Great Void

The Great Void is a huge rift that lies directly to rimward of the Distant Fringe.

Description / Specifications

The sectors that make up the Distant Fringe are generally considered to lie on the rimward edge of the Orion Arm, the local spiral arm of the galaxy. The far (rimward) edge of the Great Void – the coreward edge of the Perseus Arm, the next spiral arm outwards – lies around 600 parsecs distant at its closest point. It has never been charted in detail.

The Great Void is the vast empty region of space, generally running spinward-trailing, that lies between the spiral arms. It is considered to have an average width of some 800 parsecs and an approximate length of around 10,000 parsecs, and covers an estimated 5000 sectors. While they do contain occasional isolated stars, for the most part these so-called Void Sectors are empty.

The Great Void is composed of the interstellar medium (ISM), the matter and radiation that exists within the space between the stars. This matter includes gas in ionic, atomic, and molecular form, as well as dust and cosmic rays.

History & Background / Dossier

The Rift, a large void lying far to trailing of the Distant Fringe, merges with the Great Void at the Maw of The Rift.

• The Great Void is sometimes referred to as "Old Man Void", particularly in poetry and song.

References & Contributors / Sources

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Mongoose Publishing or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master Scout Emeritus Adie Alegoric Stewart of the IISS
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science