Ragnar

Galactica and RTF leaving Ragnar

Ragnar is a gas giant planet, and the location of the Ragnar Anchorage munitions station (Mini-Series) located in the outer reaches of the Twelve Colonies.

The atmosphere of the planet, in keeping with some gas giants, is wracked by violent storms. Ragnar Anchorage station appears to be located in an area of relative calm within the very tenuous upper atmosphere, which may be the reverse of such phenomena as the Great Red Spot in the atmosphere of Jupiter.

The storms themselves create a high level of electromagnetic interference in the upper atmosphere of the planet, which interferes with a range of systems - including a ship's ability to plot FTL jumps. While this may effectively hide Ragnar Anchorage from enemy scans, it also means that a ship must cross the "EM Threshold" above the main bulk of the atmosphere before attempting a jump. This required Commander Adama to place Battlestar Galactica directly between the planet and an opposing force of Cylon Basestars to provide the necessary protection for the civilian fleet to jump away from Colonial space.

Another side effect of the storm is that it gives off a form of radiation that adversely affected Cylon technology - including Humano-Cylons. It is possible the initial effects on Cylon technology became known to the Colonials during the Cylon War, prompting them to place the Anchorage within the planet's atmosphere. When Leoben Conoy appeared to fall sick while trapped on the station with Adama, it gave the commander his first clue that Conoy was a Cylon construct - although at the time he most likely suspected Conoy to be a mechanical android, rather than an almost exact organic replica of a human (Mini-Series).

Cinematic Trivia

Ragnar is likely named by the writers to bring to the viewer's mind the tale of Ragnarok, the apocalyptic battle of the gods of Norse mythology.