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I get that the first 6 are supposed to be coordinates for the destination and the last (8th in this case) would be the point of origin while the 7th is supposed to be a distance calibration.. but is that always the same symbol, akin to the "1" preceeding long distance phone numbers (or dialing 9 for an outside number) or is it actually different symbols for different distances more like different area codes?

I guess I'm hoping someone within the show has spoken about this or that someone has seen the 7th symbol of both the Asgard home world and Atlantis addresses for comparison.

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    Technically it is supposed to be, but the series/editors have failed to see it as a reality every single time the gate is dialed. It is the same as closing the iris before the connection has been made... technically the iris would have been disintegrated if it was in place due to the 'kawoosh.'
    – Odin1806
    Aug 17, 2019 at 21:10
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    @Odin1806 They've got special rules covering the Iris situation, IIRC if something is close enough to the event horizon is prevents the kawoosh from forming. This became a plot point in the episode "A Hundred Days" - first they had to bombard the other side with particle beam to destroy the 'iris' covering of molten rock and allow the kawoosh to form.
    – starpilotsix
    Aug 17, 2019 at 22:27
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    @Lightness Races in Orbit, true enough but in the absence of explicitly stated "facts" there could still be self consistency. Today even our phones aren't phones as they all use some kind of voice over ip protocol while all our "phone analogies" are still based on peg boards you move wires around on :) I agree it doesn't shed much light as it raises more questions but it does suggest the 7th symbol of an 8 symbol address is more like area codes than dialing 9 to get a line outside our Galaxy. The real question is if it's something the writers and producers thought out or just happenstance.
    – John LA
    Sep 9, 2019 at 23:09
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    @JohnA Voice over mobile telephony does not use VoIP. If you're using Skype or Facebook Messenger then that's different. :)
    – Lightness Races in Orbit
    Sep 9, 2019 at 23:13
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    I think Daniel Jackson answers the question in both the movie and show multiple times. the gates work by a system of cross sectioning a planet location in a 'box' and having a point of origin. Those points don't change, stellar drift just pulls them apart. And sure, in the end we are applying real world logic to a tv show, but, as John mentions, there should still be some consistency to the way things work. Obviously the gates should not work randomly, but still taking you exactly where you want to go. The laws of science should apply as much as possible...Otherwise its not science fiction...
    – Odin1806
    Sep 10, 2019 at 0:39

1 Answer 1

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No. Apparently both destinations have different sequences. Completely:

Multiple screenshots showing the 7th symbol is different in different cases

On the left (the old CRT monitor) is Asgard, on the right is Atlantis.

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  • So do you think that would be 38 seperate distance ranges or 38 seperate volumes of space/galaxy clusters? Even 2 to the 38th would be almost 30 trillion times farther than a 7 symbol address if it's strictly distance... and we know 7 is good out to 90,000 ly, not sure we need that much range if the universe is thought to be less than 100 trillion ly wide, lol. Thanks for finding that.
    – John LA
    Aug 24, 2019 at 20:55
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    @JohnA I think it's enough. My opinion is this vector-style method is good enough-you get a way to dial 38 distinct galaxies. The way I see it is that you get to dial a gate in other galaxy that's right on it's edge and the you're in different network. Treat them like a changing station, and then you can go to the next galaxy, then the next... it's enough. Remember gate network operates on "local" coordinate system, so you have to change eventually. It is sound logic.
    – AcePL
    Aug 24, 2019 at 21:09
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    Nice. I recently read the MWG is thought to have up to 24 satellite galaxies within 1M ly but many of them are very tiny globular clusters less than 2000 ly wide and a couple larger (but still pretty small) ones that are either within the 90K ly limit (?) of 6 symbol addressing of the MW or of the Earth itself. In SGU we see Destiny's path (and so also its seedships) intersected both Pegasus and Andromeda, interestingly, but those smaller ones may not show up at the scales shown. Food for thought, eh?
    – John LA
    Aug 24, 2019 at 23:49

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