- For the episode of Star Trek: Enterprise, see "Rogue Planet".
A rogue planet was a planet that had broken out of its orbit around a star. However, such a planet may still be capable of supporting life due to geologic activities on it, such as hot gases venting from its interior, forming oases where lifeforms can thrive. The lack of a sun causes rogue planets to exist in a state of perpetual night.
The Founders' homeworld, a rogue planet inside a nebula
The Founders' homeworld in the Omarion Nebula in the Gamma Quadrant was an example of such a planet. (DS9: "The Search, Part I", "The Search, Part II", "The Die is Cast")
In TOS: "The Squire of Gothos", Spock described Trelane's planet of Gothos as a "lone planet", implying it was rogue planet. However, Kirk later ordered his crew to take the USS Enterprise beyond "the point at which we entered [Gothos'] solar system", implying that the planet orbited a star instead.
The non-canon reference book Star Trek Maps does, in fact, describe Gothos as a rogue planet.
Dakala, a rogue planet in interstellar space
In 2151, Captain Jonathan Archer and the crew of Enterprise NX-01 discovered a rogue planet named Dakala that was used as a hunting ground by the Eska, whose people had come to the planet for nine generations to kill the indigenous species. Using sensing cloaks which prevented them from being detected, the Eska were able to successfully track down their prey. Their main prey was a sentient species of telepathic shapeshifters, called wraiths by the hunters, who were being killed by the Eska for sport. (ENT: "Rogue Planet")
In 2371, the USS Voyager discovered a rogue planetoid that they thought contained dilithium deposits. In reality, however, it was being used by the Vidiians as an organ lab. (VOY: "Phage")
By 2373, Q had taught his son how to knock small planets out of orbit. (VOY: "The Q and the Grey")
In 2381, the USS Cerritos detected a Crystalline Entity that was in the process of consuming a rogue planet. (LD: "I, Excretus")
Rogue planets were among the hazards in the Devron 500 space race. (LD: "Reflections")
See also[]
External links[]
- Rogue planet at Wikipedia
- Class R planet at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works