Heh, yeah, some HMC worlds look like Earth after humankind is finally done with royally messing up the planet. And some even have oceans, which makes them pretty close to being an ELW I guess!
Also, I'd love to catch one of those eccentrics in the act of passing through their perihelion. But most of the time, if I were to wait for that to happen I'd be like...
...so yeah.
Anyway, that AM surely is a nice find, as they're quite uncommon! I'm already missing them, haven't seen a single one since I started flying again. Maybe in the next 1000-or-so systems.
Ah yes, about waiting for the eccentrics to pass through their perihelion: Very relatable picture!
As for the HMCs, I really love those with the oceans the most, but the dark ones are really nice too. As you said, a perfect "post-apocalyptic Earth". Wish we could land there in some distant future (along with possibly landing on ELWs and AWs)...
Hope you may find an AW, WW, or the elusive ELW soon too.
Double post time, after taking a day off yesterday, I surveyed ~55 systems today. Got a few things today too, including another GG with water-based life (counting up to 3 so far) and my 2nd Ammonia World! Didn't see it coming to find 2 AWs in a span of ~40 jumps.
- The Gas Giant came first, it is sitting in a L2/T6 binary with loads of small HMCs other than that. The Gas Giant orbits the T6 (seen in the background of the pic) as planet number 4.
- This close L4/T0 pair orbiting each other with ~2-3 ls distance between each other. Another T9 (the small dark red/purple dot in the background) is just 52 ls away, and seen in the background. The system holds a fourth dwarf with some icies too.
- And finally, the AW. This one orbits a L4 at 39 ls distance once every 20.4 days and is much more massive than the one from Monday (3.41 Earth Masses, 1.13 g, 946.90 atm pressure), with a mean temperature of 195 K. Did survey the rest of its boxel after that, but the other 8 systems in the boxel were mostly T and Y and one more L with nothing to report, same for the remainder of today's L dwarfs afterwards.
Let's see what happens in the next batch of systems tomorrow.
One interesting question (that might already have been answered many times before): I have a hunch that certain planets are more common in certain areas. And I don't mean vertically. We know there are layers of brown dwarfs, white dwarfs and I guess neutron stars if I remember correctly. Naturally, that will have an influence on planet formation in those spots.
But I'm travelling through the galaxy mostly laterally, as the brown dwarf layer is flat and thin. But it still feels like I'm seeing too many gas giants with water-based life recently. At least for the first 1058 jumps, especially at the beginning. In the first 313 jumps, I've seen four such gas giants, and 3 more in the next 745 jumps. 3 in 745 is about 1 in 248, which is close to my average so far (1 in 261), whereas 4 in 313 is a rate of about 1 in 78. Over those 1058 jumps, the rate is about 1 in 151, so quite a few more of them in the region I was when I restarted the survey.
Or maybe that sample size is just way too small. But I'm still asking myself this question: Is planet formation different when comparing the galactic centre with the regions farther out at about the same vertical position and within the same star class? Not talking about stars themselves here, only planets.
Usually, any differences are mostly down to mass code and boxel metallicity, and how does can vary over the various areas of the galaxy. (Core, arms, inter-arms, edge.) The core is different in the latter because the latter is capped there. If you look at brown dwarf main stars though, the suppression cross is worth talking about too, as that's (mostly) where L dwarfs appear as higher mass code main stars. (See here.) I haven't looked into detail on how that might affect system bodies in these suppressed-to-L-main systems specifically, but given the differences between mass codes in general, I think it's highly likely that there'd be similar stuff too.
Well, it'd certainly be easier to see more gas giants in systems when the Forge has more mass to work with.
I'm currently crawling towards the Norma Arm, and I'm planning to travel north once I've entered it. So, towards Eurus, then maybe Styx, but surely Boreas. It's only then when I'll temporarily enter the suppression cross again. Maybe I'll try to fly south through the northern part of the cross from there, we'll see. It's many weeks, probably months in the future though.
GrandAdmirialThrawn, returning to the game after a few years of absence and continuing the Brown Dwarf search and others who are now hunting the brownies. It's been great to see the fresh posts and brought out the hunger of exploration has encouraged me to come out of hibernation after over two years and join the Brown Dwarf hunt.
