Babel was the code name for an inhabited neutral planet in the Wolf 424 system. Found in a sector of the Beta Quadrant, the planet was used by United Earth, and later the United Federation of Planets, as a venue for conferences, which were mediated in council chambers. (TOS: "Journey to Babel"; TAS: "The Counter-Clock Incident"; ENT: "Babel One")
History[]
The planet was planned to host negotiations to settle trade disputes between the Andorians and the Tellarites and mediated by Starfleet on behalf of United Earth in 2154. However, the meeting was postponed due to tensions between the two powers caused by a raiding Romulan scout vessel in the area. (ENT: "Babel One", "United")
In 2268, on stardate 3850.3, the Babel Conference considered Coridan's admission to the Federation. Two things came of this conference: the Babel Resolutions and Coridan's admission to the Federation. (TOS: "Journey to Babel"; TAS: "The Pirates of Orion"; TNG: "Sarek")
In 2270, the USS Enterprise transported Commodore Robert April and his wife Sarah to Babel, where ambassadors from all Federation worlds had converged to honor April as he had reached his mandatory retirement age. (TAS: "The Counter-Clock Incident")
Stellar cartography[]
Babel was approximately 14 light years from Sol.
Relative to Tellar Prime, Babel was located on the far side of Andorian space. (ENT: "Babel One")
In the 2150s, this planet's position was labeled on an United Earth star chart which was displayed in several crew and guest quarters aboard the Enterprise. (Star Trek: Enterprise, set decoration)
In 2259, the location of this planet was labeled on a stellar cartography chart that was seen on the USS Enterprise's ready room viewscreen. This planet's symbol had a blue color, indicating that it was affiliated with the United Federation of Planets. (SNW: "Strange New Worlds", "Spock Amok", "A Quality of Mercy")
In 2293, the location of Babel in the Milky Way Galaxy was labeled in the star chart The Explored Galaxy, which was on display in James T. Kirk's quarters aboard the USS Enterprise-A. (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, okudagram)
On stardate 1292.4, the location of this planetoid was labeled in a chart used during a Section 31 Alpha Team briefing. (Star Trek: Section 31)
In 2365, the location of Babel was labeled in a Subspace Comm Net Ops star chart, which was seen in the courtroom on Starbase 173. This planet was connected to the Sol system and Kling by subspace lines. (TNG: "The Measure Of A Man")
In 2367, the location of Babel was labeled on a tactical situation monitor in Captain Benjamin Maxwell's ready room on the USS Phoenix. (TNG: "The Wounded", okudagram)
In 2366, in an alternate timeline, during the Federation-Klingon War, Babel's position was labeled on a tactical situation monitor on the bridge and in the ready room of the USS Enterprise-D. (TNG: "Yesterday's Enterprise", okudagram)
The planet's location was labeled in a Federation star chart that was in Fleet Admiral Kirsten Clancy's office at Starfleet Headquarters in 2399 and on the bridge of the USS Titan-A in 2401. Babel was in or near to Federation space. (PIC: "Maps and Legends", "The Next Generation", "Disengage")
In 2401, the location of Babel was labeled on a star chart that was seen on the USS Stargazer's bridge viewscreen. The chart was used to show the location of the combined Starfleet-Borg armada and where it needed to go to face a galactic-level threat. (PIC: "Farewell")
Later that year, Babel's position was labeled on a star chart used by Captain William T. Riker during his attempt at finding the last known location of the SS Eleos XII. (PIC: "The Next Generation")
Appendices[]
Background information[]
Babel was described as a planetoid in its first mention in "Journey to Babel", but as a planet in "The Counter-Clock Incident" and "Babel One". StarTrek.com described Babel as a rogue planet. [2](X)
Information on Babel was derived from the episodes, the reference works Star Trek: Star Charts and Stellar Cartography: The Starfleet Reference Library, and real-world sources. The reference works were used extensively in the creation of star charts seen in Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Star Trek: Prodigy, and Star Trek: Lower Decks. The real-world information added to the article was current as of 2025.
The star chart seen in the series Star Trek: Enterprise made its first appearance in Crewman Daniels quarters in "Cold Front". It was also seen in several other episodes of the series, from 2151 to 2154. (For more information, see Federation star charts#United Earth Alpha/Beta star chart)
The current location of Babel in the Beta Quadrant was based on the most recent star charts seen in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Star Trek: Section 31.
Apocrypha[]
In the Star Trek Maps (p. 24 and chart D), Babel was located in the Wolf 424 system. The Babel planetoid had three small moons called Zion, Ba, and Ruim. Babel had a diameter of 4,200 kilometers and orbited a red dwarf star. FASA's The Federation sourcebook identified Babel as the twelfth planet in the Wolf 424 system.
External links[]
- Babel at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
- Wolf 424 at Wikipedia