5.0 A Celestial Bestiary: Introduction

Section IV: A Celestial Bestiary

Over the course of the past few seasons, our writers have frequently been called upon to devise various exotic-sounding planetary and stellar phenomena to serve as sources of danger for our heroes. Since this need seems likely to continue, we herewith present the Star Trek Celestial Bestiary of weird, dangerous, but scientifically semi-plausible phenomena. We hope that these might serve as springboards for our writers’ imaginations. Please note that many of these objects and phenomena are based on actual scientific theory, though a few are pure figments of the imagination. If you’re contemplating using any of these in a story, we would be happy to discuss these at greater length.

Black Hole

One of the most fearsome objects in nature. This is a dead star which was once far larger than our Sun. After it burnt out, it gravitationally collapsed onto itself. So powerful was its gravity that it finally collapsed into an object smaller than an atom’s nucleus. The resulting “black hole” is so-named because its gravity is so great that even light cannot escape. Near a black hole, this incredible gravity also causes terrible tidal stresses — more than enough to tear a planet or a starship to shreds. There would also be very severe (and probably dangerous) time/space distortions near the black hole. A wandering black hole is very capable of swallowing entire solar systems. (Note: It is very unlikely that any object or ship could survive falling “through” a black hole — it would be torn into sub-atomic particles by the gravitational stresses.)

White Hole

A hypothetical entity, some kind of opposite of a black hole from which radiation and matter appear to originate from nothingness.

Interstellar Strings

Also called “super strings”. Incredibly long gossamers of incredibly dense material. Current theory describes them as a black hole that’s one proton in diameter but light-years long, and virtually undetectable at a distance except by its intense gravity. If a ship were to fly through such a string, it would cut the ship neatly in half. If it got entangled in a solar system, could slice the planets and star into pasta. If a way could be found to manufacture or control these objects, they could make a very potent weapon or defensive system.

Supernova

A star near death, which has exhausted almost all of its nuclear fuel. Lacking the ability to sustain itself, it collapses, triggering one final massive explosion. A sufficiently large supernova could very easily wipe out any inhabited planets in a solar system. The x-rays from a supernova could even threaten life in a solar system several light-years away. If the star was massive enough to begin with, it could ultimately collapse into a black hole. Out of the ashes of the supernova explosion can come the heavier elements which form the building blocks of life. Many of the atoms in our bodies were formed billions of years ago in such an explosion.

Pulsar

The dying embers of a large collapsed star. It rotates rapidly, sending a powerful jet of potentially dangerous radiation, thereby appearing to pulse at several times a second. Imagine a spinning searchlight, sending out a powerful beacon of radiation. (The Enterprise shields might not be able to protect the ship at a sufficiently close range.)

Subspace Anomaly

When the Enterprise is travelling at warp speed, it is presumably not entirely in normal space (where faster-than-light travel is impossible), but in a hypothetical existance called “subspace”. It is conceivable that subspace is not a uniform continuum, but that it has mysterious “anomalies” — density variations, field vortices, or other such things. These might be difficult to detect but could be very dangerous to the ship at warp speed.