Welcome back to the Brownie Hunt too, Leif! It is very nice to see more coming back to hunting the Brownies. Looking forward to the finds
Meanwhile, +102 L dwarf systems surveyed in Trojan Belt in the last 2 days. After my 2 AWs earlier this week, I've run out of luck a bit and it is back to mostly "string of Icies" with the occasional close HMCs or the rare Class I for now. Quieter days with less/no special finds are part of the business too, as we know. Exobios or just landing and enjoying the colors of the skies are some welcome sidetracks from the hunt. Diverting to higher mass systems (I also dot the occasional O, B, A and F onto the route, just to see something else in between) helps against going insane in the hunt too.
This photo is taken in a L4/T2 binary which I got as the first system of yesterday and featured some exobios too (including Stratum Tectonicas). Love the colors of the Nitrogen atmosphere on this Icy, which is illuminated by the T2.
EDIT 31/3/3310, 21:08 UTC: After lots of nothingness, I can add my first GG Class III to the count. I entered a L5/T1 binary, got close planets and looked at the sys map. The gas giant confirmed itself as a lukewarm Class III, orbiting the L5 at around 15 ls distance. It isn't the closest planet though: There is one atmosphereless HMC at 5 ls from the dwarf.
Total statistics for Trojan Belt so far (updated):
Here is your weekly brown dwarf survey report for holy week!
But first, I would like to say "Welcome back!" to Leif Erikson, awesome to see you rejoin this effort! I'm really looking foward to seeing your discoveries as well!
Now, let's see what I found last week. There were four days of activity and a total of 299 systems were surveyed.
3010-03-27
On the first day, I visited 77 systems, finding... absolutely nothing. Not even a single close orbiter or interesting gas giant. What a drag!
3010-03-29
Another 86 systems, and I came across two water worlds, non-terraformable ones again. One of them came with rings, though!
Ok, not the most fashionable of rings, but I'll take what I can get! (Click to enlarge)
The left one was quite large and massive at 7,47 M⊕ with a radius of 13068 km, and it boasts an atmospheric surface pressure of about 1989 atm. Guess that's how it can maintain a liquid water surface at about 44 Ls from the host body. Temperatures are quite warm at an average of 314 K. The ringed one on the right is much smaller with a radius of 8833 km and a mass of 1,27 M⊕. It's quite a bit closer to its host, but surface pressure is still quite high at about 503 atm. It's chillier at an average surface temperature of 274 K.
Aside from the rings, neither planet has any interesting features. It seems those high-pressure ocean worlds don't have much in terms of weather, cloud systems etc.?
On this day, I also came across another class III gas giant in relatively close orbit around the secondary class T dwarf:
Photo modified; Planet brightness increased by +50% (click to enlarge)
There were also a few close brownie binaries, but more about that later.
3010-03-30
Another day with nothing, but that was mostly my own fault as I made only 15 jumps.
3310-03-31
Yesterday I was quite active, fully FSS'ing another 121 systems. It's been a while since I got startled by dropping out of hyperspace into a set of multiple close stars while in VR, but yesterday it happened once again. Made my heart jump out of my chest, what a rush!
Dropped in right between those secondary T and tertiary L dwarfs (click to enlarge)
The closest substellar companion was a class T at just 3,74 Ls from the primary:
Now how close can they get? Surely closer than this, gas giants can do it! (Click to enlarge)
What else? Your obligatory gas giant with water-based life, it just had to happen. This one was almost 16000 Ls out there, so it's very dark. To emphasize just how dark, I brought myself into a position where the milky way would be behind the planet and the system's dwarf behind me, without brightening anything up this time:
It's quite massive at ~992 M⊕ as well (click to enlarge)
Next, a high metal content world in a pretty close and fast orbit around a class T secondary dwarf. Naturally, it's tectonic activity is intense as it orbits its host in just 0.1 D:
Photo modified; Planetary brightness increased by +30%, the system is also quite close to the primary (click to enlarge)
And the least common for the finish: A class I gas giant with wide icy rings. And hey, it even comes with a set of two sheperd moons:
Wide rings (click to enlarge)
That's only the fourth of its kind in over 11000 systems! The ring's inner diameter was 553.142 km with the outer one being 878.058 km, just not quite a million.
