Star Light, Star Bright…

Dbx "Alexei Leonov" NH-16D
Oochont GX-K b41-0
Distance from Sol: 4,534 ly

Day 4. All systems are performing nominally, and we are making good progress out into the Black.

We’ve now settled into the rhythm of deep space travel that every explorer knows by heart. Jump, scan, scoop, repeat. Progress is good though, and i’ve even gone on a slight detour to take in another point of interest – V509 Cassiopeiae.

V509 Cassiopeiae with planet 1 of the system silhouetted against it.

This star is mind-bogglingly huge – V509 Cassiopeiae is a class G white-yellow supergiant of approximately 11 solar masses and has a radius 600 times larger than Sol. If dropped into the Sol system, it would swallow up all the planets out to just beyond the orbit of Mars.

I made my way in to the inner planet – a searingly hot, blackened world just larger than Earth – and held in stationary orbit over it to carry out some long range surface scans. There’s no way we can go down and explore – with a surface temperature of 1,572K and huge tectonic activity there’s few truly safe places to set down.

Tortured Planet

V509 Cassiopeiae is a star running out of time. These stars are rare, estimates indicate that there are no more than 15 in the observable universe. They are short lived – they are usually approaching the end of their lives when they reach this stage and either collapse or if over a certain size they will go supernova.

I’d hate to be here when it does.

On the way in to V509 Cassiopeiae we passed Flyae Drye LT-U c5-1. While fuel scooping the star went active and I ended up piloting the ship through massive solar prominences.

The Sky is Burning!

Good job the the Leonov runs cool and the systems are hardened against solar radiation.

Scooping Prominences

After all the heat we’re going into ship’s night in the deep space outside of a solar system. All the systems are shut down, and ice is forming on the viewports as the extreme cold of space seeps in.

We have known extremes in the last day or so, but soon we will be at waypoint 2.


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