Bajoran wormhole The Bajoran wormhole was the only stable wormhole known to exist in the Milky Way Galaxy . It was the home of extra - dimensional beings who were worshiped by the Bajoran s as god s , known as the Prophet s . Before the wormhole was discovered by Commander Benjamin Sisko and Lieutenant Jadzia Dax in 2369 , it was considered to be a myth . ( ) Names . The Bajoran wormhole was referred to as the Celestial Temple in Bajoran religious context . Kor , a Klingon , once called the wormhole the " Eye of Destiny " . In the Gamma Quadrant , the wormhole was known as " the anomaly " by the Jem ' Hadar , and to the Skrreea , according to their mythology , it was the Eye of the Universe . The wormhole was known to the Changeling s as the " passageway " . ( ) Astronomical data . The Bajoran wormhole connected two points in the Milky Way Galaxy together 70 , 000 light year s apart . One terminus was located in the Alpha Quadrant , in the Denorios belt of the Bajoran system . The other terminus was located in deep space in the Gamma Quadrant , 4 . 7234 light years away from the Idran system . ( ) For the fastest Federation starship in 2369 , it would have taken 67 years of non - stop voyage at maximum warp to cross the distance , but through the wormhole the passage was nearly instantaneous . ( ) Because it was stable , the Bajoran wormhole did not have any of the usual resonance waves found in other wormholes . ( ) It was theorized by Starfleet that the wormhole was formed by verteron s , particles that were self - sustaining in nature . ( ) Highly elevated levels of neutrino s were also commonly detected prior to the appearance of the wormhole ' s event horizon , and as a vessel traversed the passage . It was believed that verteron nodes inside the wormhole played a large part in keeping the wormhole stable . ( ; ) History . Bajoran historical records indicate that the wormhole had most likely been in existence for at least the past ten thousand year s by the late 24th century . The nine Orb s which had appeared on or near Bajor in that time , and are revered as active links between the Bajoran people and the Prophets , are thought to have come from the wormhole . There were also several unexplained incidents over the centuries that were later attributed to the wormhole after its discovery . In the 22nd century , at least two Bajorans encountered the wormhole : Kai Taluno , whose ship was disabled inside the Denorios belt for several day s and reported that " the heavens opened up and nearly swallowed the ship . " ; and Akorem Laan , whose lightship was damaged in an ion storm , drifted into the Denorios belt , and was then swallowed by the wormhole , where it , and Akorem , would stay with the Prophets until 2372 . Due to the Denorios belt being generally avoided by interplanetary traffic , the wormhole remained undiscovered until 2369 , shortly after the end of the Cardassian Occupation of Bajor . When Starfleet took over the operation of the space station Terok Nor in orbit of Bajor , Commander Benjamin Sisko and science officer Lieutenant Jadzia Dax investigated the many reported anomalies in the belt aboard the , and became the official discoverers of the wormhole . Shortly thereafter , the station , renamed Deep Space 9 , was relocated at a position near the terminus of the wormhole . ( ) Keiko O ' Brien ' s classroom aboard Deep Space 9 in 2369 featured a wall chart with an image of the Bajoran wormhole beside other Federation starships . She discussed the history and scientific roots of the wormhole in her lessons , though in a secular fashion , which angered some of the Bajoran devout . ( ) On one occasion , the wormhole transported a runabout and two crew members to a parallel universe in 2370 . This was due to a plasma injector leak which caused the runabout to enter the wormhole with an only partially - collapsed warp field . The two crew members , Major Kira Nerys and Doctor Julian Bashir , were later able to return to their own universe by recreating the accident and returning through the wormhole . ( ) The wormhole had an enormous impact on interstellar politics in the Alpha Quadrant . In the first two years , many race s eagerly sent explorer s and freighter s through the wormhole to open relations with new trading partners , and to establish new colonies . However , the wormhole also brought the powers of the Alpha Quadrant into contact with the Dominion , a powerful government that controlled a large swath of territory in the Gamma Quadrant . ( ) In 2371 , Starfleet initiated a joint scientific project with the Bajoran and Cardassian government s to establish a trans - wormhole subspace communications relay , to make it possible for ships in the Gamma Quadrant to contact home , as well as to provide early warning of any Dominion attack . The mission was complicated by a warning from Bajoran Vedek Yarka , who cited Trakor ' s Third Prophecy , about the potential destruction of the Celestial Temple . This prophecy was unexpectedly validated soon after with the approach of a previously - unknown , long - period comet . This comet was infused with silithium , which had the potential to permanently destabilize the wormhole if it interacted with the verteron particles in the passage . Unable to alter the comet ' s trajectory , a shuttlepod from the used a deflector shield to prevent the comet ' s material from contaminating the wormhole . During the transit , trace amounts of silithium inadvertently leaked through the shields , however , the small amounts did not destabilize the wormhole , but instead created a subspace filament inside the wormhole that allowed normal communication between the quadrants . ( ) In 2373 , when a Dominion invasion became inevitable , Starfleet ordered the entrance to the wormhole be collapsed . Doctor Lenara Kahn of the Trill Science Ministry had devised a means , using a phase - conjugate graviton beam to seal