Star Wars Galaxy Map

[Baron Scarpia]

Hey all,

Is there a canonical or near-canonical map of the SW galaxy? I've seen several different SW galaxy maps online, but they are all radically different in some regards, including the placement of major star systems (one I saw had Alderaan near among the Core Worlds, another along the Outer Rim!)

Also, since the SW galaxy is meant to be a spiral galaxy like our own (and we see this in AoTC in the hologram in the library), aren't the Core Worlds a patent impossibility? There would be so much radiation and light from the Galactic Core that inhabitable planets that close to the center would be impossible, wouldn't they?

Cheers

[FettKyle]

From what I heard the Stars at the core are much older and cooler espicialy in the Koornacht cluster I believe this was from the essential Guide to speices

[Baron Scarpia]

To clarify the second point, There are elliptical galaxies that are, in essence nearly naked cores of spirals, some scaled up to hundreds of times as large as our galaxy. Those exude such huge amounts of radiation that nothing could live within a million ly. Small ones, such as Andromeda's satellite galaxy m32 are believed to be tiny spirals stripped of its arms. Others, such as satellite galaxy m110, have a large halo that could have habitable systems. But they all have Shapley zones.

There are small irregulars, like Milky Way's satellites, the Magellanic clouds. They can't be anywhere near as big as a full grown spiral without assuming the gravitationally dictated shapes of either a spiral or an eliptical.

There are large, irregular galaxies. They are consistently the result of galactic "collisions" and are hotbeds of stellar birth and death, irradiated throughout to the point that no life could evolve. By the time stellar activity settles to a reasonable level the galaxy either drifts apart or assumes spiral/eliptical qualities.

All types of spiral galaxies have 2 things in common: the spiral arms and the "hot" center. It is a gravitational necessity. And Shapley calculated (from measured gamma rays at this distance of 28,000 ly from the center & shielded by intervening dust) that gamma/x rays would make environments uninhabitable as far as 15,000 ly from the center of the Milky Way (almost 30% of the radius). That's thousands of ly beyond the bright bulge itself.

Some estimates of stellar density in spiral galaxy cores put average separation on the order of ¼ ly. Close passes by stellar neighbors would be so common that all planets would be in highly eccentric long period orbits or simply drifting free among the stars.

In summary, the Core Worlds in SW are a patent impossibility, if they are indeed located in/near the Galactic Core. In all fairness, however, have we seen a canonical galactic map of SW that places the "Core Worlds" actually near the galactic core? "Core" could be a figure of speech for just the earliest known inhabited worlds near Coruscant, however.

[Slartibartfast]

In the maps I've seen, all stars are actually in the "ring" around the central glowy thingy. The core worlds are actually in the inner side, and the others are in the outer side, but there's a big "void" of important systems in the core itself... which makes me think, a trip "across" the galaxy in a short time wouldn't become a trip "around" it? That would mean hyperspace is even faster, wouldn't it?

[Baron Scarpia]

In the maps I've seen, all stars are actually in the "ring" around the central glowy thingy. The core worlds are actually in the inner side, and the others are in the outer side, but there's a big "void" of important systems in the core itself... which makes me think, a trip "across" the galaxy in a short time wouldn't become a trip "around" it? That would mean hyperspace is even faster, wouldn't it?

All of the maps, assuming the SW galaxy is 100-120,000 ly across, still put the Core Worlds and even the Colonies far too close to the Galactic Core to be habitable. They would be fried.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Baron, don't forget the Sagiterius Dwarf, the closest object to the Milky Way.

[Illuminatus Primus]

In summary, the Core Worlds in SW are a patent impossibility, if they are indeed located in/near the Galactic Core. In all fairness, however, have we seen a canonical galactic map of SW that places the "Core Worlds" actually near the galactic core? "Core" could be a figure of speech for just the earliest known inhabited worlds near Coruscant, however.

The "Deep Core" is the literal galactic core. The "Core Worlds" are located in the inner spiral arms, relatively close but not directly adjacent to the galactic core. Keep in mind radiation shielding is superb by the time settlements and fortifications are established in the Deep Core. And for all we know, the "Core Worlds" were colonized in the same way. But they would be, in my opinion, removed from the galactic core so that this is not a neccessity.

In the maps I've seen, all stars are actually in the "ring" around the central glowy thingy. The core worlds are actually in the inner side, and the others are in the outer side, but there's a big "void" of important systems in the core itself... which makes me think, a trip "across" the galaxy in a short time wouldn't become a trip "around" it? That would mean hyperspace is even faster, wouldn't it?

All of the maps, assuming the SW galaxy is 100-120,000 ly across, still put the Core Worlds and even the Colonies far too close to the Galactic Core to be habitable. They would be fried.

The Star Wars galaxy proper is 120,000 light-years across (slightly more than a Terran light-year due to longer Coruscant year, and longer Coruscant day).

This said, there appears to be a lot of diffuse matter and several dwarf galaxies and major star clusters beyond the edge of the galaxy. The Outer Rim or Wild Space is likely composed of these regions.

The galactic maps shown are incorrect both in scale, perspective, and in position of the Unknown Regions. They should be treated as apocrypha with a slight hint of where things are in the SW galaxy.

In my opinion, the "Deep Core" is much larger, and the "Core Worlds" are located in the inner spiral arms, but mostly to one side of the galactic core, as the Republic was isolated from other areas of the galaxy until as late as -5000 BBY, and the "Core Worlds" existed as a region at that time. The Colonies would likely be centered in a band around the galactic core and surrounding the Core Worlds. Around this would be the narrow regions of the Inner and Mid Rims, which would stretch out to the outer fifth or so of the spiral arms. This last band of spiral arms and adjacent star clusters and dwarf galaxies are probably the Outer Rim. Wild Space being less colonized and more ignored expanses of these star clusters or spiral galaxies.

Unknown Regions being the vast and mostly empty void of the galactic halo.