Cyrannus (TOS)

For subjects with a similar name, see: Cyrannus.

The Cyrannus galaxy is the location of the Twelve Colonies of Man.

The Fleet passes through a swath of asteroid dust during its exodus from the Colonies in 7348, separating the outer periphery of the Cyrannus galaxy from other regions disconnected from the Colonies during the Thousand-Yahren War ^{(TOS: "The Long Patrol")}.

Prior to about 6848, the Colonials had formerly established extra-galactic settlements, including the penal planetoid of Proteus ^{(TOS: "The Long Patrol")} that had been abandoned and forgotten about during the last yahrens of the Thousand-Yahren War. Additionally, Colonials had knowledge of other locales, including Gamoray that, in 7348, became the "outer capital" of the Cylon Empire after the fall of the Delphian Empire to the Cylons ^{(TOS: "The Living Legend, Part I")}.

The following planets and locales within the Cyrannus galaxy are organized in order of their being encountered by the Fleet on its outward flight:

• Nova of Madagon ^{(TOS: "Saga of a Star World")}
• Carillon† ^{(TOS: "Saga of a Star World")}
• Arcta ^{(TOS: "The Gun on Ice Planet Zero")}
• Otarsis ^{(TOS: "Lost Planet of the Gods, Part I")}
• Magnetic void, an astral phenomenon ^{(TOS: "Lost Planet of the Gods, Part II")}
• Kobol, home of the human race ^{(TOS: "Lost Planet of the Gods, Part II")}
• Equellus, an outer outpost of the Colonies ^{(TOS: "The Lost Warrior")}

Nearest to the Colonies were:

• Cimtar, location of the Battle of Cimtar ^{(TOS: "Saga of a Star World")}
• Borallus ^{(TOS: "Saga of a Star World")}
• Borella, home of Borellian Nomen ^{(TOS: "The Man with Nine Lives")}

Astral Semantics vis-à-vis "Galaxy"

Opinion is divided whether the Colonies lie in the same galaxy as Earth, which—given numerous references (particularly in "Greetings From Earth") that the Earth sought after by the Colonials is our Earth—would have to be identical to our "Milky Way galaxy."

Opponents of such an identity can point to Commander Adama's clear statement in "Saga of a Star World," that Earth is located "in a galaxy similar to our own."

Proponents of the identity of the two galaxies argue that it is less improbable that the Fleet could traverse a large span of several thousand light-years within the Milky Way galaxy (approx. ‎170,000 – 200,000 light-years in diameter) than to make a journey from one galaxy to another, as it implies a journey of two million light-years or more.

Note that both explanations automatically assume that the "galaxy" term means the same thing to the Colonials as it does to us, i.e. a massive system of millions or billions of individual star systems orbiting a common center of mass. This is not necessarily the case (see e.g. micron and parsec).

The Galactica 1980 Postulate

If viewing both the Original Series and its spinoff Galactica 1980 in a holistic way, statements such as "[Earth's] proximity to the sun provides the only climate in the galaxy comfortably able to support life as we know it" ^{(1980: "Galactica Discovers Earth, Part I")} suggests a Colonial's "galaxy" may in fact be the same thing as a star system. Thus the Cyrannus "galaxy" may in fact consist only of a handful of stars and planets orbiting each other, broadly similar to our own solar system.

This is supported in that the phrase "Star System" is used in place of "galaxy" throughout Saga of a Star World. It seems the two terms are reversed.

In the spin-off series Galactica 1980, the Fleet reaches 30 years after the Battle of Cimtar. The Original Series neither defines the nature of propulsion, outside of vague terms like "lightspeed" in "The Living Legend, Part II," nor does it provide sufficient information to determine if intergalactic travel is in use.