Here's the updated list:
Total brown dwarf systems surveyed: 11276
Ammonia worlds: 8(1 in ≈1410)
Earth-like worlds: 0
Water worlds (non-terraformable): 36(1 in ≈313)
Water worlds (terraformable): 6(1 in ≈1879)
Water giants: 0
High metal content worlds (terraformable): 35(1 in ≈322)
Metal-rich worlds: 0
Gas giants with ammonia-based life: 28(1 in ≈403)
Gas giants with water-based life: 43(1 in ≈262)
Class II gas giants: 32(1 in ≈352)
Class III gas giants: 14(1 in ≈805)
Class IV gas giants: 1(1 in 11276)
Class V gas giants: 0
Oddities: 34
Class M red dwarfs orbiting class L brown dwarfs: 26(1 in ≈434, 3 × L3 + M9, 11 × L2 + M9, 6 × L1 + M9, 6 × L0 + M9, 2 × L0 + M8)
Note: These numbers are biased towards red dwarfs, as I would sometimes actively search for them on the galaxy map for refuelling purposes! So if you leave things to chance, you'll come across significantly fewer of them! Keep this in mind if you decide to refuel within the layer exclusively!
Hot Jupiters: 4(1 in ≈2819, 3 × class III, 1 × class IV)
Wide rings: 4(1 in ≈2819)
1: Ice, 2240 tril. tons, iR⌾: 1468 Mm, oR⌾: 2330 Mm
2: Ice, 99 tril. tons, iR⌾: 563 Mm oR⌾: 893 Mm
3: Ice, 12896 tril. tons, iR⌾: 428 Mm, oR⌾: 1712 Mm
4: Ice, No mass recorded, iR⌾: 553 Mm, oR⌾: 878 Mm
It's good to be back in the black again- the sounds, the views and the hope of a wonder find. Problems with the controls at first but muscle memory finally kicked in and now up and running.
Made my way to Anchorage to sell some long awaited data and got promoted to Elite 1
Almost 9 years since I made Elite the first time. Sold the data I amassed when I gave up half way through Chiggy Vonrictofens Galactic Centre ELW hunt. Sorry about that mate but am amazed that Chiggy has not played in almost a year when I logged on. Thought he would play until he found all the ELWs in the game but it seems even the most hardy explorers need a break.
Anyway have started the renewed Brown Dwarf hunt from Systimbu 1000lyrs from Sag A* and will head towards Beagle Point and head off down a galactic arm when the stars become sparse by the edge. Have done around 50 jumps with L,T and Y stars and nothing found but it is early days. Last jump got a gas giant with Ammonia based life around a L star and have a system view. Would have done a better view but the free camera is causing issues for me- will have to play around with the controls for that.
Hey, it took me days to re-learn my HOTAS, and quite frankly I'm still not done. Just takes some time to get used to stuff again. And a GG with ammonia-based life isn't that bad, my current stats say you'll get that about once in 400 class L systems.
Also, I forgot something in my previous post. Just a curiosity, but I jumped into a system, and bam, it had 44 bodies, minus substars, so 44 planets and moons:
44 (Click to enlarge)
Quite a lot! Not the 50 bodies Maultier reported just recently, but close enough! Then I jumped into the next system, and... 44 again!
44 again (Click to enlarge)
44, two times in a row! Now what's the likelihood? Heh. Haven't seen this many in one system after, and probably not before either, if memory serves me right (who knows if it does).
Hey, it took me days to re-learn my HOTAS, and quite frankly I'm still not done. Just takes some time to get used to stuff again. And a GG with ammonia-based life isn't that bad, my current stats say you'll get that about once in 400 class L systems.
Also, I forgot something in my previous post. Just a curiosity, but I jumped into a system, and bam, it had 44 bodies, minus substars, so 44 planets and moons:
44, two times in a row! Now what's the likelihood? Heh. Haven't seen this many in one system after, and probably not before either, if memory serves me right (who knows if it does).
Nice finds CMDR! Hitting 44 body L systems (without counting the substars) twice in a row is very rare indeed.
Currently I sit in a system with 40 bodies (in total, counting the three L dwarfs in it too) too. Sys map (I'll add the one for the 50 body system - counting the substars too, without the L and T substars, I'd have 46 there, which is still a big number - as well) and a few impressions of my current 40-body-system will be added in a little report from me later today (after finishing with work).
