5.1 Subspace Anomalies & Edge of the Galaxy

Planetary Tidal Stresses

When a planet is in an orbit near a star, another planet, or a moon, the gravitational stress can cause tides, much as we have in Earth’s oceans. If the tides are sufficiently great, it is conceivable that the stresses could affect the planet’s structure — possibly enough to tear apart the planet.

Near-Collision of Two Planets

Another form of interaction between two planetary bodies might be a near-collision in which one or both planets is gravitationally slingshotted out of the solar system. This is a very unlikely occurence in a stable system, but would certainly be unwelcome news to anyone living there.

Comets Dislodged from an Oort Cloud

Yet another form of gravitationally induced threat. Many solar systems apparently have a large belt of frozen comets orbiting far beyond the planets’ orbit. It is possible for some passing object to gravitationally “knock” a large number of these comets out of their distant orbits, to fall toward the sun. If this happens, it is possible that a number of these might hit one or more of the planets in the solar system. Such an occurance is one theory to the disappearance of Earth’s dinosaurs.

Wormhole

A hypothetical “tunnel” through the structure of space. One would enter the tunnel and apparently travel a relatively short distance, emerging much further away. This would probably be a subspace phenomenon somehow related to our warp drive. The Star Trek features have established that a warp drive malfunction can pull the ship into a dangerous wormhole. In the episode “The Price” we have seen that most wormholes are very unstable, with both endpoints fluctuating wildly in both time and space.

Edge of the Galaxy

The first Star Trek series established that there is a mysterious energy barrier at the edge of our galaxy. This unexplained force is a spectacular curtain of shimmering energy, very dangerous to both ship and crew. Beyond the edge of our galaxy is a vast intergalactic void, millions — even billions — of light years to other galaxies.

Center of the Galaxy

The center of our galaxy is believed to be a very dense cluster of stars... a very spectacular sight to those used to the relatively sparse starscape visible from Earth. The relatively high density of the star population means that starship navigation is probably somewhat trickier than normal (though well within the abilities of our people and hardware), and radiation levels would probably be quite a bit higher. There may be a large, dangerous black hole at the very center of the galaxy. The movie Star Trek V established that there is a mysterious and dangerous energy barrier around the center, where Kirk and company discovered the mythical planet, Sha-Ka-Ree.

Dark Matter

Current scientific theory suggests that our galaxy may contain vast quantities of “dark matter” in the spaces between the arms of the galaxy and in the regions around its perimeter. If this stuff exists, it is probably very tenuous, but its total mass may be ten times greater than the visible galaxy.

Destruction of a Moon from Tidal Stresses

Among planets with several moons, it is not uncommon for the gravity-induced tidal stresses between the moons and the planet to cause one or more of the moons to be torn apart, resulting in the creation of Saturn-like rings. This would certainly be a hazard to anyone living on that moon, or to a spacecraft in orbit near the moon. Additionally, it is possible that the moon’s disintegration could cause an increase in meteor activity on the planet’s surface.

Gas Exchange between a Binary Star Pair

Many stars in our galaxy are what we call binary pairs. That is, they orbit each other. In some such binary pairs, the gravity of one star is so great that it actually pulls gas from the other star’s photosphere. These streamers of ionized gas would be very spectacular and would be a threat to any spacecraft or planet in the vicinity.