Bajoran Wormhole

The Bajoran Wormhole is an artificially generated stable subspace "short cut" through the structure of time and space itself, which works like a tunnel, between the Denorios Belt in the Bajoran star system in the Alpha Quadrant, and the Idran star system in the distant Gamma Quadrant. This tunnel, which was constructed long ago by unknown aliens, was formed by particles called 'verterons' that allows a space vessel to pass through on impulse power.

Most wormholes are either naturally occurring or the result of dangerous warp drive malfunctions. Such wormholes tend to oscillate wildly across time and space, thus making them useless for normal interstellar commerce. The Bajoran Wormhole is currently the only known stable wormhole in existence (See illustration below).

In the Bajoran religion, the Wormhole is the Celestial Temple -the home of the Divine Prophets whom sent The Orbs to the people of Bajor. In 2369, Commander Benjamin Sisko and science officer Jadzia Dax discovered the Bajoran Wormhole and came in contact with aliens occupying the space inside. The space station Deep Space Nine was then moved to the mouth of the Bajoran wormhole to secure the claim to it, before the Cardassians claimed it.

One travels almost 90,000 light-years when travelling through the wormhole, from the Alpha Quadrant to the Gamma Quadrant. It would take a Federation starship almost 600 years to travel this distance at warp factor nine, but by passing through the wormhole, it takes mere minutes.