EDIT: Here is the little report I wanted to add:
First, here is the Sys map of that 50 body system (46 if you count out the 4 substars) from ~1.5 weeks ago, a bunch of Icies, Class I and a few HMCs are inside. Nothing too noteworthy, except for the number of objects itself, of course.
Also, +52 L systems surveyed on Monday and shortly after the start, I found a small non-TF WW (0.17 Earth masses) as first planet (24 ls distance from the entry point) around a L3. It orbits the dwarf once every 10.2 days. This is the first WW I got on my survey, and I hope it will get joined by many more. The rest of the system is "Icy standard" though, along with a secondary T3 dwarf.
Also, as mentioned before, the 40 body system (37 planets/moons if you count out the substars) I currently sit in and will depart from in a short time. 3 L dwarfs (L2, L7, L5) and your typical bunch of a few very close HMCs, some Class I and Icies. Next to the sysmap, I also landed on two of the planets for some impressions, leg-stretching and some exobiology scanning.
System Map of the system.
SO2 fumaroles on the innermost planet, 5.2 ls from the L2.
Fonticulua Upupam - Mauve on one of the icy moons, illuminated by both the L2 and the L7.
EDIT 2 (18:30 UTC): Right at the first L system of today, I just got another big Ammonia World (3.23 Earth masses, 10,902 km radius), taking my AW count up to 3 for now. It orbits an L2 at 42 ls distance, once every 24.1 days. It has a ground pressure of 1095 atm and appears way cloudier than the previous ones. Mean Temperature is at 193 K, pretty much like the previous two. Surveyed the rest of the boxel, but else it had nothing of note, except for a few close orbiting atmosphereless HMCs.
Edit 3 (9:00 UTC): After the AW, a further +52 systems were scanned, some more close orbiting HMC were found, but else, nothing of note.
In any case, here is your easter week survey report! I will split it up over multiple posts though, to circumvent the 10 image limit per post. There are just too many boring pictures to look at! Let's start!
3310-04-01
On that day, only a single gas giant with water-based life was found quite far from its host body at a distance of about 35600 ls. So it's pretty dark out there:
(Click to enlarge)
3310-04-02
First, we got a terraformable high metal content world, here's a view from the planet towards the binary it orbits:
(Click to enlarge)
And next, a planet that gave me some trouble, a Sudarsky class III gas giant in a pretty close orbit around the secondary class L dwarf, it's visible from the entry point even if you have to squint your eyes a little:
(Click to enlarge)
The issue I had with that world was that I couldn't answer the question "Now is this a hot Jupiter or not?". It's surface (if you can say that) temperature was only 590 K or roughly 317°C after all.
So, I studied some specifications and existing observations, and it seems the defining characteristics are an orbital period of under 10 days and a mass between 0,36 - 13,6 M♃ (Jupiter masses). Most would be tidally locked and pretty hot, but there is no defined minimum temperature specified. And what has been specified only covers hot Jupiters orbiting real stars, not brown dwarfs.
This planet right there has an orbital period of just 0,7 days, 1,86 M♃ or 590 M⊕. According to observations of the Spitzer Space Telescope, the cooler versions of those planets can have "up to 700°C" of temperature, close to 1000 K. But who knows what "up to" means here.
In the end, I have decided that this planet counts!
I guess that a limit of a maximum orbital period of 1 day may make sense in case of any hot Jupiter orbiting a brown dwarf. So instead of P < 10 days I will use P < 1 day from here on out. We'll see how well that'll work out.
3310-04-03
Another distant gas giant for you, this one is a class II at a distance of roughly 23800 ls. The following image didn't need any brightness adjustments, because the planet's albedo is high enough to see the upper cloud layer pretty well despite it being so far away from its substar:
(Click to enlarge)
Then there were quite a few L + T binaries, here are two relatively close ones:
(Click to enlarge)
And finally, another ocean or water world. A non-terraformable one again, pretty low-mass at 0,123 M⊕ too:
More close brownie friends, this time both are of class L:
(Click to enlarge)
And two more boring gas giants, the brighter one is a class II, and the other features ammonia-based life:
(Click to enlarge)
By the time I had found the gas giants I had already started running pretty low on fuel, below 25% already. Now I had to make a run for the next M9 secondary, which happened to be over 100 jumps away. Here's the state of my tanks when I arrived:
(Click to enlarge)
And then I had to cover another 212206 Ls, because that's how far away that M9 star was from its L0 brown dwarf primary... It's boasting an orbital period of slightly over 10000 years and a semi-major axis of 179 AU:
For a bit of variety I decided to land on a close moon once again. Those are not rare at all, but I kinda just felt like it:
(Click to enlarge)
I can't hide my preference for crater ridges. Also: Accidentally landed right next to a plant. Cute.
