Here's an exotic subject that has come up throughout the years, but more and more often lately: Green Gas Giants. Whether you're looking to find a new one, or would just like to know more about them, read on!
Let's cut to the chase and instead of introducing what Green Gas Giants are, let's skip to the question that most people ask: "How do I find a Green Gas Giant?"
How to notice if the system I'm in has a Green Gas Giant?
I found a gas giant that looks greenish to me. Is it a Green Gas Giant? How can I tell for sure?
What's this about bugs with Green Gas Giants with Water-based Life?
I've heard a few things about Green Gas Giants with specific temperatures. What's that about?
Is there any list or place where I can look up known Green Gas Giants?
Some of these Green Gas Giants don't appear green at all. Why are they still classified as such?
Finally, some bits of history:
Since when have the Green Gas Giants been in the game? Did Frontier add them deliberately?
What about the term Glowing Green (Gas) Giants? Do these glow?
How are Green Gas Giants connected to Raxxla?
Alright, that should be all then: if I forgot something, please post it here. Thanks for reading! And here are some
Handy resources:
Let's cut to the chase and instead of introducing what Green Gas Giants are, let's skip to the question that most people ask: "How do I find a Green Gas Giant?"
With astronomical amounts of luck.
The rarity of Green Gas Giants is so high that one would need to visit millions of systems to probably find one. Unfortunately, there are so few of them known over so many systems that no conclusions can be drawn with any decent level of confidence. Even if there were a proven way of improving your odds massively, by at least 10-30x, we'd still be talking about looking at more systems than even the longest-playing explorers have ever visited.
Obviously, it is possible to find them, but it's always worth keeping the chances in mind. We are talking about lottery numbers here. (Although the chances are still better than that of winning the jackpot on many lotteries!)
However, there is at least something important that can help you notice Green Gas Giants easier and faster. After all, it's not enough to be in a system with one, you also have to actually realise it's there. There is some help with that at least, which brings us to the next question.
The rarity of Green Gas Giants is so high that one would need to visit millions of systems to probably find one. Unfortunately, there are so few of them known over so many systems that no conclusions can be drawn with any decent level of confidence. Even if there were a proven way of improving your odds massively, by at least 10-30x, we'd still be talking about looking at more systems than even the longest-playing explorers have ever visited.
Obviously, it is possible to find them, but it's always worth keeping the chances in mind. We are talking about lottery numbers here. (Although the chances are still better than that of winning the jackpot on many lotteries!)
However, there is at least something important that can help you notice Green Gas Giants easier and faster. After all, it's not enough to be in a system with one, you also have to actually realise it's there. There is some help with that at least, which brings us to the next question.
How to notice if the system I'm in has a Green Gas Giant?
The chief problem here is that Green Gas Giants aren't separate on the FSS barcode, they appear in the same places there as all the other giants do. Most of the time, this means that you have to scan all the gas giants in the system in order to find out whether there's a green one or not. However, there is a way to make noticing them much easier and faster, but it only works in two specific galactic regions.
In the Galactic Centre and the Ryker's Hope regions, Notable Stellar Phenomena containing K10-Type Anomalies spawn in systems containing a Green Gas Giant. So, in those two zones, you can spot a green giant simply by looking for the NSP signals, for which you don't even need to call up the FSS: they'll be visible on the left panel immediately, at any distance. However, even if you missed this and called up the FSS, then the Notable Stellar Phenomena do have their own signal on the barcode (unlike the green gas giants), so that's another sign that can help you.
Don't get me wrong though: I'm not talking about your chances of finding a green gas giant being better in those two regions. It's only about it being easier to notice there if the system has one.
In the Galactic Centre and the Ryker's Hope regions, Notable Stellar Phenomena containing K10-Type Anomalies spawn in systems containing a Green Gas Giant. So, in those two zones, you can spot a green giant simply by looking for the NSP signals, for which you don't even need to call up the FSS: they'll be visible on the left panel immediately, at any distance. However, even if you missed this and called up the FSS, then the Notable Stellar Phenomena do have their own signal on the barcode (unlike the green gas giants), so that's another sign that can help you.
Don't get me wrong though: I'm not talking about your chances of finding a green gas giant being better in those two regions. It's only about it being easier to notice there if the system has one.
