Map of the Twelve Colonies

[Dan1025]

I came across this on the Battlestar Wiki, and it's so cool I thought the BSG fans here might find it interesting

Here's a pic of the map itself:

Spoiler: Colonies

As you can see the detail is amazing, it's great to finally have a proper map of the colonies, as well as some interesting backstory for each planet.

From the wiki article:

Battlestar Galactica Map of the 12 Colonies is a Quantum Mechanix product depicting the The Twelve Colonies Of Kobol as seen in the Re-imagined Series and its spin-off Caprica. According to Quantum Mechanix, the map's status is official. However, according to Jane Espenson, quoted in an interview with io9, the status of information on the map is "quasi-canon" (used only in production and subject to future revision).

Production

The map was made over the course of one year with the help of writer Jane Espenson and scientific advisor Kevin Grazier while graphic designer Geoffrey Mandel "created the map from scratch". In an interview with io9, the map drew inspiration from Bob Harris's book Beyond Caprica: A Vistor's Pocket Guide to the Twelve Colonies, as well as Kevin Grazier's "Astronomy of the Twelve Colonies", which he wrote based on the "series bible" and the first two scripts of "33" and "Water".

High quality copies of the map are actually for sale on the creators website, and from the quality it certainly seems worth the relatively small cost (some $15 or so).

I havn't posted a link to the article since I'm not sure about the rules regarding such things, but if the staff OK it I can post one

 

[Majestic]

Nice find, however I am still of the opinion that the Colonies are in seperate star systems rather than what is displayed above. Just seems rather impratical from what we currently know and by the show that in the entire run they only find 3-5 other habitable planets before Earth, with Kobol and the 13th Tribes Earth being two of them.

The link is okay, consodering some member here may want to buy a copy of the map for themselves.

 

[Adm_Z]

I like it. It is much more compliant with TOS where they found planets all the time with people on them that may have been dumped there by the 13th tribe. Great find dan.

 

[Chiletrek]

Hello:
I liked the map, I like the fact that the Twelve Colonies are spread in different star systems because that is far more plausible than to have 12 habitable planets in one system (not counting Armada1 and 2's multiplayer maps ).

I think it is possible as our own solar system could have got three habitable planets but it wasn't that way because of mere circumstances.

Thanks for the info!.

 

[Chiletrek]

Hello:
Sorry for posting again, but I found some evidence that helps support what was shown.

The Colonies do indeed are part of at least two solar systems, I found some evidences for that, small ones but I think it works:

In the Mini-serie, Galactica was in a sysem with a red-ish sun, that was shown in the scene when Apollo first arrived.

In Razor, the Colony Scorpia and the Scorpion Fleetyards a light yellow (kinda white-ish) sun was shown.

Now for where is each planet, I cannot say but I think Gemenon can be seen from Caprica, but that is all I know. Well, I hope the pics can help a little bit.

 

[Nathanius]

As nice as the graphic up the top is I think that a tightly packed constellation of stars (like a stellar nursery) would make more sense than just a couple of star systems packed with habitable planets, just look at our own system with Venus, Earth and Mars all technically within the habitable zone of our own star, but with only Earth able to support life.

 

[Chiletrek]

Hello:
I also think that 12 Colonies is a bit of a stretch in what can be plausible, because of too many habitable planets in a relatively small region. Unless not all colonies are really that close from each other... maybe that can explain why rescue missions started picking refugees near Caprica and they didn't get to know too much about all other Colonies except from radio news.

But maybe a not-so-young stellar nursery could work in this case, as you mentioned. Not-so-young because a staellar nursery could be a too violent environment for Earth-like planets. Just give it some time and things may get calmer there for planets to develop .

 

[Majestic]

One thing to also consider in this is that many of the planets could have been terraformed by the Kobol survivors before settlement. If they were capable of creating Cylons and undergoing such a vast flight after the devastation of their home planet it's not a stretch to think they would have this type of technology.

It would explain the abundance of habitable planets (whether they are in multiple systems or a binary/trinary system. Though I still like to believe they are in several different systems and some of the planets are actually moons to either another planet habitable or some large planet like Pandora is in Avatar.

 

[kjc733]

My votes with an act of God

 

[Nathanius]

My votes with an act of God

Wouldn't that be act of Gods?

 

[CABAL]

My votes with an act of God

I thought it didn't like to be called that.

 

[Nathanius]

One thing to also consider in this is that many of the planets could have been terraformed by the Kobol survivors before settlement. If they were capable of creating Cylons and undergoing such a vast flight after the devastation of their home planet it's not a stretch to think they would have this type of technology.

It would explain the abundance of habitable planets (whether they are in multiple systems or a binary/trinary system. Though I still like to believe they are in several different systems and some of the planets are actually moons to either another planet habitable or some large planet like Pandora is in Avatar.

Terraforming is certainly plausible, there'd only need to be one habitable planet in the sector to start with and then they could have spread to the other 11 worlds and terraformed as they went. The timescale is apparently large enough and they certainly would have had the technical know how as Majestic said

 

[Chiletrek]

Hello:
Well, info says there were 200 years since the Kobolians arrived to the Colonies until the Cylon Holocaust that started the tv series. That is very short time for what we could do terraforming Mars, but Kobolians certainly had way better technology than us, so it is likely.

 

[Majestic]

Hello:
Well, info says there were 200 years since the Kobolians arrived to the Colonies until the Cylon Holocaust that started the tv series. That is very short time for what we could do terraforming Mars, but Kobolians certainly had way better technology than us, so it is likely.

It was 2000 years actually.

 

[Chiletrek]

Oh frak me! .

But yeah, 2000 years and they already had a background of very advanced technologies. So terraforming would be much much easier for them than it is for us. Also not surprising considering they had to depart from their homeworld so they'd figured they would need the knowledge for terraforming just in case.

 

[Tecnitron]

Hm seems to me it is a Galaxy like that we are living in with its planetary systems.
And i'm Virgon (Jungfrau,Maagd,Virgo)

So do they have one language or have dialects ? for sure they need no communicators.
wow , maybe it is realy like that map , outside there in space.

Many real facts are put in BSG and Star Trek , so you can dream to go out there. :->
I'd like to have a trip , but with gravity ...!

good and nice to see that map. Battlestar Galactica or old Series it is both so nice ^^

Planet Kobol lies beyond a magnetic void with an elliptical orbit, so poetic <3

the 13th tribe is lost because of the simply they used the opposite direction and found earth.

but why in BSG earth is seemingly void ?

oh, you see star sign names and greek mythology, what star signs simply about ^^

map gives a good overview.