This is a growing list of all the REAL (i.e. not procedural) nebulae and galaxies found in game. We have found 141 nebulae and 32 external galaxies as of writing. The first table is the list of all nebulae visible in the sky from the bubble, with several sky charts (taken from Sol) indicating where they are. In the second table, the galaxies are listed, with links to real images, followed by sky charts of their locations in the sky taken from the game. The third table contains all other reachable nebulae, and the last table contains the unreachable ones. At the end is a list of some real Nebulae that are notably not in game. Distances are given, as well as if there is a central star to jump to for the smaller planetary nebulae. Every nebula has a real image and an in-game screen shot as well.
*New list* Nebulae that are reachable only with jump mats!
All contributions will be received with utmost gratitude!
You can use this list to find interesting destinations, or just to help you put a name to the stuff you see in the sky. Just select them on the galmap and then there will be a circle around them in the skybox.
Also, don't forget to check out:
For all nebulae (and galaxies):
Visible from the bubble:
Nebulae (21)
*Only applies to planetary nebulae - emission/reflection/diffuse nebulae generally have many central stars, and dark regions never have a central star
Nebula Sky Charts
And here is an amazing picture by CMDR Jovian Hull:
Here is a panorama I made of the Milky Way while parked at Sol somewhere in Deep Space (right click and "Open Image in New Tab"):
Galaxies
Galaxies in Elite Discussion Thread: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=202295
I have found 32 galaxies in total. I have done my best to try to identify them. I think I'm mostly accurate but could be wrong and am open to correction. For the 3 galaxies seen above the Milky Way in the western direction, I really struggled and I've made my best guesses, mainly based on the appearance rather than the position. I think the only galaxies that are at the correct distances on the galaxy map (based on parallax) are the Magellanic Clouds, I think the others are just put at infinite distance, even though some of them are quite a lot closer and should exhibit parallax.
I took screenshots from the galaxy map and upped the brightness to make the galaxies more visible but some of them are really hard to see, and you will need to do the same to see them. Some I only found once I upped the brightness!
The galaxy names in the table are hyperlinks to real images of them. The entry in the Direction column take you to my sky chart screenshot of the region of the sky they are in, with them labelled. Please add to this if you can!
*Taken from Space Engine (not reliable, but probably good estimates)
**Almost all distances taken from wikipedia. A few I had to find some papers or astronomy sites to get them from
***Taken from Wikipedia - check source there
****Physically paired galaxies
1More likely to be correct of the two possibilities (see sky chart)
2Less likely to be the correct one of the two possibilities (see sky chart)
Abbreviations:
Galaxy Sky Charts
The first is an example:
Here are the charts:
NOT Visible from the bubble:
Reachable Nebulae (110)
*Only applies to planetary nebulae - emission/reflection/diffuse nebulae generally have many central stars, and dark regions never have a central star
Reachable only with increased FSD range (2)
*Only applies to planetary nebulae - emission/reflection/diffuse nebulae generally have many central stars, and dark regions never have a central star
**exact distance subject to confirmation
Unreachable Nebulae (8)
*Only applies to planetary nebulae - emission/reflection/diffuse nebulae generally have many central stars, and dark regions never have a central star
Other Nebulae (not found in game as far as I can tell)
*New list* Nebulae that are reachable only with jump mats!
All contributions will be received with utmost gratitude!
You can use this list to find interesting destinations, or just to help you put a name to the stuff you see in the sky. Just select them on the galmap and then there will be a circle around them in the skybox.
Also, don't forget to check out:
- The List of Planetary Nebula thread: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=141595
- The Galactic Mapping Community Project thread: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=116450
- The List of Earth-like planets v2 thread: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=168287
For all nebulae (and galaxies):
- Click the Nebula Name for a link to a real image of the nebula
- Click the Screenshot link for an in-game image
Visible from the bubble:
Nebulae (21)
Nebula Sky Charts
And here is an amazing picture by CMDR Jovian Hull:
Galaxies
Galaxies in Elite Discussion Thread: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=202295
I have found 32 galaxies in total. I have done my best to try to identify them. I think I'm mostly accurate but could be wrong and am open to correction. For the 3 galaxies seen above the Milky Way in the western direction, I really struggled and I've made my best guesses, mainly based on the appearance rather than the position. I think the only galaxies that are at the correct distances on the galaxy map (based on parallax) are the Magellanic Clouds, I think the others are just put at infinite distance, even though some of them are quite a lot closer and should exhibit parallax.
