360-degree axes
Romulan scoutship at relative bearing 270/mark 014
A bearing, sometimes referred to as relative bearing, was a common way to describe a specific direction in relation to a starship. (TOS: "Balance of Terror"; TNG: "The Defector" display graphic)
It was also used to describe a direction in subspace. (VOY: "Eye of the Needle")
Uses
Bearings were commonly used to define the direction at which another object or the origin of a transmission was located in space, in relation to the current orientation of the ship. Bearings have also been used to indicate a direction on a planet by an away team on the surface or from the planet's atmosphere. Bearings were also used when the ship made a course correction in its current heading. (TOS: "Balance of Terror", "By Any Other Name"; Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)
The Picard Maneuver included a sensor bearing. (TNG: "The Battle")
In space, bearings were given in one or two 360-degree angles, sometimes with one or two decimal place accuracy, with various other information. For example:
- "05-mark-231." (TNG: "The Emissary")
- "0-mark-4." (VOY: "Once Upon a Time")
- "111-mark-14" (TOS: "Balance of Terror")
- "125-mark-21. Distance 200 thousand kilometers" (VOY: "Prime Factors")
- "235-point-7" (TNG: "Haven")
- "316-mark-4" (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)
- "Mark-73-point-5." (TOS: "Elaan of Troyius")
- "23-mark-217. Range 31 hundred kilometers." (DS9: "Emissary")
- "001-mark-point-03. Range 300 thousand kilometers." (TNG: "Sins of the Father")
- "320 degrees-mark-2." (Star Trek)
- "240 degrees-mark-6, port." (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)
- "123 degrees-mark-18. Range 90 thousand kilometers." (TOS: "The Changeling")
- "004-mark-009" (DS9: "Sacrifice of Angels")
- "067-mark-24" (VOY: "Ex Post Facto")
- "219 mark 47" (VOY: "Resistance")
- "162 mark 7" (VOY: "Message in a Bottle")
- "Range 2,000 kilometers. Bearing 358 mark 269." (DIS: "The Vulcan Hello")
On a planet, bearings were also given in one or two 360-degree angles, with various other information. For example:
- "300-mark-7." (TOS: "By Any Other Name")
- "94-mark-7, angle of elevation 6 degrees." (TOS: "Obsession")
- "About 11 miles, bearing 121 from the mining company." (TOS: "Mudd's Women")
- "283 degrees. 15.2 kilometers." (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)
- "327 degrees. Distance 600 nautical." (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)
Appendices
See also
Background information
The first use of the term bearing to indicate a direction occurred in Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Balance of Terror". The meaning of bearings has been further defined in the writer's guides and several reference books, such as Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual (p. 36). Bearing 000-mark-0 is directly in front of the ship and bearing 180-mark-0 directly behind the ship. Coming about to bearing 090-mark-0 would be a sharp turn to the right or starboard. Coming about to bearing 270-mark-0 would be a sharp turn to the left or port. The second figure after the "mark" is the elevation angle. Coming about to bearing 000-mark-90 would be tilting the ship directly upwards and 000-mark-270 directly downwards.
Deleted references
According to the script for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, a second patrol formation of Klingon cruisers approached the USS Enterprise on a bearing of "090-mark-20" to the USS Enterprise in the Kobayashi Maru scenario.
According to the script for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, as the HMS Bounty was leaving Earth, Uhura detected an unidentified aircraft in Earth's atmosphere at "range 30 miles, bearing 010".
