Galactic quadrant

In the Star Trek fictional universe, the Milky Way Galaxy is divided into four quadrants, which are further subdivided into sectors.



Alpha Quadrant
The Alpha Quadrant would be located between 6 and 9 o'clock positions if the plane of the galaxy were seen as a clock face with the 6 o'clock position bisecting the Earth's Solar system. The Alpha Quadrant serves as the usual setting for the television shows Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Star Trek: Enterprise as well as most of the Star Trek movies. It is home to the United Federation of Planets, the Cardassian Union, the Ferengi Alliance and the Breen Confederacy.

Beta quadrant
The Beta Quadrant would be located between the 3 and 6 o'clock if the plane of the galaxy were seen as a clock face with the 6 o'clock position bisecting Earth's Solar system.

The reason why the United Federation of Planets and Earth is right on the edge of the Beta Quadrant is to make previous references to quadrant made in the original series, its movies, and early episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation consistent (prior to this the term "quadrant" was used interchangeably with "sector").

The Beta Quadrant is home to the Klingon Empire, Romulan Star Empire, Gorn Republic, Son'a and Metron Consortium as well as a portion of the Federation, including Vulcan. Parts of the Romulan and Klingon empires spill into the Alpha Quadrant, and thus the Romulans and Klingons are still referred to as Alpha Quadrant Powers (possibly analogous to the former Soviet Union having been considered a western power, though it was physically located mostly in the east).

Gamma quadrant
The Gamma Quadrant is located between the 9 and 12 o'clock positions if the plane of the galaxy were seen as a clock face with the 6 o'clock position bisecting the Sol system.

In Star Trek the Bajoran wormhole, near the Deep Space Nine space station in the Bajor-B'hava'el system in the Alpha Quadrant, leads there. The Gamma Quadrant is primarily ruled by the Dominion, although large portions remain unexplored.

Delta quadrant
The Delta Quadrant is the Quadrant of the Milky Way that would be located between 12 and 3 o'clock positions if the plane of the galaxy were seen as a clock face with the 6 o'clock position bisecting the Sol system. Most of the information about the Delta Quadrant comes from the show Star Trek: Voyager. Star Trek races that come from the Delta Quadrant include the Borg (the dominant species in this quadrant), the Kazon, the Vidiian, Talaxians, Ocampans, and the Hirogen. Species 8472 was first encountered in this quadrant, although they are not native to this region or physical dimension.

Curiously, this arrangement results in:

The order of the quadrants is therefore neither clockwise nor counterclockwise.