A spatial anomaly formed from the collapse of hundreds of nearby proto-stars; the massive gravitational fluctuations, or wavefronts, that result are violent, highly unpredictable and distort sensor readings. The one in Sector 97 — at nine billion years old, one of the most ancient formations in the Milky Way — was seven times more massive and the most violent ever encountered, probably due to its size. Unintentional amplification of the wavefront intensities wrecked the S.S. Vico and almost destroyed the U.S.S. Enterprise-D.