The Orion Arm is the region of the Milky Way Galaxy containing the bulk of the Federation, as well as most of the Klingon Empire, the Romulan Star Empire, and other local political organizations. The Orion "spur" (or "local spur") is a minor arm which is an offshoot of the Sagittarius Arm. It is bisected by the Alpha Quadrant/Beta Quadrant border. (ST references: Star Fleet Technical Manual, Star Charts; TNG novel: Intellivore)

The space adjacent to the Orion Arm, in the direction of the main Sagittarius Arm was known to be a lonely expanse, mostly devoid of populated star systems. The gulf between Sagittarius and Orion was the patrol route of the USS Excelsior in 2285, and the location of the Ajir Empire and the Grond Protectorate that Excelsior contacted on that date. (TOS comic: "Double Blind, Part One")

The graphic representation of the Orion Arm's place in the galaxy that was shown in Star Charts was seen in canon many times, as set artwork during the last three seasons of Star Trek: Voyager.

In FASA RPG sources, the term "Orion Arm" is used in a context that implies a much smaller region of space than described above. Given the name and inclusion of Rigel, this is likely to be some part of the Orion constellation.

External linksEdit

• Orion Arm article at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
• Orion Arm article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.