Deep Sky Program

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The University of Tal Varisa Deep Sky Program is a project that seeks to accurately chart the positions and nature of the stars and systems lying within the Empty Stars, primarily those sectors lying immediately to coreward and trailing of the Distant Fringe.

It is occasionally called the "V'n'V Program"

Background

The Faculty of Astronomy and Astrophysics of the University of Tal Varisa oversees the Deep Sky Program.

The Faculty has three large astronomy departments:

  • The Institute of Astrophysics, concentrating on theoretical astrophysics and optical, infrared and X-ray observations.
  • The Saito Center for Astronomy, concentrating on radio and submillimetre observations and instrumentation, observational cosmology and all aspects of astronomical interferometry.
  • The Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, including the Valeriya Egorov Institute of Mathematics and the Chamber of Theoretical Astrophysics and Cosmology.

The departments collaborate to run the Deep Sky Program (the DSP), a project that seeks to accurately map and catalog the Empty Stars. The DSP is in effect a fourth, and largely autonomous, department of the Faculty.

Deep Sky Program

The Deep Sky Program was begun in 5520AD and published its first full set of results, the DSP Listing, in 5550AD. This body of work is generally known as "Where The Stars End".

Funding for the DSP originates from a variety of sources – the governments of both the Firstworlds and the High Senate make extremely substantial contributions, as do business interests and wealthy benefactors to the University. In addition it receives funding from investments, fund-raising drives, trust funds and legacies. Those organisations that provide funding also frequently assign their own specialists and support personnel to the Program – there is often friction between academic staff and outside contractors, who have their own objectives and agendas. The Program is known to have significant military involvement.

Facilities and Equipment

The DSP has privileged access to all of the facilities and observatories in which the University of Tal Varisa has an interest. It also has access to some restricted military sites as well as a range of corporate and privately owned facilities. These include:

  • Radio Observatories
  • Microwave Observatories (including the Stanter Receiver Assembly)
  • Neutrino Detectors
  • Surface Observatories
  • Space Observatories (including the Mengo Deep Space Optical Array)
  • Cosmic Ray Observatories
  • Gravity Wave Detectors

It also has access to advanced computer systems, high-tech equipment, dedicated surface sites such as private spaceports, and a variety of vehicles and starships. The Firstworlds Navy has placed a number of long-range scoutships at the DSP's disposal.

Results

The Deep Sky Program has accurately detailed the locations of around 2500 separate star systems lying within 36 sectors of space.

  • V'n'V refers to Vilani and Voyagers - one of the underlying purposes of the program is to detect the presence or the approach of either of these mortal threats, or at least to chart the routes that they are most likely to follow.

Where The Stars End

A published astrographic guide detailing a part of the Empty Stars, specifically those areas lying to coreward and trailing of the Distant Fringe.

Published Data

The Deep Sky Program publishes and updates the DSP Listing, a widely available star catalog. This is most commonly called "Where the Stars End".

  • The name is traditional and refers to the Distant Fringe region's position on the edge of the Great Void – literally the point where the stars end. It also refers to the various Shadow Rifts lying within the Empty Stars, from the natural barrier of the Moat Rifts to the distant Laurentine Gulf. The absence of stars within these voids – again, the places where the stars end – would prove to be a major obstacle to interstellar travel, should any ship ever venture into those far-flung areas.

The DSP has accurately defined the positions, numbers and types of the stars that lie within the borders of 35 sectors that are considered to lie within the Empty Stars. These include:

Amarada Sector, Argent Sector, Bourne Sector, Burden Sector, Cauldron Sector, Coraline Sector, Course Sector, Divide Sector, Elysium Sector, Extent Sector, Fallow Sector, Forge Sector, Garadin Sector, Hollow Sector, Kalash Sector, Kataran Sector, Ledge Sector, Leiden Sector, Mageera Sector, Median Sector, Omicus Sector, Palatine Sector, Perfection Sector, Pestilent Sector, Phanic Sector, Range Sector, Revenant Sector, Samardin Sector, Serenity Sector, Shadow Rift Sector, Shandara Sector, Tarchon Sector, Tirell Sector, Toller Sector, Turoman Sector, Valiance Sector, and Wraith Sector.
Abyss Sector, Chasm Sector, Gulf Sector, Deep Sector and Stand Sector lie within the Great Void and are not considered to be part of the Empty Stars.


Although detailed, accurate information is widely available relating to the stars at the heart of each system, relatively limited information is available about the various planetary bodies that orbit them. The presence and numbers of gas giants are known through their effects on their primaries. The cutting-edge sensor arrays and advanced computing power employed by the DSP are certainly sensitive enough to detect the presence of large rocky bodies and even large planetoids lying within those far off systems. Such information, however, has not been made generally available.

There is some speculation over the reasons for this ommission. Primarily, it is argued, it discourages casual travel into the Empty Stars. Such travel may chance across Voyagers or the Vilani and alert them to the presence of the surviving Terran culture of the Distant Fringe.

The Listing also includes information on Shadow Rifts, clusters of stars, nebulas, anonymalous signal sources, and other phenomena.

References & Contributors / Sources

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