Viewscreen
A viewscreen (or main viewer) is an audio/visual device used as early as the 2150s aboard starships, space stations and at planetary facilities by space-faring organizations including the Federation, the Borg Collective, the Cardassian Union, the Klingon Empire and the Romulan Star Empire.
These devices were used to display various types of images from sensor data and communications signals. Generally consisting of a large screen located on the bridge of a starship (or operations center of a space station or starbase), the viewscreen was an almost universal facet of space exploration and colonization dating as far back as the 22nd century, surviving well into the 23rd and 24th centuries.
Typically used to display images of the area immediately around or in front of a starship, the viewscreen could provide views from all directions, as well as call up data from the library computer. It was also essential in ship-to-ship communication, allowing face-to-face conference if so desired, utilizing subspace and other communications systems. Visual contact, however, could only be achieved when in visual range. Intra-ship communications were also possible, though the main viewer was rarely used for this function.
When necessary, the image on the viewscreen could be magnified - 24th century starships easily gaining a magnification of 106. The image could also be augmented, with the ship's computer displaying extrapolated images or graphics displaying sensor data.
