Flame Nebula

Oculus System - Post 1 (Introduction)

We are now inside the giant NGC 604 Nebula. I’ve come across this wide binary system consisting of a F4 giant that is almost 16 times brighter than Earth’s sun and a smaller, but still bright G0V type star more than twice the brightness of Sol. The first worlds I am exploring are the ones orbiting the smaller or secondary of the two stars.

Descriptions of the planet’s to follow in the next post.

Space Engine System ID: RS 1229-171-5-23517-58

High Resolution Pics

Picture 1 - Inner-most Planet

Picture 2 - Surface

Picture 3 - Warm Ice-Giant

Picture 4 - System's fourth planet from a satellite

Picture 5 - Double occultation of two moons

Picture 6 - World with Ethane Oceans

Picture 7 - Setting distant 2nd sun

My first posts will be from systems located within the Triangulum Galaxy. The above 3 images were taken from Space Engine of the galaxy. The background galaxy in the images is Andromeda.

For those of you that are not familiar with the Triangulum Galaxy, it is the third largest member of the local group, sometimes considered a satellite galaxy of Andromeda. The galaxy is also known as M33, NGC 598 or the Pinwheel Galaxy. Approximately 40 billion stars reside within this spiral galaxy. It is believed that the galaxy lacks a central supermassive black hole and central halo.

Wikipedia link below.

Triangulum Galaxy

O’Sirus System - Post 1 (Hellish Moon)

We have gone deeper in the Triangulum Galaxy.  We are now only 1,473 light years from the NGC 604 Nebula. Our next system is the O’Sirus System, a dim Orange Dwarf orbited by 12 planets, including 1 world that supports life.

The lone satellite orbiting the third planet.  Roughly a third of Earth’s mass with a super-heated water vapor atmosphere. Atmospheric temperatures reach up to 1,000 K (1,340 °F), and glowing clouds of Titanium Dioxide hoover over the moon. The sun is only a K9V type star, but at only 0.11 AU, it covers an area of the sky 7.5 times larger than a Full Moon on Earth.

Space Engine System ID: RS 1229-171-8-11850488-229

High Resolution Pics

Picture 1 - Volcanic moon with glowing metallic clouds.

Picture 2 - Atmospheric Haze

Picture 3 - The Surface

Picture 4 - Lunar Sky

Picture 5 - Eclipse

Vernier System - Post 3 (4th Planet)

The system’s 4th plant. This planet is a super-Earth orbiting the two suns at an average distance of 3.79 AU. At 4.66 Earth masses and a radius of 1.71 Earth’s the planet is quite large and massive compared to Earth. It has a hydrocarbon rich atmosphere and an average surface temperature of 187 K or -122 °F. 3 large satellites orbit the planet. The surface show evidence of numerous large impact events.

The plant’s large moons orbit close to the planet and are capable of producing double eclipses, a phenomenon only possible in star systems with more than 1 sun.

High Resolution Pictures

Picture 1 - Large battered world.

Picture 2 - Inner-most satellite occulting the planet.

Picture 3 - Large canyon

Picture 4 - Canyon close-up

Picture 5 - Double Eclipse

Picture 6 - Lunar shadow

Picture of the day - December 3, 2018

Large moon with a hazy atmosphere passes between a gas giant and its rings.

Pictures of the day 2 - December 9, 2018

Insight B System - Moons of the sixth planet

Here we have a few views of the system’s sixth planet viewed from the surfaces of the three inner-most moons.

High Resolution Pictures

View from the inner-most moon

View from the second moon

View from the third moon

Triangulum Log - Post 1 - The Outskirts.

My first adventure brings us to this Yellow Super Giant and companion black hole. The system is young and filled with many gas giants that still glow with the heat of their formation.

All of the planets orbit far from the star, the nearest having a orbital radius of 10.57 AU. Numerous planets are also double planets including a double Jupiter as shown above.

More pics of this system and my thoughts on if this system could actually exist in the real universe to come.

Pictures of the day - November 25, 2018

Battered Ice moon. The surface shows extensive modification from tectonic processes and cryovolcanism. The moon has a thin methane and carbon monoxide atmosphere, the methane of which is broken down into complex hydrocarbons which rain down on the surface giving the moon its multicolored appearance.

High Resolution Pictures

Chaotic Surface

Canyon Sunrise