Just shortly after that I found a pretty hot high metal content world in close orbit around a class T host. Despite the very cool substar, the planet had a surface temperature of 700 K:
(Click to enlarge)
And then, more M's. I picked out the following L1 + M9 pair on the galaxy map though:
(Click to enlarge)
But just a hand full of jumps after that, there was another such pair, but this time it's an L0 with a class III gas giant and a much less common M8 star. There was nothing else in this system. The planet was brightened up by +70% to make the surface visible:
Then I suddenly felt something driving me to reach the bottom of the galaxy once more, following one of the larger dust protrusions reaching out almost perpendicularly from the galactic disc. This would have meant a brief pause of the survey, but after a couple of neutron boosts I strangely got annoyed by the whole ordeal pretty quickly, so I aborted it and went back into the layer.
Something good did happen when I did that though, as now I can bring you pretty pictures of a ringed class Y brown dwarf (), something that can't happen in real brown dwarf systems.
Here they are:
(Click to enlarge)
Other than that, not much to report, just one more gas giant, another one with ammonia-based life:
(Click to enlarge)
3310-04-07
Yesterday I didn't fly as much, just 37 jumps. Nothing very interesting to report really, only two more gas giants, one with water-based and one with ammonia-based life. The one with water-based life was pretty far out, so it's pitch black down there day and night:
(Click to enlarge)
That makes for a total of 677 systems with brown dwarf primaries surveyed over the last week. Here is the updated list:
Total brown dwarf systems surveyed: 11953
Ammonia worlds: 8(1 in ≈1494)
Earth-like worlds: 0
Water worlds (non-terraformable): 37(1 in ≈323)
Water worlds (terraformable): 6(1 in ≈1992)
Water giants: 0
High metal content worlds (terraformable): 36(1 in ≈332)
Metal-rich worlds: 0
Gas giants with ammonia-based life: 31(1 in ≈386)
Gas giants with water-based life: 45(1 in ≈266)
Class II gas giants: 34(1 in ≈352)
Class III gas giants: 16(1 in ≈747)
Class IV gas giants: 1(1 in 11953)
Class V gas giants: 0
Oddities: 37
Class M red dwarfs orbiting class L brown dwarfs: 31(1 in ≈412, 3 × L3 + M9, 11 × L2 + M9, 7 × L1 + M9, 7 × L0 + M9, 3 × L0 + M8)
Note: These numbers are biased towards red dwarfs, as I would sometimes actively search for them on the galaxy map for refuelling purposes! So if you leave things to chance, you'll come across significantly fewer of them! Keep this in mind if you decide to refuel within the layer exclusively!
Hot Jupiters: 5(1 in ≈2391, 3 × class III, 1 × class IV)
Wide rings: 4(1 in ≈2988)
1: Ice, 2240 tril. tons, iR⌾: 1468 Mm, oR⌾: 2330 Mm
2: Ice, 99 tril. tons, iR⌾: 563 Mm oR⌾: 893 Mm
3: Ice, 12896 tril. tons, iR⌾: 428 Mm, oR⌾: 1712 Mm
4: Ice, No mass recorded, iR⌾: 553 Mm, oR⌾: 878 Mm
Just shortly after that I found a pretty hot high metal content world in close orbit around a class T host. Despite the very cool substar, the planet had a surface temperature of 700 K:
As for the Ammonia Worlds: Come to Trojan Belt, we got plenty of them
Anyway, I'll give a short summary of the previous days too.
April 4, 3310: I decided to head back to my FC for a little data save, but surveyed +23 systems before. One GG with Ammonia-based life was the one more interesting find. Else, it was "icy standard", and then it was time to head back.
April 6, 3310: I loaded out my data and continued the hunt in another sector, closer to my FC. +20 systems surveyed, half of them in a boxel survey. Guess what I found.
