I figure that if some of that area is actually Z axis, the UFP could be in the realistic scale.
Though an 8000 ly sphere would have something like a 13 ly radius, wouldn't it (not a math guy...) Conversely, a 1000ly radius gives you a whopping huge voulme to work with and would work with the big-ass statement in the one episode. (About 4.1 x 10/9 ly volume...I think.) This also might explain the 'rim of the galaxy' crap -- they were going zentih or nadir...
I figure that the UFP has explored out farther than 1000ly but the actual UFP worlds are ostly close to the core worlds, with a few scattered here and there, since the Fed only allows warp capable worlds (for the most part.)
When you add the 3rd dimension t the equation, more of these toss of lines from the show and movies make sense. So though I voted the realistic, with the 3D view, I guess I also vote for the large, as well...if we're talking volume...
Another thought, loking at the Owen map -- could be the Fed is about 1000 ly from Rommie to Cardie space, but stretches out to about 8000ly on the coreward axis -- more of a cylinder -- then it should be about a volume of 628 million ly cubed or so. (Remember -- not a math guy, so don't blast me for errors, doing my best...)
Last edited by qerlin; 02-26-2002 at 01:02 PM.
"War is an ugly thing but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feelings which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
John Stuart Mill