Sector In cartography a sector was an area in physical space . The surface of planet ary bodies were gridded into sectors . ( ; ) In stellar cartography , a sector , which was referred to as a star sector or space sector , was a gridded region within the Milky Way Galaxy . Sectors were composed of an area and volume encompassing several light year s and typically contained several star system s . A group of sectors was called a sector block , which was located in a quadrant . The sector system and their numbering was used by United Earth , Vulcan s , and other spacefaring races at least by the 22nd century . In 2369 , the extragalactic space was not divided into sectors , and ships that were sent on deep space cartography missions were listed as being in extragalactic space . ( ; ; ) Size and range . William T . Riker felt that the warp coil was perhaps one of the greatest advances in Human ity since the 22nd century , explaining that " " before there was warp drive , Humans were confined to one sector of the galaxy . " " ( ) When the was probed while en route through an unfamiliar sector of space in 2269 , the crew was able to determine the source as being from a planet in the Taurean system , a system located twenty light years away , at the extreme edge of their sector . ( ) In preparation for Operation Lovely Angel , the scan ned all sectors located within three light years of the Oneamisu sector . ( ) A ship was capable of scanning a radius of ten light years at a time , which allowed the ship to effectively scan one sector per day . ( ) While en route to the planet Barisa Prime in 2371 , Captain Benjamin Sisko noted that the closest ship in that sector , the , which was exploring the Helaspont Nebula , was located twenty hour s away at maximum warp . ( ) The territory occupied by the Swarm species covered " a huge area of space " and included " hundreds of sectors . " For the to go around that region , it would have taken over fifteen months at maximum warp . ( ) " Voyager " s use of Tash ' s catapult " hurtled " the ship across thirty sectors of space in less than an hour , a journey that would have otherwise taken three year s to accomplish . ( ) Composition . Sector Z - 6 encompassed both Federation and Romulan space , and during the 23rd century , included seven Earth Outpost Station s , the Romulan Neutral Zone , and Romulus and Romii . ( ) The sector containing the Murasaki 312 contained at least four complete solar systems . ( ) The sector containing the planet Iconia contained three systems whose inhabitants had several cultural similarities with the Iconian s . ( ) The sector in which the " Enterprise " - D intercepted the class 8 probe occupied by Ambassador K ' Ehleyr was said to contain very little , yet included four colonies and nine outpost s throughout . A nearby sector that was threatened by the Klingon sleeper ship contained thirteen Federation colonies . ( ) When the shuttlecraft " " achieved warp 10 , it collected data describing " literally every cubic centimeter " of the sector they were in – an amount of information exceeding five billion gigaquad s . ( ) Naming . Most sectors were numbered , and in some cases , named after an important star system in that sector . In Federation nomenclature , the Sol system and Earth were located in Sector 001 . ( ) Others were named after a key star system , such as the Mutara sector . ( ) In other cases , they were given a designation consisting of both a name and number , such as Rhomboid Dronegar sector 006 . ( ) Subsector . A subsector was a region of space smaller than a sector and located within sectors . Subsectors were also numbered , for example Subsectors 4534 - 4432 within sector 450 / 32450 ( ) and subsector ref 321 - 053 within sector 30 - 489 . The latter number , such as the 053 in subsector ref 321 - 053 , was the angle at which the subsector was being viewed on screen . ( " display graphic " ) Background Information . The defined a sector as , " " In interstellar mapping , a volume of space approximately twenty light - years across . A typical sector in Federation space will contain about 6 to 10 star systems , although sectors toward the galactic core will often contain many more . The Milky Way Galaxy is divided into hundreds of thousands of sectors , grouped into four quadrants . Sectors are usually numbered , although in common usage they are often named for a major star or planet located in that sector . " " The " Star Trek Encyclopedia " ( 3rd ed . , p . 434 ) authors additionally said , " " The numbering system for sectors had been inconsistently used ( and sometimes interchanged with quadrants ) during the show , especially in its early days . We assume that some sectors may retain older designations from previous mapping systems , much as present - day astronomers still use NGC and Messier catalog numbers . " "