|version 8.0 - October 20th, 2001|
Although unfortunately, distances are often concealed or avoided on Star Trek, there are nevertheless quite a lot of known distances. On the one hand, these distances are mentioned directly in the dialogue or displayed on computer screens, but more frequently, indirect figures and allusions are used, which can be transformed into actual distances. In chapter 1.2 of the Star Trek Cartography The Cartographer's tools, you can learn the methods and procedures for determining distances from indirect sources. The following table provides a nearly complete collection of all distances mentioned in the series, movies and official books (altogether 83), listing the starting points, destinations, distances and also the sources and the type of the figure (direct or indirect).
New in version 8: seven entries added, all distances revised and/or specified (now precise up to the third decimal place!), source episodes added/corrected, extensive annotations added.
1. Table of Star Trek distances
|Earth||Acamar III (Theta Eridani)||161.316 ly||TNG  The Vengeance Factor (real star)|
|Earth||Alcyone (Eta Tauri, in Pleiades=M45)*||367.735 ly||TNG  Haven (real star)|
|Earth||Aldebaran III (Alpha Tauri)||65.119 ly||TOS  Where No Man Has Gone Before, DS9  Shadowplay, TOS  The Deadly Years, TNG  Hide and Q, TNG  Relics, DS9  Past Tense I (real star)|
|Earth||Algol (Alpha Aquilae)*||92.823 ly||TNG  Ménage à Troi (real star)|
|Earth||Alpha Centauri||4.395 ly||TOS  Metamorphosis, DS9  The Reckoning (real star)|
|Earth||Alpha Eridani||143.819 ly||TOS  Wolf in the Fold (real star)|
|Earth||Altair III, IV, VI (Alpha Aquilae)||16.775 ly||TNG  Encounter at Farpoint I, DS9  Prophet Motive, TOS  Amok Time, ST:TSFS (real star)|
|Earth||Antares IV (Alpha Scorpii)||604.039 ly||ST:DS9 TM (real star)|
|Earth||Arcturus (Alpha Bootis)*||36.711 ly||ST:TMP (real star)|
|Earth||Bellatrix (Gamma Orionis)||243.056 ly||VOY  Relativity (real star)|
|Earth||Beta Aurigae||82.120 ly||TOS  Turnabout Intruder (real star)|
|Earth||Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis)*||427.498 ly||ST:TMP (real star)|
|Earth||Cait (15 Lyncis)*||170.419 ly||ST:TMP (real star)|
|Earth||Caldos IV||200 ly||TNG  Sub Rosa (directly given)|
|Earth||Canopus (Alpha Carinae), Alpha Carinae II, V||312.734 ly||TOS  Where No Man Has Gone Before, TOS  Arena, TOS  The Ultimate Computer, TOS  Wolf in the Fold (real star)|
|Earth||Capella IV (Alpha Aurigae)||42.202 ly||TOS  Friday's Child (real star)|
|Earth||Cor Caroli V (Alpha Canum Venaticorum)||110.196 ly||TNG  Allegiance (real star)|
|Earth||Deneb IV, II, IV, V (Alpha Cygni), Alpha Cygni IX||3229.516 ly|| The Trouble With Tribbles, TNG [001/002] Encounter at Farpoint I/II, TOS  Wolf in the Fold, TOS  I, Mudd, TOS  Where No Man Has Gone Before, TOS  I, Mudd, TNG  Sarek (real star)|
|Earth||Epsilon Hydrae VII||135.177 ly||DS9  Q-Less (real star)|
|Earth||Epsilon Indi||11.828 ly||TOS  And the Children Shall Lead, TNG  The Child (real star)|
|Earth||Galactic core||25800 ly||NASA|
|Earth||Gamma Hydrae II, IV (Neutral Zone)||132.111 ly||TOS  The Deadly Years, ST:TWOK (real star)|
|Earth||Gamma Tauri IV||154.077 ly||TNG  The Last Outpost (real star)|
|Earth||Gamma Trianguli VI||117.628 ly||TOS  The Apple (real star)|