I took screenshots from the galaxy map and upped the brightness to make the galaxies more visible but some of them are really hard to see, and you will need to do the same to see them. Some I only found once I upped the brightness!
The galaxy names in the table are hyperlinks to real images of them. The entry in the Direction column take you to my sky chart screenshot of the region of the sky they are in, with them labelled. Please add to this if you can!
| Name | Other Designations | Type | Number of Stars* | Direction | Distance (ly)** | |
| Large Magellanic Cloud | Nubecula Major | Irr | 20 billion | Towards the Magellanic Clouds | 158,200 | Video |
| Small Magellanic Cloud | Nubecula Minor / NGC 292 | Irr | 3 billion | Towards the Magellanic Clouds | 199,000 | Video |
| Ursa Minor Dwarf2 | E5 | 7 million | West Up | 200,000 | ||
| Sextans Dwarf | Sextans I | E4 | 25 million | East Up | 290,000 | |
| Sculptor Dwarf | ESO 351-30 | E0 | 50 million | Towards the Magellanic Clouds | 290,000 | |
| Carina Dwarf | E3 | 35 million | Towards the Magellanic Clouds | 330,000 | ||
| Fornax Dwarf | E4 | 130 million | Towards the Magellanic Clouds | 460,000 | ||
| Leo II | DDO 93 | E0 | 90 million | East Up | 690,000 | |
| Leo I | DDO 74 | E3 | 40 million | East Up | 820,000 | |
| NGC 6822 | IC 4895 / MCG -2-50-6 / DDO 209 | Irr | 700 million | North Down | 1,600,000 | |
| IC 10 | UGC 192 / MCG 192 / IRAS 177+5900 | Irr | 160 million | Above Andromeda | 2,200,000 | |
| IC 1613 | UGC 668 / MCG 0-3-70 / DDO 8 | Irr | 2 billion | Below Andromeda | 2,380,000 | |
| Andromeda I | KK 8 | E0 | 70 Million | Below Andromeda | 2,400,000 | |
| Andromeda III | KK 5 | E6 | 8 Million | Below Andromeda | 2,440,000 | |
| M32 | NCG 221 / UGC 452 / MCG 7-2-15 | E2 | 1 billion | Below Andromeda | 2,490,000 | Video |
| Andromeda | M 31 / NGC 224 / UGC 454 / MCG 7-2-16 | Sb | ***1 trillion | Below Andromeda | 2,500,000 | Video |
| Cassiopeia 1 | KK 19 | Irr | 6 billion | Above Andromeda | 2,550,000 | |
| NGC 147 & NGC 185**** | E5 / E3 | 1 billion | Above Andromeda | 2,580,000 | ||
| Leo A | DDO 69 | Irr | 40 million | East Up | 2,600,000 | |
| Triangulum | M 33 / NGC 598 / UGC 1117 / MCG 5-4-69 | Sc | ***40 billion | Below Andromeda | 3,000,000 | Video |
| Pegasus Dwarf | DDO 216 | dIrr | 50 million | Below Andromeda | 3,000,000 | |
| WLM | Wolf-Lundmark-Melotte / DDO 221 | Irr | 830 million | Directly Down | 3,000,000 | |
| Aquarius Dwarf | DDO 210 | Irr | 8 million | North Down | 3,200,000 | |
| Sagittarius DIG | ESO 594-4 | Irr | 40 million | North Down | 3,390,000 | |
| Antlia Dwarf | PGC 29194 | E3 | 50 million | East Up | 4,000,000 | |
| NGC 3109 | ESO 499-36 / MCG -4-24-13 / UGCA 194 | Sb | 15 billion | East Up | 4,300,000 | |
| Sextans A | DDO 75 | Irr | 570 million | East Up | 4,310,000 | |
| IC 5152 | ESO 237-27 / AM 2159-513 / IRAS 21594-5132 | Irr | 1 billion | Towards the Magellanic Clouds | 5,800,000 | |
| Andromeda IV | Irr | 600 million | Below Andromeda | 6,100,000 | ||
| NGC 404 | UGC 718 / MCG 6-3-18 / ZWG 520.20 | S0 | 900 million | Below Andromeda | 10,000,000 | |
| NGC 69461 | UGC 11597 / MCG 10-29-6 / ZWG 304.6 | SBc | 100 billion | West Up | 22,000,000 | |
