Me noob: is that a baby star in front of a big star?
I searched EDSM for all stars with temperature < 2300k with an 8-moon Gas Giant in the same system.
Spreadsheet up: Google Docs Spreadsheet Link
I'm still going through it. It lists size (radius) and temp of the star.
The best fit to the picture would be a Red Dwarf or Red Giant with temperature 2000k or less and the moon under 20 ls.
That only matches to 1 system, which is in the center of the galaxy: Wepooe GP-E c1293
It's unlikely that's it, but there's 8 other systems where the moon is 30-100 ls from the star.
None of the stars on the list are Super Giant, and the biggest T or M star is only 0.5 the radius of earth.
I excluded brown dwarfs and black holes.
Can you share the spreadsheet as a download link?? Trying to open it on my phones browser crashes it lol. Dunno if anyone else is having that issue.
Got the Google docs app ready for easy viewing, however it ain't opening within the app.
It could be a Class L or something.
However, if we're looking at the back of the station, stations usually face the thing they are orbiting, so it seems likely that that is a moon or tiny planet.
If the station is orbiting a moon of a gas giant, then presumably the gas giant is outside the frame somewhere.
I searched EDSM for all stars with temperature < 2300k with an 8-moon Gas Giant in the same system.
Regarding pictures and distance and flare..
I've been experimenting with the free camera settings - if you change the zoom to 4x, the flare on the star is much more pronounced. In addition, it makes things look closer together as I mentioned before .
I haven't come across a suitable star to show what I mean, but some of the 'you must be <20ls' might be different if you zoom right in. I got quite impressive flare off a normal M type which didnt look flared at all on normal view..
Also further cropping in of the image will provide a more pronounced distance compression - like using a telephoto lens The original codex image isnt particularly hi-res so may have been a crop of a hi-res screen shot.
I'll try and get a screen shot next time, but its worth experimenting with - all the recent shots above look like they are at the default 1x zoom which is quite wide-angle.
YB
PS as useful background here's Dave Braben explaining how the ED world is generated, in particular about the mass distribution in systems:
https://youtu.be/iTBvpd3_Vqk
Also further cropping in of the image will provide a more pronounced distance compression - like using a telephoto lens The original codex image isnt particularly hi-res so may have been a crop of a hi-res screen shot.
I returned to old picture where I tried use filters to better see the planet. Is that top-right part ice cap? I thought it is just light on camera objective effect but the station is front of it.
A gas giant that close to an M dwarf would be rare but possible - but I don't think it could stably have eight (or more) moons. So it must be some sort of giant star, in that case - which makes searching potentially much easier, as red giants and supergiants are much rarer!I flew towards a Red Dwarf, Red Giant and Red Super Giant to try to replicate the picture.
The Red Super Giant stars I checked had textures visible >1000ly but were still a little small on the screen (I know the giants vary in size).
The Red Giant and Red Dwarf stars I flew toward only had visible textures at about 20 ls and they weren't anywhere close to the codex screenshot size until about 10-15 ls.
I personally don't think I've seen a gas giant so close to an M, but apparently it is possible.
How do you search EDSM with specific query like surface temperature? I couldn't find out how.
A gas giant that close to an M dwarf would be rare but possible - but I don't think it could stably have eight (or more) moons. So it must be some sort of giant star, in that case - which makes searching potentially much easier, as red giants and supergiants are much rarer!
It sounds like you may have been looking at some very small red giants - there is a "cross of suppression" heading due N, S, E and W from Sol which suppresses normal generation of high-mass and high-luminosity stars, so you get some which say they're a "red giant" but are actually just the size of a normal "red dwarf". If you check an actual large red giant, the textures should be visible from much further out than 10-20 Ls. (Indeed, you shouldn't be able to get as close to it as 20 Ls)