|Earth||Izar (Epsilon Bootis)||209.763 ly||TOS  Whom Gods Destroy (real star)|
|Earth||Malkor III||>2000 ly||TNG  First Contact (directly given)|
|Earth||Merak II (Beta Ursae Majoris)||79.421 ly||TOS  The Cloud-Minders (real star)|
|Earth||Mintaka III (Delta Orionis)||916.239 ly||TNG  Who Watches the Watchers? (real star)|
|Earth||Mira (Omicron Ceti), Omicron Ceti III||418.718 ly||TNG  Conspiracy, TOS  This Side of Paradise (real star)|
|Earth||Mizar II (Zeta Ursae Majoris)||78.165 ly||TNG  Allegiance (real star)|
|Earth||Ocampa planet (DQ)||75000 ly||ST:DS9 TM, VOY  One (directly given)|
|Earth||Pollux IV, V (Beta Geminorum)||33.717 ly||TOS  Who Mourns For Adonais? (real star)|
|Earth||Regulus V (Alpha Leonis)||77.496 ly||TOS  Amok Time, TNG  The Vengeance Factor (real star)|
|Earth||Rigel II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, XII (Beta Orionis)||772.941 ly||TNG  Tapestry, TOS  Shore Leave, TNG  All Good Things I, TOS  Wolf in the Fold, TNG  Half a Life, TOS  Journey to Babel, TOS  The Cage, TOS  The Menagerie II, DS9  The Passenger, ST:DS9 TM, TOS  The Cage, TOS  The Menagerie I, TOS  Mudd's Women (real star)|
|Earth||"Rigel" X*||>15 ly||ENT [001/002] Broken Bow I/II|
|Earth||Sheliak (Beta Lyrae)||881.571 ly||TNG  The Ensigns of Command (real star)|
|Earth||Sigma Draconis III, IV, VI||18.810 ly||TNG  Spock's Brain (real star)|
|Earth||Sirius (Alpha Canis Majoris)||8.602 ly||TOS  Arena (real star)|
|Earth||Spica (Alpha Virginis)*||262.204 ly||TOS  The Trouble With Tribbles (real star)|
|Earth||Tau Ceti, Tau Ceti Prime, Tau Ceti III||11.897 ly||TOS  Whom Gods Destroy, VOY  Coda, Jeri Taylor's Mosaic, TNG  Conspiracy (real star)|
|Earth||Theta Cygni XII||60.651 ly||TOS  Operation: Annihilate! (real star)|
|Earth||Vega (Alpha Lyrae)||25.299 ly||TOS  The Cage, TOS  The Menagerie (real star)|
|Earth||Velara III (in Pleiades = M45)||app. 367 ly||TNG  Home Soil (real star)|
|Earth||Vulcan (40 Eridani A = Omicron² Eridani A)||16.454 ly||TOS  Amok Time, Gene Roddenberry (real star)|
|Earth||Wolf 359||7.798 ly||TNG  Best of Both Worlds II (real star)|
|Earth||Zibal (Zeta Eridani)||120.008 ly||TNG  The Most Toys (real star)|
|Argus array||Cardassian border (2370)||3 ly||TNG  Parallels (directly given)|
|Argus array||Cytheria (near the galactic core)||30000 ly||TNG  The Nth Degree (directly given)|
|Barzan II||Takar II (DQ)||70000 ly||TNG  The Price (directly given)|
|Bilana III||Lemma II||3 ly||TNG  New Ground (directly given)|
|Cygnia Minor||Benecia||8 ly||TOS  The Conscience of the King (directly given)|
|Deep space station K-7||Klingon border||3.26 ly||TOS  The Trouble with Tribbles (directly given)|
|Draygo IV||Federation border||3 ly||TNG  Homeward (directly given)|
|Galorndon Core||Romulan Neutral Zone||0.5 ly||TNG  The Enemy (directly given)|
|Illidaria (DQ)||Quantum singularity type 4 (DQ)||3 ly||VOY  Parallax (directly given)|
|J-25||Federation core||7000 ly||TNG  Q Who (directly given)|
|J-25||Starbase 185 (Federation border)||4424.8 ly||TNG  Q Who (2a 7m 3d 18h at warp 9.2 [max. warp Enterprise-D])|
|J'naii||Phelan system||2.5 ly||TNG  The Outcast (directly given)|
|McAllister C5 nebula||Minos Korva||11 ly||TNG [136/137] Chain of Command (directly given)|
|McAllister C5 nebula||Federation border||7 ly||TNG [136/137] Chain of Command (directly given)|
