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Glyphs are symbols on Stargates which chevrons lock onto when a Stargate is being dialed. The basis for glyphs on the Pegasus and Milky Way gates are constellations. Constellations are the names given to a group of stars linked close together. Oftentimes, constellations represent some sort of pictograph. There are several differences between Milky Way, Pegasus, and Destiny-style glyphs. The symbols on the Dial Home Device represent constellations, destinations used to link Stargates together are represented by constellations to form Addresses. (Stargate) (SG1: "Children of the Gods")

Milky Way[]

Stargate

Diagram of the second-generation Stargate

A Milky Way Stargate has 39 inscribed symbols on the inner ring. When dialing, this inner ring rotates until the dialed symbol is aligned with the seventh chevron, at which point the ring pauses, the seventh chevron moves down and up, and the appropriate chevron in the sequence engages and glows red.

With 38 symbols, the Stargate network in the Milky Way has

38×37×36×35×34×33 = 1,987,690,320 possible addresses.

8-symbol addresses will yield

38×37×36×35×34×33×32 = 63,606,090,240 possible addresses.

For a seven chevron address, each symbol must be unique as it is referencing a point in space; however, for an eight chevron address it is possible that the Stargate (by recognizing the entry of eight chevrons) allows the reuse of a glyph within an address - perhaps each having a different meaning, such as galaxy 'area codes' - which increases the possible number of addresses:

38×37×36×35×34×33×38 = 75,532,232,160 possible addresses.

However, not all points in space represented by these addresses have Stargates; indeed, there are sufficiently few valid coordinate sets that randomly dialing the Stargate is largely futile. (SG1: "Children of the Gods")

Because the gate on Earth was found without a DHD, the Stargate team on Earth developed a dialing computer to interface with the gate in order to power it and dial it by the use of computers (essentially an automated version of manual dialing). When using a DHD, however, each chevron is activated immediately upon entry of the symbols, without the inner ring spinning. This allows for a much swifter dialing process. (SG1: "Stargate", "Children of the Gods")

Milky Way glyphs[]

Position[1] Glyph Constellation Position Glyph Constellation Position Glyph Constellation
1 0Ega Point of origin (Giza)[2] 14 014 Microscopium 27 027 Taurus
2 002 Crater 15 015 Capricornus 28 028 Auriga
3 003 Virgo 16 016 Piscis Austrinus 29 029 Eridanus
4 004 Boötes 17 017 Equuleus 30 030 Orion
5 005 Centaurus 18 018 Aquarius 31 031 Canis Minor
6 006 Libra 19 019 Pegasus 32 032 Monoceros
7 007 Serpens Caput 20 020 Sculptor 33 033 Gemini
8 008 Norma 21 021 Pisces 34 034 Hydra
9 009 Scorpius 22 022 Andromeda 35 035 Lynx
10 010 Corona Australis 23 023 Triangulum 36 036 Cancer
11 011 Scutum 24 024 Aries 37 037 Sextans
12 012 Sagittarius 25 025 Perseus 38 038 Leo Minor
13 013 Aquila 26 026 Cetus 39 039 Leo

Pegasus[]

Atlantis

Diagram of the third-generation Stargate

As found out by the Atlantis expedition, the Ancients seeded planets throughout the Pegasus galaxy with Stargates too, but used gates of a slightly different, more advanced design, although the differences appear mostly cosmetic. Pegasus Stargates are designed with blue chevron lamps instead of orange, and the address symbols are groups of small blue lamps (rather than embossed figures) that light up sequentially instead of rotating. This also makes a manual dial impossible as manually dialing a Stargate requires the dialing ring to be rotated. When Atlantis moved from Lantea, the gate appeared to have changed glyphs dynamically, based on its current location, instead of having fixed symbols like the Milky Way galaxy has. This makes it possible for the gate to be used with ease in other galaxies as well.

Unlike the Milky Way gates, Pegasus gates are depicted with 36 symbols. 7 symbols are still required to dial an interplanetary address, cliving to the same constraints as a Milky Way gate. With 36 symbols, the Stargate Network in the Pegasus galaxy has

35×34×33×32×31×30 = 1,168,675,200 possible addresses.

8-symbol addresses will yield

35×34×33×32×31×30×29 = 33,891,580,800 possible addresses.

Pegasus glyphs[]

Position[1] Glyph Constellation[3] Position Glyph Constellation Position Glyph Constellation
1 A19 Subido (point of origin for Atlantis)[2] 14 A23 Aaxel 27 A28 Poco Re
2 A26 Bydo 15 A07 Illume 28 A33 Abrin
3 A36 Robandus 16 A30 Ramnon 29 A20 Roehi
4 A04 Sibbron 17 A25 Avoniv 30 A11 Sandovi
5 A16 Once El 18 A13 Lenchan 31 A31 Gilltin
6 A17 Laylox 19 A21 Alura 32 A12 Dawnre
7 A09 Earth[4] 20 A18 Ecrumig 33 A03 Elenami
8 A29 Tahnan 21 A08 Zamilloz 34 A24 Recktic
9 A35 Setas 22 A10 Danami 35 A22 Aldeni
10 A14 Amiwill 23 A15 Salma 36 A27 Zeo
11 A32 Acjesis 24 A05 Hacemill 37[4] UniverseGlyphqu Unknown[4]
12 A06 Ca Po 25 A34 Hamlinto 38[4] UniverseGlyphqu Unknown[4]
13 A01 Arami 26 A02 Olavii 39?[4] UniverseGlyphqu Baselai[4]

Destiny[]

Universe

Diagram of the first-generation Stargate

Destiny's Stargate bears 36 symbols like Pegasus Stargates and the whole Gate spins to dial an address. When dialling, the symbols light up to indicate they have been encoded. Destiny also contains a Gate bearing which lights up as each glyph locks; however planetary Gates do not share this trait.

