Size of the 3rd Imperium

[pzmcgwire]

In looking at the published maps, it appears that the 3rd Imperium is about 20 sectors in size with each sector being 4x4 subsectors (each of which is 16x16 parsecs), thus a sector is 64 x 64 parsecs. The Imperium is said to span across 28 sectors with partial presence in many sectors. I'm using 20 as a rough estimate.

Using the 1 hex equals 1 parsec definition, one sector is 4,096 square parsecs and so the entire 3rd Imperium is roughly 20 sectors x 4096 or 81,920 square parsecs?

A parsec being 3.26 light years, then the Imperium occupies about 267,000 square light years.

Is there a canon definition of the size of the Imperium beyond that it contains 11,000 worlds?

 

[Garnfellow]

In looking at the published maps, it appears that the 3rd Imperium is about 20 sectors in size with each sector being 4x4 subsectors (each of which is 16x16 parsecs), thus a sector is 64 x 64 parsecs. The Imperium is said to span across 28 sectors with partial presence in many sectors. I'm using 20 as a rough estimate.

Using the 1 hex equals 1 parsec definition, one sector is 4,096 square parsecs and so the entire 3rd Imperium is roughly 20 sectors x 4096 or 81,920 square parsecs?

A parsec being 3.26 light years, then the Imperium occupies about 267,000 square light years.

Is there a canon definition of the size of the Imperium beyond that it contains 11,000 worlds?

Each subsector is 8 x 10 parsecs, meaning each sector is 32 x 40 parsecs.

 

[TamsinP]

The Imperium does extend into 28 sectors, but that figure includes some where it only includes a few systems. There are only four sectors where all 1280 hexes are completely in the Imperium.

The Traveller Map site will give you a better overall view.

 

[pzmcgwire]

Thanks for that correction. So 20 sectors at 1280 square parsecs per sector then is 25,600 square parsecs or about 83,000 square light years.

Just trying to compare in size to other science fiction universes. Star Trek's United Federation of Planets has a canon diameter of 10,000 light years so in an evenly spaced circle would be about 78 million square light years.

Of course space being 3 dimensional, total cubic volume might be larger.

Is there a map that compares Star Trek space to 3rd Imperium space?

 

[whulorigan]

Thanks for that correction. So 20 sectors at 1280 square parsecs per sector then is 25,600 square parsecs or about 83,000 square light years.

Just trying to compare in size to other science fiction universes. Star Trek's United Federation of Planets has a canon diameter of 10,000 light years so in an evenly spaced circle would be about 78 million square light years.

Of course space being 3 dimensional, total cubic volume might be larger.

Is there a map that compares Star Trek space to 3rd Imperium space?

You could try and use the three stars Deneb, Antares, and Rigel as benchmarks. The first two are on TravellerMap, and I am certain are canonically located within Federation Space. Rigel is also canonically located within Federation Space but would be about 4 Sectors Rimward of the edge of the Charted Space map of Traveller.

 

[giant.robot]

Thanks for that correction. So 20 sectors at 1280 square parsecs per sector then is 25,600 square parsecs or about 83,000 square light years.

Just trying to compare in size to other science fiction universes. Star Trek's United Federation of Planets has a canon diameter of 10,000 light years so in an evenly spaced circle would be about 78 million square light years.

Of course space being 3 dimensional, total cubic volume might be larger.

Is there a map that compares Star Trek space to 3rd Imperium space?

All Star Trek maps are ludicrous. I've never seen a canon 10k light year diameter. Not saying the statement hasn't been made but I've never seen it. A number of people have tried to circle the square of wildly differing descriptions of the Federation is various episodes. Even the various writers' guides for the different series don't give any hard numbers.

All numbers in Star Trek are at the scale of the plot. There's little more logic to them than that.

 

[Grav_Moped]

All numbers in Star Trek are at the scale of the plot. There's little more logic to them than that.

The other thing, of course, is density/detail.

On Travmap, you can drill down to any individual system, click on it and it'll have a comprehensively detailed description of the star system. May or may not be canon (assuming canon covers it), but it's there. And it'll be the same when you go back to look at it an hour later, a week, or a year.

Thousands of 'em. Everywhere you look on the map.

That's a pretty big deal.

 

[giant.robot]

The other thing, of course, is density/detail.

On Travmap, you can drill down to any individual system, click on it and it'll have a comprehensively detailed description of the star system. May or may not be canon (assuming canon covers it), but it's there. And it'll be the same when you go back to look at it an hour later, a week, or a year.

Thousands of 'em. Everywhere you look on the map.

That's a pretty big deal.

Yeah just on my bookshelf I have four separate sets of Star Trek maps, all equally unofficial: the 1980 Star Trek Maps, FASA Star Trek, Worlds of the Federation, and Star Trek Startcharts. That's just books on one shelf. None are consistent or even "canon" despite being licensed by Paramount.

 

[kilemall]

Yeah just on my bookshelf I have four separate sets of Star Trek maps, all equally unofficial: the 1980 Star Trek Maps, FASA Star Trek, Worlds of the Federation, and Star Trek Startcharts. That's just books on one shelf. None are consistent or even "canon" despite being licensed by Paramount.

Don’t forget Federation and Empire by ADB for the SFB franchise.

 

[whartung]

Don’t forget Federation and Empire by ADB for the SFB franchise.

Much like Traveller, the SFB universe is also surprisingly flat.

 

[sudnadja]

In looking at the published maps, it appears that the 3rd Imperium is about 20 sectors in size with each sector being 4x4 subsectors (each of which is 16x16 parsecs), thus a sector is 64 x 64 parsecs. The Imperium is said to span across 28 sectors with partial presence in many sectors. I'm using 20 as a rough estimate.

Using the 1 hex equals 1 parsec definition, one sector is 4,096 square parsecs and so the entire 3rd Imperium is roughly 20 sectors x 4096 or 81,920 square parsecs?

A parsec being 3.26 light years, then the Imperium occupies about 267,000 square light years.

Is there a canon definition of the size of the Imperium beyond that it contains 11,000 worlds?

Using data pulled (via API) from travellermap, and then generating the hull around the regions that have imperial aligned worlds (and then generating this map from that, I get a total area contained within the regions of the automatically found borders of 18851.1 square parsecs.

 

[whartung]

Using data pulled (via API) from travellermap, and then generating the hull around the regions that have imperial aligned worlds (and then generating this map from that, I get a total area contained within the regions of the automatically found borders of 18851.1 square parsecs.

Well, see that's your first problem.

Everyone knows in Traveller that parsecs are not just flat, but hex shaped.

 

[sudnadja]

Well, see that's your first problem.

Everyone knows in Traveller that parsecs are not just flat, but hex shaped.

Yes, they are, and I account for that. A hex that is 1 parsec center-to-center to an edge on neighboring hex has an area of Sqrt[3]/2. When I build the bounding regions, I build them based on hexes.

 

[pzmcgwire]

Very cool. It looks like my final calculation of 25,600 sq parsecs is in the range as I didn't adjust for partial sectors. This 18,851.1 looks more precise. Thanks.