|Minos Korva||Border to the Cardassian Union||4 ly||TNG [136/137] Chain of Command (directly given)|
|Qualor II||Galorndon Core||0.935 ly||TNG  Unification I (8h at warp 8)|
|Romulan Neutral Zone||Lya III||45.5 ly||TNG  The Neutral Zone (2h at warp 9.9999 [subspace radio])|
|Romulan Neutral Zone||Romulus||3.621 ly||TOS  Balance of Terror (Spock's map)|
|Romulan Neutral Zone||Remus (Romii)||3.336 ly||TOS  Balance of Terror (Spock's map)|
|Romulan Neutral Zone||Typhon sector||4 ly||ST:FC (5h 25min at warp 9.95 [max. warp Sovereign class])|
|Romulus||Remus (Romii)||1.287 ly||TOS  Balance of Terror (Spock's map)|
|Sikaris (DQ)||Alastria (DQ)||40000 ly||VOY  Prime Factors (directly given)|
|Sigma Iotia||Federation border (2266)||100 ly||TOS  A Piece of the Action (directly given)|
|Starbase 64||Tau Alpha C||550 ly||TNG  Remember Me (123d at warp 9.2 [max. warp Enterprise-D])|
|Bajor||Ajilon Prime||20 ly||DS9  Nor the Battle to the Strong (directly given)|
|Bajor||AR-558||app. 50 ly||DS9  When It Rains ... (Map of the Dominion lines 2375)|
|Bajor||Bajoran wormhole (GQ)||70000 ly||ST:DS9 TM (directly given)|
|Bajor||Badlands||0.449 ly||DS9  Defiant (6h at warp 7)|
|Bajor||Cardassia Prime||5.25 ly||ST:DS9 TM (directly given)|
|Bajor||Cestus III||250 ly||DS9  Way of the Warrior (8 weeks at warp 9.2 [max. warp?])|
|Bajor||Ferenginar||app. 65.5 ly||ST:DS9 TM (map of Bajoran sector)|
|Bajor||"Core planets of the Federation"||50.3 ly||ST:DS9 TM (directly given)|
|Bajor||Regulus III||300 ly||DS9  Fascination (directly given)|
|Bajor||Starbase 375||app. 30.8 ly||ST:DS9 TM (map of Bajoran sector)|
|Bajor||Trill||app. 30 ly||DS9  Equilibrium [37h at max. warp]|
|Bajoran wormhole (GQ)||Ennis moon||0.35 ly||DS9  Battle Lines (directly given)|
|Bajoran wormhole (GQ)||LS-VI||6 ly||DS9  The Alternate (directly given)|
italics: ultra-precise HIPPARCOS figures
DQ=Delta Quadrant, QQ=Gamma Quadrant
* Added in v8.0
With these distances, we can assume that the colonies of the Federation (with exception of Rigel and Antares) and the "classic" empires of the Romulans and Klingonsare all within 200 ly away from Earth. Lacking of every indication what the distance Earth-Bajor or Earth-Cardassia might be until recently, since the ST:DS9 TM the distances of this "next generation" locations to the core region of the Federation is slightly clearer.
While real stars distances are highly accurate as they are based on the newest data available (from the 1990s HIPPARCOS satellite survey), somehow even revising older information (e.g. the 3200 vs. 1600 light years for the distance Earth - Deneb), all figures calculated from a time / distance / speed given in on screen dialogue must be regarded as conjecture minimum figures, as the light speed equivalents of warp factors (from the TOS/TNG Writer's Guide used by the creative staff of the series, and the official technical manuals) and various warp formulae are semi-canon at best and have been contricted in many episodes, leading to the theory that the true speed of warp factors varies according to locally different properties of space and subspace (expressed with the "Cochrane factor" X) and can be therefore higher than the given values (explaining the incredibly short travel times seen in some episodes).
