Glyph

Glyphs are symbols on Stargates which chevrons lock onto when a Stargate is being dialed. The basis for glyphs are star constellations. There are several differences between Milky Way and Pegasus galaxy glyphs.

Milky Way
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.

However, not all points in space represented by these addresses have stargates, in fact, there are sufficiently few valid coordinate sets that randomly dialing the Stargate is largely futile. If the person dialing does not know the point of origin symbol, there are many more possible combinations.

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 faster dialing process.

Pegasus


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 lights instead of red ones, and the address symbols are groups of small blue lights (rather than embossed figures) that light up sequentially instead of rotating.

Unlike the Milky Way gates, Pegasus gates are depicted with 36 symbols. 7 symbols are still required to dial an interplanetary address, adhering 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.

Thus there are fewer possible addresses in the Pegasus galaxy, although it may still be the case that there are more Stargates there if more of the possible addresses are utilized than in the Milky Way.

Destiny
Destiny's Stargate contains 36 symbols like Pegasus Stargates. The symbols are fixed on the Stargate and the entire Gate spins to dial an address. When dialing, 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 based star 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.