Sagittarius-Carina Arm

For other uses, see Sagittarius.

Location of the Carina Arm subsection.

The Sagittarius-Carina Arm, sometimes merely referred to as the Sagittarius Arm, is one of the spiral arms of the Milky Way Galaxy. As its innermost end connects to the central bar of the galaxy, it is one of the two major arms of the Milky Way. The region of the Milky Way identified as the Carina Arm is actually a subsection of this galactic region.

History and specifications

Star chart depicting the Sagittarius Arm in relation to major landmarks.

In the late 2260s decade, the Sagittarius Arm appeared to Federation science as an irregular spiral-arm structure 30,000 light-years long and 15,000ly wide. It included the space of the Federation, Romulan Star Empire and Klingon Empire, and their surrounding areas. Visually, Captain James T. Kirk of Starfleet compared the Sag Arm to the North American continent on Earth, but missing most of Canada, the United States of America as far west as the Rocky Mountains and as far south as the state of Oklahoma. Sol marked the "shore" of the lacune, equivalent to Oklahoma City's position in North Am. Local space, containing the Federation and the pair of Empires, would have been in the area of the southwestern North America, Mexico and the Californias. (TOS - Rihannsu novel: My Enemy, My Ally)

The space adjacent to the Sagittarius Arm, in the direction of the Orion Arm was known to be a lonely expanse, mostly devoid of populated star systems. The gulf between Sagittarius and Orion was the patrol route of the Federation starship USS Excelsior in 2285, and the location of the Ajir Empire and the Grond Protectorate that Excelsior contacted on that date. A similar region of space nearby was the Great Rift, explored by the USS Marignano in 2369. (TOS - Double Blind comic: "Part One"; TNG novel: Intellivore)

During the Borg Invasion of 2381, the USS Aventine and USS Enterprise-E investigated a series of subspace tunnels centralized in the Azure Nebula. One of the tunnels exited the Aventine into the Delta Quadrant halfway between the Carina Arm and the Perseus Arm; another one stranded both vessels on the outer rim of the Carina Arm near the meridian between the Delta and Gamma Quadrants, where they faced a Hirogen fleet. (ST - Destiny novel: Mere Mortals)

The Norolob were a species native to the Carina Arm, and in the 27th century they acquired quantum slipstream drive and their empire subsequently conquered half of the Federation's Carina Arm sectors. This led to a resistance movement forming and toppling the Norolob's government, from which the Norolob Republic arose and became one of the Federation's staunchest allies. (DTI eBook: The Collectors)

Appendices

External link

• Sagittarius-Carina Arm article at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.