How far away do two Stargate have to be?

[BethDoodle]

In "Enemy at the Gate" the Wraith brought a Pegasus Stargate with them. In the show, the SGC couldn't dial out because the Pegasus 'gate in orbit was superseding it. They discover they can't dial out after the hive ship has already established an orbit around Earth, even though it earlier was in orbit around the moon.

What I'd like to know is, how far away would the Pegasus 'gate have to be before the Earth Stargate would function again? The moon? Mars? Farther?

[Subspace 101]

Each gate dials out using its point of origin so the gate would have to get out of the area that the gates recognize as Earth's point of origin.

[BethDoodle]

Each gate dials out using its point of origin so the gate would have to get out of the area that the gates recognize as Earth's point of origin.

Yes - but how far is that?

Does each solar system have one and only one point of origin that can be used on any planetary body within it (or any point in space within it in the case of a space gate)- or can there be more than one point of origin within the same solar system? Can Stargates be used for interplanetary travel within the same solar system?

[BethDoodle]

Once I wrote that last sentence, it struck me that someone must have asked this question before.

I'd do a search, but figure that since this website has been around for over a decade (I think), that it might be nigh unto impossible to find it. Faster to just ask.

[BethDoodle]

Oops! Forgot to add - or, if only one Stargate is permitted in a solar system, would it have to be re-calibrated if moved to the moon or another planet?

[Subspace 101]

It makes sense that the ancients would allow for interplanetary travel within the same solar system, but you have to remember that the likelihood of two planets in the same solar system being able to support life is slim to none so there wouldn't be much reason to spend all that extra time doing calculations and stuff to program the stargates with smaller points of origins when you can generalize it to a whole solar system.

[Subspace 101]

Space is so huge. It would just take too long to program each planet into the stargates so I'm going to have to say that I think the stargate would have to be out of the solar system or on the outer edges of it.

If you want a definite answer you will have to ask the Ancients (Alterans was the real name for their species I think).

[garhkal]

From all we have seen it does seem like each system only has ONE planet in it that has a gate on. So i guess it has to be out of the system.

[thekillman]

From all we have seen it does seem like each system only has ONE planet in it that has a gate on. So i guess it has to be out of the system.

If you use the Oort cloud as a boundary, that's about a lightyear out.

[BethDoodle]

So the majority consensus seems to be one 'gate per solar system.

Oh, darn! So much for that idea!

But, thank you everyone for your input!

[thekillman]

So the majority consensus seems to be one 'gate per solar system.

Oh, darn! So much for that idea!

But, thank you everyone for your input!

Well, that's the lowest resolution we can actually confirm. One per solar system works definitely, while orbit (So a few thousand kilometers) is enough to block out the gate. In the planned Atlantis movie, the city was moved to the moon (which may indicate that that's the limit -or not). There simply isn't a way to tell just how close the gates can be to eachother.

[BethDoodle]

I just thought of something else.

In "Enemy at the Gate" the Wraith, with Pegasus 'gate on board, had stopped to orbit the moon before attacking Earth to complete their ZPM upgrades (per Sam).

The hive arrived at the moon just before Sheppard 'gated back to Earth (per Major Davis). Atlantis would have had to stay put until he did, but they likely launched the city very soon after that.

Some amount of time passes before Sheppard engaged in battle with the Wraith darts. Sam mentions that the Wraith ship is still in lunar orbit before he leaves to fight the darts.

The next scene has Atlantis dropping out of orbit at the edge of the Milky Way. Some amount of time (days? weeks?) had to have passed for them to get that far.

The next scene shows the hive ship approaching Earth.

The next scene Major Davis tells Sam that the Wraith ship has almost reached Earth orbit. Then Harriman says they can't dial out the Stargate.

Next scene, Atlantis, from the edge of the Milky Way, tried to contact the SGC and instead connect with the Pegasus gate on board the Wraith ship.

So that means that no connection was made to the Pegasus gate until the hive ship reached Earth orbit.

And, that means that unless there was absolutely NO Stargate travel from the SGC between the time that the Wraith ship arrived at the moon, and when it finally went into orbit over Earth, then the Pegasus 'gate being at the moon was too far away to supersede the Earth gate.

And since I think that it's likely that days, if not weeks, have passed during that time - then it was likely that the SGC WAS using it's Stargate while the Pegasus gate was at the moon.

Therefore and thusly there CAN be two Stargates in the same solar system.

It's likely, I think, that the Pegasus gate, while it was at the moon, could be recalibrated to have it's own address.

What do you all think?

Oh, please, please, please, say yes! My fanfic depends on it!

[BethDoodle]

The hive arrived at the moon just before Sheppard 'gated back to Earth (per Major Davis).

I totally missed that the answer was right here.

The hive ship was in orbit around the moon before Sheppard 'gated home to Earth - therefore, the Pegasus 'gate on the hive ship is too far away to supersede it.

DAVIS
It's the hive ship. It dropped out of hyperspace and established orbit around the moon just before you arrived.

[BethDoodle]

In the planned Atlantis movie, the city was moved to the moon (which may indicate that that's the limit -or not).

Now this makes sense.

Having Atlantis on the moon, and that being far enough away to not supersed the Earth 'gate - then that means that Atlantis could have a seperate 'gate address.

*does happy dance*

Now my fanfic will work!

[Lemon Difficult]

My memory of The Serpent's Lair is a little hazy (so correct me if I'm wrong), but IIRC The SGC was still able to dial out to the Alpha/Beta site even when Klorel's and Apophis's Ha'taks was approaching Earth.

So that could narrow the distance between two gates considerable.