Star Trek: Star Charts

Star Trek: Star Charts is a guide to the Star Trek universe – the stars and planets of the United Federation of Planets and the other powers of the Milky Way Galaxy. It includes background information on the classification systems used for identifying stars and planets.
Star Trek: Star Charts was announced in . 
==Summary==
;From the book jacket
:"…all I ask is a tall ship, and a star to steer her by."
:From the earliest days of explorations, there has always been one tried-and-true way to navigate through uncharted reaches and one to find the way home – the stars. Ancient mariners prized their star charts, knowing that they could guide them safely into a friendly port or lead them to the reaches of the mysterious East. Modes of transportation have changed but the stars are still our constant guides. When man took his first step into space armed with the very latest in computers, he took with him the same tool for reading the stars that the men who sailed under canvas carried.
:When Humans launched the first ship designed for long-range missions into the deep waters of interstellar space, the Vulcan High Command provided their star charts for . But Jonathan Archer was not content with relying on the known. Although he used the Vulcan charts, he also added to them, and greatly expanded Starfleet's knowledge of the galaxy. Every generation of starship captain that followed has built on Archer's first steps.
:Follow the course set by Archer, Kirk, Picard, Sisko, and Janeway. Relive their extraordinary adventures as you find here, for the first time, the star maps that chart the routes these famous explorers took. This book will be a Star Trek cartographer's dream, without a doubt.
===Contents===
====Spectral classification====
Class 	Description	Temperature 	Composition 	Examples
Class O 	Dark Blue 	28,000-50,000 K	Ionized atoms, especially helium 	Mintaka (O1-3III)
Class B 	Blue 	10,000-28,000 K	Neutral helium some hydrogen 	Alpha Eridani A (B3V-IV)
Class A 	Light Blue 	7,500-10,000 K 	Strong hydrogen, some ionized metals 	Sirius A (A0-1V)
Class F 	White 	6,000-7,500 K 	Hydrogen and ionized metals, calcium, and iron 	Procyon A (F5V-IV)
Class G (yellow dwarf) 	Yellow 	5,000-6,000 K 	Ionized calcium, both neutral and ionized metals	Sol (G2V)
Class K 	Orange 	3,500-5,000 K 	Neutral metals 	Alpha Centauri B (K0-3V)
Class M (red dwarf, red giant)	Red 	2,500-3,500 K 	Ionized atoms, especially helium 	Wolf 359 (M5-8V)
====Planetary classification====
Class 	Description 	Age (bil. yrs)	Diameter (kms) 	Location 	Atmosphere 	Lifeforms 	Examples
Class A 	Geothermal 	0 to 2 	1,000 to 10,000 	Exosphere/Cold Zone 	Hydrogen compounds 	None 	Gothos
Class B 	Geomorteus 	0 to 10 	1,000 to 10,000 	Hot Zone 	Extremely tenuous, negligible 	None 	
Class C 	Geoinactive 	2 to 10 	1,000 to 10,000 	Ecosphere/Cold Zone 	Frozen 	None 	Pluto, Psi 2000
Class D 	Asteroid/Moon 	2 to 10 	100 to 1,000 	All 	Negligible 	None 	Moon (Sol IIIa), Regula
Class E 	Geoplastic 	0 to 2 	10,000 to 15,000 	Ecosphere 	Hydrogen compounds/reactive gases 	Carbon-cycle (Excalbian) 	Excalbia
Class F 	Geometallic 	1 to 3 	10,000 to 15,000 	Ecosphere 	Hydrogen compounds 	Silicon-based (Horta) 	Janus VI
Class G 	Geocrystalline	3 to 4 	10,000 to 15,000 	Ecosphere 	Carbon dioxide 	Primitive single-celled organisms 	Delta Vega
Class H 	Desert 	4 to 10 	8,000 to 15,000 	All 	Heavy gases/metal vapors 	Drought- and radiation-resistant plants, animal life 	Rigel XII, Tau Cygna V
Class I 	Gas supergiant	2 to 10 	140,000 to 10,000,000 	Cold Zone 	Varying zones/Water vapor may be present	Unknown 	Q'tahl
Class J 	Gas giant 	2 to 10 	50,000 to 140,000 	Cold Zone 	Varying zones 	Hydrocarbon-based (Jovian) 	Jupiter, Saturn
Class K 	Adaptable 	4 to 10 	5,000 to 10,000 	Ecosphere 	Carbon dioxide 	Primitive single-celled organisms 	Mars, Mudd
Class L 	Marginal 	4 to 10 	10,000 to 15,000 	Ecosphere 	Oxygen, argon, carbon dioxide 	Limited to plant life; suitable for humanoid colonization	Indri VIII
Class M	Terrestrial 	3 to 10 	10,000 to 15,000 	Ecosphere 	Nitrogen, oxygen, trace elements 	Extensive vegetation, animal life, humanoids 	Earth, , Cardassia Prime
Class N 	Reducing 	3 to 10 	10,000 to 15,000 	Ecosphere 	Carbon dioxide/sulfides 	Unknown 	Venus
Class O 	Pelagic 	3 to 10 	10,000 to 15,000 	Ecosphere 	Nitrogen, oxygen, trace elements 	Aquatic vegetation, animal life, humanoids 	
Class P 	Glaciated 	3 to 10 	10,000 to 15,000 	Ecosphere 	Nitrogen, oxygen, trace elements 	Hardy vegetation, animal life, humanoids 	Exo III,
Class Q 	Variable 	2 to 10 	4,000 to 15,000 	All 	Ranges from tenuous to very dense 	Highly variable 	, Remus
Class R 	Rogue 	2 to 10 	4,000 to 15,000 	Interstellar space, cometary halos	Primarily volcanic outgassing 	Non-photosynthetic plants, animal life 	Dakala
Class S 	Ultragiant 	2 to 10 	10,000,000 to 50,000,000 	Cold Zone 	Varying zones/water vapor may be present	 	
Class T 	Ultragiant 	2 to 10 	50,000,000 to 120,000,000	Cold zone 	Varying zones/water vapor may be present	 	
Class X 	 	 	 	 	 	Environment is particularly hostile to humanoid life 	
Class Y 	"Demon" 	2 to 10 	10,000 to 15,000 	All 	Thermionic radiation 	Mimetic 	Silver Blood homeworld
Class Z 	 	 	 	 	 	Environment is particularly hostile to humanoid life 	
:Note: For planets that are 15,000 to 50,000 kilometers in diameter, such as Neptune, no classification was provided. It might be possible that, like with the examples of Class X and Class Z, that the planetary classification for these worlds did exist, but wasn't included in the book.
== Background information ==
Star Trek: Star Charts was written and illustrated by Geoffrey Mandel, with the help of Doug Drexler, Tim Earls, Larry Nemecek, and Christian Rühl (see below). André Bormanis, Michael Okuda, Rick Sternbach, and Timo Saloniemi gave technical advice. Mandel and Sternbach also worked on the original 1980 Star Trek Maps; Nemecek contributed items to that older work – the Federation members, and a planet/star pairing list, among others – that survived his earlier, aborted mapping project that was based on the star grid scale of the original Star Fleet Technical Manual. That project, due to be updated with Mandel for self-publication, was abandoned when the Bantam 1980 maps project surfaced.
File:Star Trek Star Charts promotional cover.jpg|Pre-publication cover art
== Appendices ==
=== See also ===
*Stellar Cartography: The Starfleet Reference Library
*Star Trek Maps
=== External link ===
* by Christian Rühl, which formed the basis of this book
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Star Charts