Beta Gate

The Beta Gate in Antarctica.

"Remember, the [Stargate] that Ra put here might not have been the first. The Goa'uld didn't build the Stargate system."

―Daniel Jackson

The Beta Gate, also referred to as the Antarctic Gate, was a second Stargate discovered on Earth. It was found in 1998 by Samantha Carter and Jack O'Neill inside a glacier in Antarctica.

The Beta Gate was the planet's original Stargate, having been placed there by the Ancients millions of years ago during their original habitation of Earth. As such, it is one of the oldest known Stargates in the entire Milky Way galaxy Stargate Network, theorized as being as much as 50 million years old. It, along with an outpost, was left behind (in a region that would become Antarctica) when the Ancients left for the Pegasus galaxy in Atlantis. (SG1: "Solitudes", "Frozen") (SGA: "Rising")

History

The Beta Gate was discovered purely by accident by Colonel Jack O'Neill and Captain Samantha Carter when an energy blast overloaded the Stargate on P4A-771. This energy blast caused the wormhole to "jump", redirecting it from the Alpha Gate to next closest gate, which was, in this case, the Beta Gate. (SG1: "Solitudes")

The Beta gate as used by the NID.

Once removed from Antarctica, it was taken to Area 51 and put in storage. After an accusation of an SG team stealing the Touchstone from Madrona, Carter discovered the Beta Gate was secretly being used by a covert NID team. SG-1 then traveled to Area 51 to verify it was still in storage. Upon inspection, however, they found it had been replaced with a plastic replica. The real Stargate was later located in an aircraft hangar in Utah and was promptly recovered and returned to Area 51. It was then fitted with a permanent iris to prevent future unauthorized use and was placed under the direct guard of the SGC. (SG1: "Touchstone") While there, the DHD was used a few times before ultimately and permanently running out of power. (SG1: "Frozen")

In 2002, SG-1 returned to the site where the Beta Gate was originally located. A research base was established near the location, tasked, in part, with determining whether the Beta Gate was in fact Earth's original Stargate or if it had been moved to Earth from another planet in the galaxy. (SG1, "Frozen")

The Beta gate explodes over 3 million miles from Earth.

The Beta Gate would remain in storage until SG-1 beamed the Alpha Gate from Stargate Command onto Thor's ship, the Biliskner, as a means of escaping the ship before it was destroyed. As Stargate Command now lacked a Stargate, General George Hammond immediately ordered the Beta Gate to be unpacked and setup at Stargate Command, as to allow for SG-1 to return home and Stargate operations to resume. The SGC continued using this Stargate until Anubis destroyed it with the Stargate destroyer. (SG1: "Nemesis", "Small Victories", "Redemption, Part 2")

Warning: The following section is non-canon.

Doom Island Gate In an alternate universe, there's a Stargate on the Island of Doom in the South Pacific. The islanders had been visited by Ra ages ago and still worshiped him, awaiting his return. This gate was presumably destroyed when the island was nuked by the U.S. Government. (Stargate: "Doomsday World 1", "Doomsday World 3") Yucatán Gate After being chased by creatures and visiting an ice planet, Gus Bonner's team begins to wonder if they are on a pointless quest. Draga opens a gate to "where they wish to go" and they end up on Earth in the Yucatán, where a local professor working for a Horace Van Gelder reveals she discovered the new gate. The shape-shifter Nephestis, disguised as Grimes, is working with Van Gelder and gets word the team is present when they contact Stargate Command. Disguised as Stoneman, Nephestis welcomes them and claims he'll help them clear their names, then summons Da'kyll and his Tlak'kahn. Draga suspects something as Stoneman sends the cadets into Cancun – in fact it's an ambush but they turn around and return. Gus and Draga catch on and make their escape while the others return just in time to rescue them. The team is forced to escape through the Gate and go on the run once more before they can clear their names, and the Tlak'kahn and Nephestis depart with Van Gelder as Nephestis takes his place to further implicate the team. (INF: "The Long Haul")

Alternate timelines

• In an alternate timeline created when SG-1 never returns from a mission and thus the NID's plot is never exposed, Earth is destroyed in an attack by Apophis. General George S. Hammond orders Colonel David Dixon to take the Beta Gate from Area 51 and set it up somewhere overseas in an effort to evacuate more people as the planet is destroyed. The Beta Gate ends up in Scotland where it remains for ninety-eight years and works as Earth's Stargate. In 2098, SG-1 emerges from the Beta Gate which has been nuked at some point and survived, but the blast destroyed the DHD and rendered the valley it is in radioactive. Due to the placement of the Stargate and the state of the area around it, SG-1 don't realize that they are on Earth and think they have misdialed until they are shown the remains of the SGC and the buried Alpha Gate. During the final battle to free the planet from the Wraith and the Goa'uld, Arbellan forces and Tau'ri forces hold the Stargate to keep the Wraith from escaping. (SG1: "Apocalypse")
• In an alternate timeline created by Ra removing the Alpha Gate after the rebellion in Egypt, the Beta Gate was located by Doctors Samantha Carter and Daniel Jackson using a combination of the information in the tablet the original Daniel left behind and the seismic effects caused by attempts to dial the Stargate using the Time Jumper's DHD. It was eventually installed in the NORAD advanced research institute at Cheyenne Mountain under the auspicies of Dr. Rodney McKay. After getting authorization to travel to Chulak, the Beta Gate was used for the travel while the Time Jumper's DHD was used to dial it as the alternate timeline lacked a DHD or a dialing computer. (SG1: "Moebius, Part 1", "Moebius, Part 2")
• In an alternate timeline created by Ba'al, a team uncovered the second Stargate and moved it to McMurdo Air Force Base. However, when Ba'al arrived, Teal'c, who was his First Prime found out about this, and Qetesh ordered him to destroy the base. The Gate was destroyed. (SG1: "Continuum")

Gallery

The Beta Gate's DHD (Note the point of origin glyph).

The Beta Gate's DHD.

SG-1 returns to Earth through the Beta gate shortly after being installed in the SGC.

The Beta Gate attached to the X-302 hyperspace fighter attached to a Boeing 747.

Beta Gate in storage

Behind the scenes

Throughout episodes in which the Beta Gate is installed in Stargate Command's Embarkation room (from "Small Victories" to "Redemption, Part 2"), its point of origin symbol is the same as for the Alpha Gate. Presumably, this is not canon, and is instead a production issue caused by reusing the same prop for both Stargates. As shown in "Solitudes", the point of origin for the Beta Gate is .

See also

• Alpha Gate