the wormhole without causing damage to it or harming the Prophet s . Deep Space 9 was able to rig the phase - conjugate beam by remodulating the station ' s deflector grid frequencies and projecting it through its graviton emitter s . Unfortunately , when executed , it was discovered that the emitters were sabotaged and , as a result , the phase - conjugate graviton beam had the exact opposite effect on the wormhole , and rendered the wormhole ' s spatial matrix even more stable than before , so stable in fact that not even trilithium explosives could destroy the wormhole . Thus , Starfleet was unable to prevent a series of Dominion fleets from entering the Alpha Quadrant . ( ) A few months later , Starfleet was forced to blockade the wormhole with self - replicating mine s in order to prevent the growing Dominion threat to the Alpha Quadrant . Deep Space 9 was subsequently lost to the Dominion in the opening battle of the Dominion War , but the mine field was successfully planted , preventing further Dominion ships from traversing the wormhole . The minefield was eventually destroyed while the Federation attempted to retake the station . The Dominion fleet that was passing through the wormhole at the time was destroyed by the Prophets however , since the Prophets ' chose to die trying to stop the Dominion fleet rather than heed their will . After this event , no further traffic passed through the wormhole until the end of the war . With the wormhole considered impassable , the Dominion introduced a new breed of Jem ' Hadar , the Alphas , in 2374 . ( ) The wormhole was apparently destroyed in late - 2374 , when Dukat , acting as a conduit for the exiled Pah - wraith s , attacked the Orb of Contemplation , which was then housed on Deep Space 9 . Following Dukat ' s attack , all of the Orbs went dark , and the wormhole itself disappeared . Dukat ' s aim was to force the Prophets out and make the wormhole passable again for Dominion reinforcements , although he did not anticipate that the wormhole would collapse . ( ) The disappearance of the wormhole and the apparent loss of contact with their deities caused great consternation and fear among the Bajorans , as well as the rise of the Cult of the Pah - wraiths . The wormhole remained closed for the next three month s , until Benjamin Sisko , acting as the Emissary of the Prophets , discovered the Orb of the Emissary on in early - 2375 . The discovery of the previously - unknown tenth Orb caused the re - opening of the wormhole . ( ) Later that year , Dukat told Damar that he had no regrets in failing to reopen the wormhole by killing the Prophets . ( ) Jake Sisko , along with Colonel Kira Nerys , watched the wormhole opening from the Promenade at the end of 2375 after Captain Sisko defeated Dukat in the Fire Caves and the Dominion War had finally ended . The fact that the wormhole opened when Sisko ' s son and Kira looked out to where it appeared was likely another sign that Sisko would return . ( ) Appendices . Background information . The visual effect for the wormhole was created by Rhythm & Hues . According to the " " ( " Stellar Cartography " , p . 42 ) , the wormhole " cut a 70 , 000 light - year journey between the two quadrants down to two minutes " . Apocrypha . In the of , immediately after Dukat is rescued from the wormhole , he attempts to lay claim to it based on Cardassia ' s long - standing Occupation of Bajor , before Sisko coolly informs him that he has reached an agreement with the Prophet s on behalf of the Federation and Bajor that they will control the wormhole , and anyone trying to go through it without the permission of those sides would find themselves lost somewhere mid - way between the wormhole ' s entrances ( although given later events with various sides using the wormhole this may have been at least partly a bluff ) . In the " Deep Space Nine " book trilogy " " , there was a second Bajoran wormhole , a Pah - wraith wormhole that opened when the three Orb s of the Pah - wraiths were brought together in Quark ' s . The second wormhole actually opened " inside " of Quark ' s , ripping Deep Space 9 to pieces . The opening of the second wormhole nearly spelled Armageddon for the entire universe as , in an alternate future , Kai Weyoun triggered a gravimetric explosion that brought both wormholes together , causing them to connect to each other and swallow the entire universe . However , thanks to the actions of Ben Sisko , the crew of the USS " Defiant " , and Elim Garak , Quark , and Jake Sisko ( who were close enough to the wormholes to be absorbed directly into the dimension of the Prophets and the Pah - Wraiths when the wormholes opened rather than being consumed ) , these events were undone when they took advantage of a temporal anomaly inside the wormhole dimension - putting them in touch with DS9 prior to its destruction and in the last days of the Occupation - to alter the events leading up to the destruction of Deep Space 9 - without altering anything that would prevent them being in a position to make those changes - , culminating in them destroying a ship from that alternate future and using the energy to prevent the second wormhole forming in the first place . In the DS9 relaunch series and the subsequent " " series , a renegade branch of the Typhon Pact – an alliance of the Federation ' s enemies – manage to create an artificial wormhole that ' connects ' to the Bajoran wormhole so that they can enter the Gamma Quadrant in secret in the novel " Raise the Dawn " , believing that Dominion technology will help them develop their own version of the quantum slipstream drive . This artifical wormhole is destroyed by Kira Nerys , but her attack apparently costs her her life and closes the Bajoran wormhole , leaving Odo trapped in the Alpha Quadrant . The wormhole remained sealed for two years until the official ' re - opening ' of the new DS9 in " " : " Revelation and Dust " .