Gallifreyan solar system
The Gallifreyan solar system, (PROSE: The Visual Dictionary [+]Loading...["The Visual Dictionary (2007 reference book)"]) by one account known as the Kasterberous system, (PROSE: Prisoners of the Sun [+]Loading...["Prisoners of the Sun (short story)"]) was the solar system containing Gallifrey. (PROSE: The Visual Dictionary [+]Loading...["The Visual Dictionary (2007 reference book)"])
Characteristics[[edit] | [edit source]]
Location[[edit] | [edit source]]
Information from Love & War [+]Loading...["Love & War (short story)"] needs to be added.
Gallifrey was frequently described as being located in the "constellation of Kasterborous" at galactic coordinates 10-0-11-0-0/0-2 from Galactic Zero Centre. (TV: Pyramids of Mars [+]Loading...["Pyramids of Mars (TV story)"], Full Circle [+]Loading...["Full Circle (TV story)"], Death in Heaven [+]Loading...["Death in Heaven (TV story)"])
A number of accounts suggested the planet was located in the same galaxy as Earth, (TV: The War Games [+]Loading...["The War Games (TV story)"], Doctor Who [+]Loading...["Doctor Who (TV story)"]) although the first known account to name Earth's galaxy as Mutter's Spiral showed the Time Lords referring to it from a seemingly external perspective. (TV: The Deadly Assassin [+]Loading...["The Deadly Assassin (TV story)"]) Several accounts placed it more or less at the centre of its galaxy. (PROSE: The Devil Goblins from Neptune [+]Loading...["The Devil Goblins from Neptune (novel)"], Interference - Book Two [+]Loading...["Interference - Book Two (novel)"], Human Nature [+]Loading...["Human Nature (novel)"]) Indeed, I.M. Foreman once specified to the Eighth Doctor that it wasn't in "the exact dead centre, but it's as close as you can get without ending up in a black hole". (PROSE: Interference - Book One [+]Loading...["Interference - Book One (novel)"])
The Eighth Doctor explained to humans Grace Holloway and Chang Lee that Gallifrey was "[o]n the other side of your galaxy" and "250 million light-years away" from Earth. (TV: Doctor Who [+]Loading...["Doctor Who (TV story)"]) Another put Gallifrey 30,000 light-years from Earth. (PROSE: The Devil Goblins from Neptune [+]Loading...["The Devil Goblins from Neptune (novel)"]) It was described as "the Shining World of the Seven Systems". (TV: The Sound of Drums [+]Loading...["The Sound of Drums (TV story)"])
Stars[[edit] | [edit source]]
By some accounts, Gallifrey had two suns. (TV: Gridlock [+]Loading...["Gridlock (TV story)"], Spyfall [+]Loading...["Spyfall (TV story)"], PROSE: The Bloodletters [+]Loading...["The Bloodletters (novel)"]) On Gallifrey, the second star seemed to rise in the East in the morning, making the mountains glow; (TV: Gridlock [+]Loading...["Gridlock (TV story)","Gridlock"]) both set in the South. The Monk believed that the Homeworld had not originally been part of a binary system but had been retroactively engineered into one by He-of-Many-Epithets as a precaution during the war against the vampires: the interaction of the orbital patterns of the two suns created a shifting "interference pattern" in the daylight which meant that even vampires resistant to ordinary sunlight could not walk on the Homeworld without burning. Because of these "mad orbital mechanics", the planet had "an unconventional day-night terminator": as the Monk put it, "the region in darkness [shrank] like an iris and close[d] like a fist". (PROSE: The Bloodletters [+]Loading...["The Bloodletters (novel)"])
Other accounts clearly held the planet to have a single, primary sun, described as large and golden-red. (AUDIO: The Forever Trap [+]Loading...["The Forever Trap (audio story)"]) The Book of the War referenced "the Homeworld's sun" in the singular. (PROSE: "Zo la Domini" [+]Part of The Book of the War, Loading...{"namedep":"Zo la Domini","1":"The Book of the War (novel)"}, "Appendix IV: Notes on the Rivera Manuscript" [+]Part of The Book of the War, Loading...{"namedep":"Appendix IV: Notes on the Rivera Manuscript","1":"The Book of the War (novel)"}) Casmus similarly spoke of "the sun" being "halfway into the morning" when he woke Ace up after taking her to Gallifrey. (WC: "Planet of Blood" [+]Part of Death Comes to Time, Loading...{"namedep":"Planet of Blood","1":"Death Comes to Time (webcast)"})
In one version of reality, Gallifrey and Earth shared the same gravity, the same distance from the same type of sun, and with it the same length of day and year, a fact which fascinated the Time Lords. (PROSE: The Infinity Doctors [+]Loading...["The Infinity Doctors (novel)"])
Planets and other orbital bodies[[edit] | [edit source]]
The system contained five other planets, (TV: The Invasion of Time [+]Loading...["The Invasion of Time (TV story)","The Invasion of Time"]) among them Karn, (TV: The Brain of Morbius [+]Loading...["The Brain of Morbius (TV story)","The Brain of Morbius"], AUDIO: Vortex Ice [+]Loading...["Vortex Ice (audio story)","Vortex Ice"]) Reave, (AUDIO: A Heart on Both Sides [+]Loading...["A Heart on Both Sides (audio story)","A Heart on Both Sides"]) and Polarfrey, as well as an asteroid named Kasterborous the Fibster. (PROSE: Lungbarrow [+]Loading...["Lungbarrow (novel)","Lungbarrow"])
Cultural significance[[edit] | [edit source]]
One Gallifreyan symbol represented the Gallifreyan solar system. (PROSE: The Visual Dictionary [+]Loading...["The Visual Dictionary (2007 reference book)"]) It appeared on a sticky note the Ninth Doctor kept on his TARDIS scanner. (TV: World War Three [+]Loading...["World War Three (TV story)"]) It also appeared on the back of the fob watches used by the Tenth Doctor and the War Master. (TV: Human Nature [+]Loading...["Human Nature (TV story)"], Utopia [+]Loading...["Utopia (TV story)"])
History[[edit] | [edit source]]
On the Last Day of the Time War, following an unsuccessful attempt by Rassilon to take the planet out of the time lock which contained the conflict, (TV: The End of Time [+]Loading...["The End of Time (TV story)"]) all incarnations of the Doctor relocated Gallifrey to a parallel pocket universe whilst it was being subjected to orbital bombardment by the Dalek Fleet, resulting in the near-extinction of the Daleks. (TV: The Day of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Day of the Doctor (TV story)"]) Missy later claimed to the Twelfth Doctor that the Time Lords had returned the planet to its original location in the universe. Though he went there and found nothing, (TV: Death in Heaven [+]Loading...["Death in Heaven (TV story)"]) he later discovered that the Time Lords had placed Gallifrey at the end of the universe. (TV: Hell Bent [+]Loading...["Hell Bent (TV story)"]) The planet Karn also existed in the post-Time War universe, (WC: Prologue [+]Loading...["Prologue (webcast)"]) with the Sisterhood of Karn maintaining a connection with Gallifrey which Rassilon resented. (TV: Hell Bent [+]Loading...["Hell Bent (TV story)"]) The Spy Master, however, recalled to the Thirteenth Doctor that Gallifrey was still "hiding in its little bubble universe" when he returned and ravaged the planet. (TV: Spyfall [+]Loading...["Spyfall (TV story)"])