I found a gas giant that looks greenish to me. Is it a Green Gas Giant? How can I tell for sure?
There's usually the Codex pop-up, but that's bugged for Green Gas Giants with Water-based Life - more on this later - so it's not entirely certain. What is certain is that Green Gas Giants have some extra text added to their description on the system map. It usually contains the words "This particular" (gas giant), besides the usual text of gas giants of their class. If this text is absent, then it's definitely not a Green Gas Giant, no matter how its colours look to you. (Sorry.)
For all classes other than "with Water-based Life", scanning a Green Gas Giant also produces a Codex event. If you've found one of a type that nobody has found in the region you're at, then the Codex message will definitely pop up, and your find will be registered globally, for everybody to see.
If you've found one of a type that was already found in the region, but you haven't seen it yet, then you'll get a similar notification, but it'll only get added to your personal Codex (as a confirmation), others won't see it. Because of the same thing, if you somehow happened to find a Green Gas Giant of a same type that you've already seen in the region you're at, the game won't show you any Codex notification.
For all classes other than "with Water-based Life", scanning a Green Gas Giant also produces a Codex event. If you've found one of a type that nobody has found in the region you're at, then the Codex message will definitely pop up, and your find will be registered globally, for everybody to see.
If you've found one of a type that was already found in the region, but you haven't seen it yet, then you'll get a similar notification, but it'll only get added to your personal Codex (as a confirmation), others won't see it. Because of the same thing, if you somehow happened to find a Green Gas Giant of a same type that you've already seen in the region you're at, the game won't show you any Codex notification.
What's this about bugs with Green Gas Giants with Water-based Life?
Ever since the Codex was introduced in 2018. December, there has been a bug regarding this class. There are two errors here: Green Gas Giants with Ammonia-based Life get registered on the Codex as Green Gas Giants with Water-based Life, and consequently, actual Green Gas Giants with Water-based Life don't get registered at all.
What this means in practice is that you won't get a Codex notification if you've found one, so you can't rely on that to notice your find. Also, unless you report your find elsewhere, nobody else will know about it.
Frontier are aware of this bug, but as of 2025. January, it has not been fixed.
What this means in practice is that you won't get a Codex notification if you've found one, so you can't rely on that to notice your find. Also, unless you report your find elsewhere, nobody else will know about it.
Frontier are aware of this bug, but as of 2025. January, it has not been fixed.
I've heard a few things about Green Gas Giants with specific temperatures. What's that about?
According to some on-going research, Green Gas Giants with Water-based Life might reliably appear at specific temperatures. (Not "around" those temperatures, but at exactly those temperatures.) This is just an assumption, but it at least can be used to search the crowd-funded databases for candidates which have gone unreported. As of 2023. August, two such have already been found, so it has been useful already.
You still have to go to systems and scan the gas giants to find out their temperature, so in practical terms, this is about finding Green Gas Giants that have gone unnoticed or unreported by their discoverers. At the end of the day, you still have to scan a gas giant to find out its exact temperature, and when you do, you'll know if it's a green one or not.
You still have to go to systems and scan the gas giants to find out their temperature, so in practical terms, this is about finding Green Gas Giants that have gone unnoticed or unreported by their discoverers. At the end of the day, you still have to scan a gas giant to find out its exact temperature, and when you do, you'll know if it's a green one or not.
Is there any list or place where I can look up known Green Gas Giants?
See the "Green Gas Giants, extended data sheet" thread here, which lists the currently known and reported Green Gas Giants with all their data.
In addition, the Galactic Exploration Catalog has entries on most (though not yet all) on them under their own category, search for the Green gas giants category. There's a nice amount of extra information here, including multiple screenshots of how the giants in question look.
In addition, the Galactic Exploration Catalog has entries on most (though not yet all) on them under their own category, search for the Green gas giants category. There's a nice amount of extra information here, including multiple screenshots of how the giants in question look.
Some of these Green Gas Giants don't appear green at all. Why are they still classified as such?
