Do we ever see a wormhole in Star Trek that goes beyond our galaxy? Wormholes are able to cross great distances, but I don't recall ever seeing one that emerged anywhere else.
1
-
6Why the close vote on this? It seems like a perfectly viable question...– DampeS8NCommented May 31, 2012 at 12:55
Add a comment
|
3 Answers
Short Answer:
No. We never see a wormhole that goes outside of the Galaxy. Given the science behind the concept of the Einstein-Rosen bridge, it should be theoretically possible if someone were to find and create a link between the two locations. But using the science as we understand it, stable wormholes are difficult to conceive of without an outside energy source keeping the link between the two locations.
Longer Answer:
It is difficult to be able to answer that question with any clarity since we don't have a large sample of wormholes to work from. But from the very limited sample we can say, yes, wormholes in the Star Trek universe do not tend to exist outside of the galaxy proper.
As far as the Federation is concerned there are no naturally occurring wormholes that are actually large enough for a ship to pass through. Wormhole theory have been examined in the Federation and micro-wormholes have been used to send datasignals through space and time. Voyager uses a wormhole to send messages to the Alpha quadrant but the messages ended up being sent through time to a Romulan vessel. (VOY: "Eye of the Needle")
Wormhole theory in the Federation recognizes them as potential portals through time but no naturally holes have been large enough to use for more than communications.
No known naturally-occurring stable wormholes had yet been discovered in the Alpha or Beta Quadrants. The only likely candidate, the Barzan wormhole, was found to be unstable at its far terminus. However, several relatively stable wormhole-like phenomena have been reported in the Delta Quadrant. (TNG: "The Price"; VOY: "Eye of the Needle", "Night", "Counterpoint") -- Memory Alpha
answered May 31, 2012 at 4:15
-
Unfortunately I can't comment yet, but the answer by Thaddeus above seems to forget about the Bajoran wormhole, which is definitely stable? Commented May 31, 2012 at 6:18
-
4That wormhole was artificial, created by the Prophets. I was talking about naturally occurring wormholes. Commented May 31, 2012 at 6:47
-
2
no naturally holes have been large enough to use for more than communications- Except for the one in The Price, which reappears in False Profits– IzkataCommented May 31, 2012 at 10:36 -
And I list the Barzan wormhole as the only likely candidate of a stable, naturally occurring wormhole AND as unstable, since at the end of that episode it is unable to be used. Commented May 31, 2012 at 15:47
-
1In the TOS episode "Alternative Factor" a wormhole connects two parallel universes, which I think qualifies as an example of "Out-of-Galaxy".– SteveEDCommented Jun 19, 2012 at 1:39
It's hard to come up with a coherent answer when the series is so inconsistent about the size of the reachable universe; traveling across a large fraction of the size of the galaxy goes from taking mere hours (ST: The Final Frontier) to tens of decades (Voyager).
I believe it is implied, but never explicitly said, that the whole franchise occurs within the Milky Way (barring trans-dimensional stories), so the answer is probably "no".
-
1There's also that first season TNG episode ("Where No One Has Gone Before") where the traveller takes them outside the galaxy, and into that "realm of thought". Q also causes them to leave the galaxy at some point or another, I think. Commented Aug 26, 2014 at 17:15