Distances drawn from maps must be regarded as conjecture as well due to perspective / scale / validity uncertainties.
Locations from ST:TMP such as Betelgeuse or Cait have not been mentioned in dialogue but are strictly taken from background information. It is pretty certain, however, that they indeed exist in the Star Trek universe, as they are stars from the real Galaxy.
To end an old speculation, the real star 40 Eridani-A has never been mentioned in any Trek episode as the Vulcan home sun, including [TOS] Amok Time, even if this episode is often quoted as the source. It first appeared in early fandom publications of the 1970s. The episode Amok Time, however, includes some facts that support this assumption, such as the neighbourhood of Altair. Why do I regard 40 Eridani then still as fully canon? Gene Roddenberry himself "made it official" in 1991, and I don't know how more "canon" you can get. Please refer to the astronomy section of this website's Investigating Trek project for more information on the Vulcan home sun.
With its almost 800 light years distance, the real star Rigel has often been quoted as too far away from Earth to be indeed the central star of the important Star Trek system (mentioned in more than a dozen episodes!). While we had no evidence to really reject Rigel = Beta Orionis in the past, the pilot of the new series "Enterprise", "Broken Bow" clearly establishes that at least the "Rigel" mentioned in this episode, and the associated alien trading colony on the tenth planet, cannot have any relation to the real star for four reasons: 800 light years in 4 days are, even with the "Cochrane factor" justification, too far a stretch, the distance contradicts with the "15 light years from our current position" statement, the good Captain does not know anything about the system when he learns about it (while he should know it if it's the star known to Earth science for two thousand years) and, first and foremost, how should a Klingon source know anything about our Arabic designations for stars? "Rigel" can only be a alien homophone here, and it may be a homophone as well in some of the other mentions, comfortably solving the distance problem plus the improbabilities that a) one star has so many class M planets and b) that Beta Orionis has a planet that has developed intelligent life on its own (impossible given the short life span of super giants).
This compilation uses the 70000 light years / 75000 light years figures for the distance Earth-Ocampa and Bajor-Idran from the DS9:TM simply because the many on screen sources itself are too inconsistent with distances from 60000 to 90000 light years for the Gamma Quadrant terminus of the Bajoran Wormhole in DS9 and alternating distances of 70000 and 75000 light years for Voyager's initial distance to Earth.
In contrast to 40 Eridani/Vulcan, the fandom assignations for Andor and Tellar, Epsilon Indi and 61 Cygni are not included here, as they have never been backed up by any official information or member of the Star Trek staff. On contrary, Epsilon Indi as Andorian home sun is quite unlikely given that this system was mentioned twice in Trek without any hint regarding its alleged prominent inhabitants.
Other possible real star distances that were not included for some reason:
Ceti Alpha V/VI - Most fandom sources conjecture that this is simply the reversed notation of the real star Alpha Ceti (Menkar), but this star's distance to Earth (over 300 light years) is far too large given the course of events shown in Star Trek II. It's true that the too large distances of many other real stars cause problems too, however, I will accept these discrepancies only if we can be sure that it's indeed the real star (when the name is identical or practically identical, such as a wrong genitive form for the constellation).
Delta Vega - Given that this planet's name includes the proper designation of a real star (Vega = Alpha Lyrae), one could assume that this is a different notation system specifying the number of the planet by greek letters (delta = forth planet). Again, the on screen events forbid this sometimes applied speculation, given that according to the second TOS pilot, this planet must be near the edge of the Galaxy. Because of this uncertainty, similar explanations for Beta Antares and Delta Rana are not accepted here, too.
Alpha Majoris - It is mere speculation that this TOS planet orbits the real star Alpha Canis Majoris, as it could be Alpha Ursae Majoris as well. The proposed connection is simply too vague. The just as daring explanation of Zetar (= Zeta Reticuli) is rejected for similiar reasons.
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