While in many cases, the green clouds are obvious, a good number of Green Gas Giants only have tiny patches of green which aren't immediately visible. Unfortunately, the Green Gas Giants aren't all equally visually impressive. In those cases, you have to look hard for where the green actually is. To the best of my knowledge though, there have been no bodies discovered that have been classified as Green Gas Giants by the game and yet nobody has found any green on them. But well, it's still entirely possible that you'll find a new Green Gas Giant and then have to spend quite some time trying to find the actual green on it.
Finally, some bits of history:
Since when have the Green Gas Giants been in the game? Did Frontier add them deliberately?
Green Gas Giants have almost certainly been present since launch, although the first screenshot of one was posted several months after release. So, they certainly existed then. That first Green Gas Giant also became famous for the story for how it was lost and seven years later rediscovered through a community effort: you can read up on it at its GEC entry.
Some time after, another Green Gas Giant was discovered, with a location as proof, and people began looking into them more.
As it later turned out, the existence of the Green Gas Giants was originally due to a bug. As Dr. Kay Ross (lead developer of the Stellar Forge) explained in a Reddit comment, which you can see here, it was about the generated colours of gas giant clouds rarely running out of their intended range. Originally, none of the resulting Green Gas Giants had their own unique text (the "this particular gas giant" parts mentioned above), that was added later, when the developers "canonized" the Green Gas Giants, making them a feature rather than a bug. When the Beyond Chapter Four update of 2018. Dec. introduced the Codex and Notable Stellar Phenomena, among the K10-Type Anomalies I talked about, the name appeared in-game and had more of a role than just flavour text.
After the Codex started reporting Green Gas Giants, the rate at which more were reported increased drastically. There are two main reasons for this: before the Codex, Green Gas Giants that had only a few tiny splotches of green might have easily been missed by their discoverers, and second, their discoverer(s) might not have reported them anywhere.
Going by the numbers from crowdsourced data and some from Frontier, one new Green Gas Giant is reported for around 2-3 million new systems discovered. Since the rate at which new systems are discovered has slowed down dramatically, so have the giants' reports.
Some time after, another Green Gas Giant was discovered, with a location as proof, and people began looking into them more.
As it later turned out, the existence of the Green Gas Giants was originally due to a bug. As Dr. Kay Ross (lead developer of the Stellar Forge) explained in a Reddit comment, which you can see here, it was about the generated colours of gas giant clouds rarely running out of their intended range. Originally, none of the resulting Green Gas Giants had their own unique text (the "this particular gas giant" parts mentioned above), that was added later, when the developers "canonized" the Green Gas Giants, making them a feature rather than a bug. When the Beyond Chapter Four update of 2018. Dec. introduced the Codex and Notable Stellar Phenomena, among the K10-Type Anomalies I talked about, the name appeared in-game and had more of a role than just flavour text.
After the Codex started reporting Green Gas Giants, the rate at which more were reported increased drastically. There are two main reasons for this: before the Codex, Green Gas Giants that had only a few tiny splotches of green might have easily been missed by their discoverers, and second, their discoverer(s) might not have reported them anywhere.
Going by the numbers from crowdsourced data and some from Frontier, one new Green Gas Giant is reported for around 2-3 million new systems discovered. Since the rate at which new systems are discovered has slowed down dramatically, so have the giants' reports.
What about the term Glowing Green (Gas) Giants? Do these glow?
Unfortunately, that term is a misnomer: Green Gas Giants don't glow, any more than gas giants do. Some people have used the GGGG abbreviation too, but that's not in-game either. The "Glowing" part likely came from the time when Glowing White Giants and Glowing Magenta Giants existed and did glow. There were two separate bugs related to this: one was that class V gas giants which were too close to bright stars ended up glowing so bright that they could even wash out the ship's HUD. The other bug, which was fixed later than the first one, was that under certain conditions (usually related to neutron stars), gas giants could still glow, although not nearly as harsh - but only if you were looking at them directly. So, this was obviously bugged too, and Frontier fixed this... but unfortunately, the glow was removed entirely. In the same update (Beyond: Chapter Four), the Green Gas Giants not only stayed green, but were also canonized - but their glow was gone too.
See post #6 here for some video examples.
See post #6 here for some video examples.
How are Green Gas Giants connected to Raxxla?
On that matter, see my guide to Raxxla.
Handy resources:
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