring to them as “solids,” and formed the Dominion to either conquer or kill any who went against their wishes.
While there are other members of the Dominion, beside the Founders the two most populous races in the union are the Vorta and the Jem’Hadar. The Vorta are the diplomatic face of the Dominion, while the Jem’Hadar are genetically engineered soldiers bred for war and addicted to a powerful narcotic to keep them loyal.
When species from the Alpha Quadrant began using the Bajoran Wormhole to unknowingly travel to the Dominion’s sphere of influence, the Founders weren’t happy about it at all. The Dominion’s war with the Federation, Klingons, and eventually the Romulans raged for the final two seasons of Deep Space Nine.
In the end, the Dominion were defeated and weren’t able to take control of the Bajoran Wormhole. This was a key piece of Deep Space Nine’s overall arc. Not to worry though, the Dominion have been taken care of, for the time being (though they could pop again in Star Trek: Discovery Season 5).
A number of different races have shown interest in the Gamma Quadrant over the years, though their motivation has fallen along different lines. Some have sought it out simply for knowledge and a chance for further exploration. Some like the Ferengi did have more of a capitalistic leaning, thinking there was money to be made in mining and colonizing planets within its bounds.
The Bajoran Wormhole Is Still Open In Current Star Trek Lore
Well, the easy answer is “Yes”, the Gamma Quadrant is still there. After all, this is a massive region of space. But the Bajoran Wormhole, though closed for a quick spell after a conflict with the Prophets, is still very much open in Star Trek’s future.
And we saw in the events of Star Trek: Prodigy that certain ships can make the jump on their own as well. So there are still paths to getting to the Gamma Quadrant if need be.
