Stargate

''This article is about the Stargate device. For disambiguation, see Stargate (other meanings)''



The Stargate is central to the premise of the Stargate movie and its two spin-off series (Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis). The stargates are a series of devices, built by the Ancients, that can create Wormholes between distant worlds. Generally, the stargates have dialing devices (DHDs, an acronym for Dial Home Device) that can be used similarly to a telephone dial to select the place where the connection should go.



The stargate found on Earth in the initial movie was missing its dialing device. It was later discovered (in Stargate SG-1) that Russia was in possession of the missing DHD. The Russians acquired the DHD during the Second World War, when they invaded Germany. Somehow, Germany found the DHD originally.

Opening the Stargate requires an amount of energy much larger than what is required to keep the wormhole open, resulting in an unstable energy blast vortex emerging at the "front" of the device. This energy blast will disintegrate anything in its way; however, the vortex can only form if their is a large enough space (several microns) in front of the event horizon. Devices like the iris prevent the vortex from forming.



Stargates stay open for a limited period of time; normally for a few minutes, but they are supposed to "time out" at about 38 minutes. There have been rare circumstances where a wormhole has remaining active for more than this.

The stargate has 39 symbols which are combined to form a seven-symbol address. Six of the symbols indicate the destination's three-dimensional coordinates in space, while the seventh indicates the planet of origin. For stargates accessing a destination outside of our Milky Way galaxy, an eighth symbol is necessary. There are 9 chevrons around the device, allowing up to 9 symbols to be dialed. It is currently unknown what the ninth symbol correlates to.



In the Pegasus Galaxy, some Stargates have been placed in space in orbit of planets, rather than on their surfaces. Rather than using a connected DHD, space-based gates are powered by three power nodes, and dialing is accessed by a panel on a ship.

The Stargate is essentially an enormous superconductor, capable of harnessing power from a wide variety of energy sources, especially electricity. The inner track is a safety feature. When the gate has absorbed enough energy this track will unlock, allowing a manual dial in case something bad has happened to the D.H.D.

Types of Stargates

 * 1) The Standard Milky Way Galaxy Stargate devloped by the Ancients.
 * 2) The Standard Pegasus Galaxy Stargate developed by the Ancients.
 * 3) Built by the Tollans on Tollana, with assistance from the Nox.
 * 4) Built by Orlin, it was a home-brew one-way single-destination single-use Stargate. (See below.)
 * 5) Developed by the Ori, The Supergate is a one-way gate powered by a black hole.

Other names

 * Chappa'ai
 * Ring of the Ancestors (according to Setitian tradition)
 * Ring of the gods (according to Tagrean mythology)

Composition of Orlin's Stargate

 * 100 pounds of pure, raw titantium
 * 200 feet of fiber optic cable
 * seven 100,000 watt industrial-strength capacitors
 * Personal Computer, as a DHD