| NGC 69522 | NGC 6951 / UGC 11604 / MCG 11-25-2 | SBc | 170 billion | West Up | 74,000,000 | |
| IC 15021 | UGC 12706 / UGC 12105 / MCG 13-1-2 | Sa | 7 billion | West Up | 82,000,000 | |
| NGC 59851 | UGC 9969 / MCG 10-22-30 / ZWG 297.25 | SBb | 1 trillion | West Up | 100,000,000 | |
| NGC 67032 | UGC 11356 / MCG 8-34-20 / ZWG 255.14 | S0 | 110 billion | West Up | 106,000,000 |
**Almost all distances taken from wikipedia. A few I had to find some papers or astronomy sites to get them from
***Taken from Wikipedia - check source there
****Physically paired galaxies
1More likely to be correct of the two possibilities (see sky chart)
2Less likely to be the correct one of the two possibilities (see sky chart)
Abbreviations:
Irr - irregular galaxy
E# - elliptical galaxy
S# - spiral galaxy
SB# - spiral barred galaxy
dIrr - dwarf irregular galaxy
DIG - dwarf irregular galaxy
NGC - New General Catalogue
IC - Index Catalogue
ESO - European Southern Observatory catalogue
DDO - David Dunlap Observatory
UGC - Uppsala General Catalogue
MCG - Morphological Catalogue of Galaxies
M - Messier object
IRAS - Infrared Astronomical Satellite
KK - ?
ZWG - ?
PCG - Principal Galaxies Catalogue
UGCA - ?
AM - ?
WLM - Wolf-Lundmark-Melotte
E# - elliptical galaxy
S# - spiral galaxy
SB# - spiral barred galaxy
dIrr - dwarf irregular galaxy
DIG - dwarf irregular galaxy
NGC - New General Catalogue
IC - Index Catalogue
ESO - European Southern Observatory catalogue
DDO - David Dunlap Observatory
UGC - Uppsala General Catalogue
MCG - Morphological Catalogue of Galaxies
M - Messier object
IRAS - Infrared Astronomical Satellite
KK - ?
ZWG - ?
PCG - Principal Galaxies Catalogue
UGCA - ?
AM - ?
WLM - Wolf-Lundmark-Melotte
Galaxy Sky Charts
The first is an example:
NOT Visible from the bubble:
Reachable Nebulae (110)
Reachable only with increased FSD range (2)
| Name | Distance from Sol (ly) | Central Star?* | |
| Bow-Tie Nebula | 3,500 | Yes | Screenshot |
| Little Gem Nebula | 6,000 | Yes | Screenshot |
**exact distance subject to confirmation
Unreachable Nebulae (8)
| Name | Distance from Sol (ly) | Central Star?* | ||
| Skull Nebula | 1,600 | No | Screenshot | |
| M97, AKA Owl Nebula | 2,200 | Yes | Screenshot | Video |
| Cat's Eye Nebula | 3,270 | No | Screenshot | |
| Lemon Slice Nebula | 4,500 | Yes | Screenshot | |
| Saturn Nebula | 5,200 | Yes | Screenshot | |
| NGC 6210 | 5,300 | Yes | Screenshot | |
| Blue Snowball Nebula | 5,500 | Yes | Screenshot | |
| White Eyed Pea | 6,500 | Yes | Screenshot |
*Only applies to planetary nebulae - emission/reflection/diffuse nebulae generally have many central stars, and dark regions never have a central star
Other Nebulae (not found in game as far as I can tell)
- IRAS 05437+2502 - 380ly
- MWC 922, AKA Red Square Nebula - 2,300ly
- The Egg Nebula - 3,000ly - Video
- "Green Lantern" Nebula - 4,300ly
- Calabash Nebula - 5,000ly
- Hourglass Nebula - 8,154ly
- Kronberger 61, AKA Soccer Ball Planetary Nebula - 13,000ly
- The Necklace Nebula - 15,000ly
- "The Hand of G-d" with local star PSR B1509-58 - 17,000ly
- V838 Monoceros - 20,000ly
- NGC 371, Rose Red - 200,000ly (in the Small Magellanic Cloud)
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