I've never seen a truly (or even somewhat) definitive figure on how far out Starfleet ships in Kirk's time could observe. Is there any hint given in some obscure dialogue that I've forgotten about?
I'm guesstimating that a ship like the Constitution class would be able to spot something from between three and five light-years away, maybe a little bit more. Does that sound about right?
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
From what I remember, it was highly inconsistent, ranging from 2 cm to roughly 5 billion trillion light years. But I'm not going to give an example, so there.
Posted by Timo (Member # 245) on :
On the average, threats to fellow Starfleet vessels and installations could be sensed from across a distance the ship could travel in T=T(until threat becomes fatal) + 2 min.
Scientifically interesting phenomena could be sensed across travel time of T=T(Spock spells out the relevant technobabble, so that we can move on to action within the teaser already).
Threats to the Enterprise herself were sensed across T=T(raising shields, bracing oneself, performing a meaningful evasive maneuver) - 10 sec.
I dont't think any of this changed much in TNG or VOY.
Timo Saloniemi
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
Or ENT.
Posted by Griffworks (Member # 1014) on :
So, it basically comes down to the standard "It's In The Script" answer. This can be translated into "Whatever range you need them to be".... Posted by TheWoozle (Member # 929) on :
and that would be the difference between TV and reality, hehe.
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)