Yes, another Ammonia World. This one is quite massive with 9.35 Earth Masses, 1.79 G, 14,586 km radius, 2951.41 atm ground pressure. It orbits an L0 at 53.5 ls distance, once every 30.9days and got a mean temperature of 213 K. Milder than the other ones, but still chilly. Have a pic and the data (which are already saved at the FC btw, I'll come to that later):
The Boxel Survey gave me 2 close Icies with the rare Oxygen atmosphere. And, well, another Codex First. This time, not only a new colour variant, but a new species for the Trojan Belt, in the shape of the rare Fonticulua Fluctus. The same system also featured two further icies with Argon atmosphere and 2 different species of Fumerola. After that, I directly went back to the FC and saved all my data.
Fonticulua Fluctus - Mauve, the very first Fonticulua Fluctus to be found in Trojan Belt
Icy with Argon atmosphere and Fumerola (Carbosis - Cyan).
April 7, 3310: +36 systems surveyed, the first noteable finds were a close HMC (5 ls) around a L3 and a dark GG with water-based life around a L4. But then Lady Luck struck me again, and I enterd a L5 system with 4 close planets. Planet 3 triggered the desired EDO High-Value Body message. 16.9 ls from the L5 - what could it be?
It is this terraformable WW with 0.58 EM, 5,203 km radius, 0.89 G, 0.68 atm ground pressure and a mean temperature of quite hot 323 K. It orbbits the substar once every 5.1 days. It isn't the only WW in the system, there is a second more massive (non-TF) one 28.7 ls away from the L5. It is seen as a small blue dot on the lower left of that pic.
And again, the boxel survey gave some rare Bios, this time, Recepta Umbrux - Ocher on a close Rocky Icy.
Shortly before, I hit this Class II around a T0 secondary. The main L3 builds a close binary with a T2.
April 8, 3310: +51 systems surveyed. Not much of note today, just one GG with water-based life and a few close HMCs and Icies. But then I hit a pretty Helium-rich boxel and surveyed it. I found systems with 33 and 35 bodies in total. But there is one system, of which I show the Sys Map right away.
The system got a total (including the 5 substars) of a whopping 52 bodies. Without the L/T/Y, we still clock in at 47. Wow! Planet-wise, it isn't much off the ordinary. Just your bunch of Icies, HMCs and some Class I with loads of moons.
First week of new brown dwarf hunt and enjoying it. Not a lot to show for 350 jumps apart from some gas giants with lifeform. Am checking out all three types of brown dwarfs.
Still have over half a tank of fuel which is surprising as when I did the white dwarf hunt 350 jumps would have needed a few top ups (close orbiting M stars were common so not a problem). have to presume the reason is that the jumps are far smaller so using far less fuel.
System map of L5 with Ammonia gas giant
T5 with Ammonia gas giant
T6 with Ammonia gas giant
L5 with Water based life gas giant
Total Brown Dwarf Systems so far - 350
Earth- Like Worlds - 0
Ammonia Worlds - 0
Water Worlds (terra and non terra) -0
Water Giants - 0
HMC Terraformable - 0
Metal Rich worlds - 0
Gas Giants with Ammonia Based Life - 3
Gas Giants with Water Based Life - 1
Class II Gas Giants - 0
Class III Gas Giants - 0
Class IV Gas Giants - 0
Class V Gas Giants - 0
Oddities- 0
Nifty pie chart on EDDDiscovery and one day showing almost half starts are L stars. Another day T stars were in the ascendency and Y stars tend to account for 15-20%.
Almost 9 years since I made Elite the first time. Sold the data I amassed when I gave up half way through Chiggy Vonrictofens Galactic Centre ELW hunt. Sorry about that mate but am amazed that Chiggy has not played in almost a year when I logged on. Thought he would play until he found all the ELWs in the game but it seems even the most hardy explorers need a break.
I'm still around...I just refuse to "update", So i'm on the older version when I play. I just couldn't tolerate the new galaxy map and interface. I'm on my 7th galactic circumnavigation at the moment and passed 4000 ELWs awhile back....
And some even have oceans, which makes them pretty close to being an ELW I guess!
Wish we could land there in some distant future (along with possibly landing on ELWs and AWs)... 
), something that can't happen in real brown dwarf systems.
