How close can you safely get to a white dwarf?

Fray

Fray
I've found a landable planet closely orbiting a white dwarf, and I at least want to probe it. The planet has a very short orbital period, and swings between around 1.4Ls and 2.01Ls. There's also a close L dwarf nearby, but I don't think that'll be an issue, provided I can approach the planet at its apoapsis.

So... Just how close can you get to most white dwarfs, when approached - obviously! - 'between' the two ejection cones? I got to within a few light seconds, but I'd guess around 4 or so until the probes were in range. I chickened out when the temperature started to creep up towards the 40's - because I'm resuming a long voyage that began last year, and I'm within an evening or two session's from at least handing in my scan data accumulated thus far.

I do intend to buy a ship - or strip this battered Orca down - and head back out to ensure I map it, and possibly try a landing as well (I actually saw Yamiks' Anaconda get destroyed yesterday when he tried to land on a world near a white dwarf, but I think that was actually in its cone). But I want to try again when it's 'safest' before I carry on.

And yes, obviously I'll take the usual measures to reduce thermal footprint and get my heat sinks primed...
 

Morbad

Morbad
As long as you are clear of the jet cones, you can get right up to the exclusion zone, or even ride through the exclusion zone, if landed and secured on the surface of a planet passing through it.

Dropping out of SC in the jet cone usually means ship destruction, especially with a larger ship (small ones very rarely have enough acceleration to be able to alight for a jump before being disabled). Being landed on a planet's surface during a pass through the jet cone is supposed to be the end of a ship as reboot/repair doesn't work with all modules destroyed (nothing to cannibalize integrity from), but currently you can just relog and get reboot/repair working again.
 

Fray

Fray
Falcon JSDF said:
Hmmm, I love the CMDRs in this game.

"Capt, the planet is far too close to the star to be scanned."
"Prime the surface scanner and hold my beer whiskey."
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Fixed. ; -)

I actually managed it, and whilst it would've looked both easy and kinda dull to anyone watching, with several months worth of scan data and travel on the line, it was a very tense and variously agonising few minutes... I didn't get the mapping efficiency bonus, but then again I made no attempt; as soon as the range indicator went blue, I entered the mapping mode and just started [judiciously] spamming probes.

Morbad said:
As long as you are clear of the jet cones, you can get right up to the exclusion zone, or even ride through the exclusion zone, if landed and secured on the surface of a planet passing through it.

Dropping out of SC in the jet cone usually means ship destruction, especially with a larger ship (small ones very rarely have enough acceleration to be able to alight for a jump before being disabled). Being landed on a planet's surface during a pass through the jet cone is supposed to be the end of a ship as reboot/repair doesn't work with all modules destroyed (nothing to cannibalize integrity from), but currently you can just relog and get reboot/repair working again.
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As I said just above, I got close enough to map it. Such a weird, freaky system and planet combo; a large ice world with 2+ G's, orbiting obscenely close to a white dwarf, with an L type loitering nearby.

I had the system map open at the orrery for about 30 or 40mins, with my ship ready to jump in, refreshing it to check the progression of the planet. At about 1.8Ls, I jumped, and then carefully snuck around the star to try to line up an approach. Only took a few [overly cautious and slightly terrified... ] minutes, but soon enough I was even more gingerly preparing to withdraw. Not being able to check your temperature whilst mapping the planet was the most tense part, but in the end I think my Orca jumps hotter than the worst it got staring at that damned white dwarf's glare.

People so readily give Elite a lot of stick, and often a fair amount of that is, arguably, deserved. But it's still such a genuinely unique and idiosyncratic experience. All I did was wait for the right moment in a virtual orbit to approach a planet and spam probes at it, but simply eyeing the temperature value as well as waiting for the probe mode to trigger ended up being more tense than most horror games. As an explorer, it's a rather Dark Soulsian experience; the longer you're out there, the greater your rewards - but also the greater the consequences if you make a simple mistake. And unlike DS, there are no 'scan data bloodstains' to retrieve...

I'll certainly return to that world, land on it, and hopefully experience a full orbit. I'll probably fry and explode, but it'll be in a much cheaper and less well equipped ship, so it'll be worth the fireworks just for the view. ; -)
 

Fray

Fray
Godnamedthor said:
The views are fantastic from such planets!
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Ah, that was the world I saw Yamiks explode on (twice, once in the Anaconda, and then again when trying to leave after landing in a Vulture). I'd like to see the orrery for that system, to compare it to the one I found.

Reached Colonia safely, btw. I sold my data in a system I was fond of from the first time I was there (made over 550mil), and I'll be pushing up over the galactic plane to exploit my ship's jump range whilst polishing off that damned achievement that unlocks at 23K from your start point (I don't care about achievements but it bugged me that I only noticed that one when I was back in the Sol bubble... I was just under 1K from it, and never knew). This was the first trip I took an AFMU since my very first exploration trip, and as ever it was a complete waste of a module - sold it immediately when I got to a station. Before I leave I'll definitely zip back to that ice world around the white dwarf, to see if I can land safely on it.

Wouldn't mind a jump gate being discovered in the next couple of days so I can skip the 21K journey back to Sol, though...
 
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