Stargate

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Overview

The Stargate is a device created by the Ancients that permits nearly instantaneous travel between two planets or other bodies, thus linking them together into a galaxy-wide system. The Ancients, about whom little is known, apparently abandoned the galaxy, but the system of Stargates they created remains. They are in use by people in a variety of cultures on a variety of worlds, many of them peopled by descendents of Earth humans who were removed by the Goa'uld to other worlds to labor. The Goa'uld System Lords freely use the Stargates in conjunction with starships to maintain their far-flung empires, and for a long time, it was thought that the Goa'uld created the Stargate system. Different cultures on different planets have different terms for their Stargates, the most common being chappa'ai.

To render a Stargate inoperable, it is buried.

How the Stargate Works

The Stargate, made of naquadah (a quartzite metal not found on Earth) and weighing about 64,000 pounds, is shaped like a monumental standing ring. The stationary outer ring and concentric spinning inner ring work together to set coordinates that permit interstellar travel. The outer ring contains nine chevrons that lock on an inner ring symbol, or glyph. Seven are used to set a destination within Earth's galaxy, and eight are used to set a destination in another galaxy, although such intergalactic travel requires a tremendous amount of energy (2.16 "The Fifth Race"). It is not known what the ninth chevron is for. The inside ring has thirty-nine symbols, called glyphs, that refer to constellations. These symbols may also be pronounced in the Ancients language (7.22 "Lost City Part 2"). For a normal address, the first six symbols set a coordinate in a volume of space, and the seventh refers to the point of origin.

The naquadah material of the Stargate stores vast amounts of energy: enough to form a wormhole. With properly regulated energy distribution, it is safe, but since it is a very powerful superconductor, imprudent application of energy could cause it to explode catastrophically (5.14 "48 Hours").

When activated, the Stargate creates a wormhole between two Stargates that permits near-instantaneous travel from one to the other. When the Stargate activates, a blue whoosh of energy emanates out from the Gate, destroying anything in its path. After this initial burst of energy, an event horizon, a two-dimensional energy field that permits entry to the wormhole and that looks like rippling blue water, is created within the ring of the Gate itself, and the traveler simply steps through. Anything that goes through the Gate will arrive on the other side at the same velocity at which it entered. Arrows, bullets, and energy blasts can be transported through the Stargate just as well as a person, or things can be thrown through the Gate.

As a means of protection against hostile arrivals, the SGC built an iris over its Stargate. It sits less than three micrometers from the event horizon, so, while an incoming wormhole can still form, any matter sent through will not be able to re-materialize (1.03 "The Enemy Within"). This has proven deadly to some would-be allies whose people have died when their energy signatures impacted the iris and were destroyed (4.02 "The Other Side").

The length of time a traveler stays inside the wormhole varies according to the distance to be traveled. For travel in our galaxy, some number of seconds is required. However, since the traveler has been converted to energy for the trip, he or she is not aware of the passing time or the nature of the experience.

Although travel can only be in one direction, the Gate permits several forms of energy to traverse in both directions through an open wormhole. This includes radio waves and TV signals and allows people to stay in contact. It also allows Stargate Command (SGC) to send through probes, such as a Mobile Analytic Laboratory Probe (MALP) or an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and analyze the data sent back before committing to sending a human team.

Although the Stargate can be dialed manually by providing a power source and physically moving the inner ring around (a technique used in emergencies), usually a Dial Home Device (DHD) is used. These waist-high freestanding structures are generally located next to the Gate itself. The Stargate system has a built-in system of checks and balances: if, as one attempts to specify an address, the Stargate detects something that would result in unsafe travel to that destination, it will not permit the address to be dialed.

Although most Stargates that the SGC encounters are fixed in place on land or inside structures, they may also be located on starships, underwater, or in orbit. They may also be located on worlds that don't permit human life to exist. In addition, although Stargates are usually set up so that they are standing circles, it's also possible to activate them while they are lying on their sides, as long as there is room for an event horizon to form.

The Gate addresses that the SGC have come primarily from two places: from the cartouche on Abydos (1.01 "Children Of The Gods Part 1"), and from the coordinates that Jack O'Neill entered into the computer when his mind was hijacked with the knowledge of the Ancients (2.16 "The Fifth Race").

When someone offworld activates the Gate, the recipient of the wormhole can't turn the Gate off. Only the activator of the Gate can terminate the link, although the wormhole will automatically disengage after thirty-eight minutes. One strategy of harassment is to continually dial someone's Gate so they can't get out.

The History of the SGC's Stargate

Earth had at least two Stargates at one time. For centuries, they lay buried, rendering them inoperative. The primary Gate, housed for many years in the SGC, was found by archaeologist Professor Langford on a dig in Giza, Egypt, in 1928 (Stargate: The Movie). Another, in Antarctica, was inadvertently discovered by Samantha Carter and Jack O'Neill in 1.18 "Solitudes." The SGC transported their Gate to Thor's ship in 3.22 "Nemesis Part 1" in order to make an escape from the crippled ship which was about to be destroyed in the Earth's atmosphere. The Giza Gate was thought to be lost and the SGC replaced it with the Gate found in Antarctica. The Giza Gate, however, survived the destruction of Thor's ship in the Earth's atmosphere and was found underwater by the Russians when they salvaged the remains of the crashed Asgard ship (4.07 "Watergate"). In 6.02 "Redemption Part 2," the SGC was forced to blow up the Stargate. They then leased the Russians' Stargate, returning the SGC's original Gate to its home.

The SGC's Gate was the subject of many years of fruitless study. Despite years of research, nobody was able to figure out how to work it, although the Gate was dialed once in 1945 and a young researcher sent through. However, the technicians could not repeat this experiment, thus stranding the researcher, Ernest Littlefield, on the other side of the Gate (1.11 "The Torment Of Tantalus").

Professor Langford's daughter, Catherine Langford, an expert in Egyptology herself and for many years the leader of the research team studying the Stargate, contacted Dr. Daniel Jackson and offered him a job translating artifacts related to the Stargate. In Stargate: The Movie, Daniel made several leaps crucial to making the Gate work: before he even knew about the existence of the Stargate itself, he figured out that the coverstone associated with the 1928 Giza dig site referred to constellations and he deduced that the seven symbols that comprise a Gate address refer to six coordinates that fix a point within a volume of space (as in the six sides of a cube), plus the point of origin. With all seven symbols in hand, it was possible to dial the Gate.

When the Gate was dialed in Stargate: The Movie, it was assumed that the Gate permitted travel only between Earth and Abydos. However, in 1.01 "Children Of The Gods Part 1," it was realized that the presence of the cartouches on Abydos meant that the Stargate could go to millions of other worlds. Because Earth and Abydos are close to each other, the Stargate system could obtain a lock. But the system needed to be updated with centuries' worth of drift, so Earth's Gate hadn't been able to lock on worlds farther away, thus partially explaining previous researchers' inability to dial out.

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--Kylie Lee 20:21, 20 Jul 2004 (PDT)