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Celestial chamber
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Celestial chambers (or celestial temples) are areas on Galactica and other battlestars where navigational readings were taken hundreds of yahren prior to the destruction of the Colonies.
Over the hundreds of yahren in the later-half of the Thousand-Yahren War, celestial chambers were mostly removed from battlestars in the Colonial service, as their use was superseded by advanced technologies.
Amongst these technologies is a crane-suspended sextant-like device, and a console capable of receiving transmissions, including those on the later-disused gamma frequency band.
Celestial chambers are built with a semi-spherical shell of transparent tylinium, which could be shuttered over when not in use (TOS: "The Hand of God").
A Fateful Signal
In the aftermath of the Exodus, Captain Apollo happens upon an unused and, perhaps the last remaining, celestial chamber housed near one of Galactica's engines. Being the only known celestial chamber in existence, Apollo repairs it over time, introducing it to Lieutenants Starbuck and Sheba, and Cassiopeia. During this introduction, they happen upon a distorted gamma frequency signal (TOS: "The Hand of God").
Notes
- The celestial chamber is reminiscent of a 17th century Earth seafarer's navigational tool called a sextant. Sextants are all but obsolete as GPS and other technologies have supplanted them, thus making this anachronism a popular collectors' item.