10 Examples Of Real Science In Star Trek

7. The Size Of The Galaxy

Star Trek Impulse Engines
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Our galaxy, The Milky Way, was actually portrayed rather faithfully in Star Trek.

Just like in real-life, the galaxy is about 100,000 lightyears across and contains hundreds of billions of stars. Most stars are at least a lightyear apart from each other and contain at least one planet. The location of Earth is also just where it should be, positioned halfway between the galactic core and the edge of the galaxy.

There are, however, a number of scientific inaccuracies with the Milky Way in Star Trek. For example, it has been known for quite some time that the centre of our galaxy (and presumably all galaxies) contains a supermassive black hole. In Star Trek, this is not the case.

As we see in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, the centre of the Milky Way in Star Trek is actually a hidden planet known in Vulcan mythology as Sha Ka Ree. Sybok, Spock's half-brother, believed this planet to be the home of God and the source of all creation. Unfortunately for him, it turned out to merely be the home of one very angry alien entity. The fate of this mysterious planet in the galactic core is yet to be explored.

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Marcia Fry is a writer for WhatCulture and an amateur filmmaker.