The glyphs are not of constellations as with Milky Way and Pegasus Gates since the gate must be able to dial addresses from a moving point of origin in many different galaxies, but rather are some mathematical or conceptual representation yet to be discovered by the people aboard. The Stargates seeded throughout the galaxies Destiny has visited also use this type of address. It may also be possible that each 2nd and 3rd generation Stargate built by the Ancients were programmed to have 9-glyph addresses, in order to be compatible with 1st generation gates. It may also be possible that every gate has its own unique 9-glyph address. It is unknown whether using a 9-glyph address requires the last glyph to be a point of origin, as Destiny is constantly moving as has no point of origin, meanwhile Icarus dialed destiny using the point of origin as the last glyph.

Destiny glyphs[]

Position Glyph Position Glyph Position Glyph Position Glyph
1 UniverseGlyph01 10 UniverseGlyph10 19 UniverseGlyph19 28 UniverseGlyph28
2 UniverseGlyph02 11 UniverseGlyph11 20 UniverseGlyph20 29 UniverseGlyph29
3 UniverseGlyph03 12 UniverseGlyph12 21 UniverseGlyph21 30 UniverseGlyph30
4 UniverseGlyph04 13 UniverseGlyph13 22 UniverseGlyph22 31 UniverseGlyph31
5 UniverseGlyph05 14 UniverseGlyph14 23 UniverseGlyph23 32 UniverseGlyph32
6 UniverseGlyph06 15 UniverseGlyph15 24 UniverseGlyph24 33 UniverseGlyph33
7 UniverseGlyph07 16 UniverseGlyph16 25 UniverseGlyph25 34 UniverseGlyph34
8 UniverseGlyph08 17 UniverseGlyph17 26 UniverseGlyph26 35 UniverseGlyph35
9 UniverseGlyph09 18 UniverseGlyph18 27 UniverseGlyph27 36 UniverseGlyph36

Notes[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Starting at the Point of Origin as the first position (Giza for Milky way, Subido for Pegasus), and following clockwise rotation around the stargate. For the Pegasus Stargate this order is different than the list in Joseph Mollazzi's Blog post, and is instead a TV series true order based on matching the constellations to what is shown in the show.
  2. 2.0 2.1 These glyphs are unique to the Alpha Gate and the Stargate installed in Atlantis, respectively. Other Stargates throughout Milky Way and Pegasus have different point of origin symbols, matching their respective DHDs.
  3. Pegasus glyph constellation names on Joseph Mallozzi blog post 3/26/13
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 While the glyph "Earth" is clearly depicted on screen and in Joseph Mallozzi's blog post, the blog post fails to designate its numerical position, and thus its numerical position is unknown. As it is not a point of origin symbol, it is native to all Stargates in the Pegasus galaxy. However, as Pegasus Stargates contain only 36 glyphs, Atlantis' Pegasus DHD contains 36 glyphs, and regular Pegasus DHDs ostensibly contain 38 glyphs (though this may just be an issue of reusing the Milky-Way DHD prop) it is unknown how this glyph is capable of appearing on Pegasus Stargates as the gates themselves would have insufficient space to accommodate a 37th (let alone 38 and 39th) glyph. It is possible that "Earth" is in fact "Baselai" - Joseph Mallozzi's blog post lists Baselai and yet shown no glyph for it on Atlantis' DHD, which is similar to how the blog post shows Atlantis' DHD containing "Earth" and yet fails to include it in the list. It is also possible that this may all be the result of a series of production errors.
    Speculating that "Baselai" is in fact "Earth", this reduces the number of glyphs on a Pegasus Stargate to 38. This number includes the two "Unknown glyphs". Furthermore, lets assume that the reason regular Pegasus DHDs have 38 is simply an issue of re-using the Milky-Way prop and that they're canonically suppose to have 36. Considering that the source Stargate Wiki uses for the Pegasus glyphs was created by the producers for use in making the show (and not a deliberately created reference-guide for the fans) it is possible then that the two "unknown glyphs" only exist as a way to for the producers to account for the 2 extra spaces on the DHD and that no analogous spaces actually exist on the Stargates themselves.
    It is also possible that the Ancients purposely left two spaces open on Pegasus DHDs (totaling 38 spaces) but only included 36 spaces on the Stargates themselves, for whatever reason.

Behind the Scenes[]

The appearance of constellations change even within the period of a few thousand years due to stellar drift. Thus, the constellations visible from Earth 50 million years ago (when the Ancients first established the Stargate network in the Milky Way) must have looked different than they do now.

See also[]

Smallwikipedialogo This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Stargate (device). The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with SGCommand, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
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