Was wandering way Up, doing some near-the-Bubble exploration to try to gain exploration credits for an Alioth permit. Came upon a carbon star (HIP 56551), then noticed nearby the Ghost of Jupiter planetary nebula, with the Wolf-Rayet star BD-17 3140 at its heart. I don't normally visit the tourist sites like nebulae, but thought, why not? It would make a nice turning point to loop back down to Alioth again.
It's only a small planetary nebula, just 2 LY across according to Wikipedia and 1400 LY from Sol; it's a barely visible fuzzball on the galactic map. You've got to be within 20 LY of it to notice it on the skybox, and even closer for it to appear as anything other than a deep blue star. Here's the view of the nebula from the nearby "Ghost of Jupiter Sector IH-V c2-1" system, about 5 LY away, where there's a terraformable water world (one of those nearly-airless deep blue marbles) with a nice view from the side.
Inside the BD-17 3140 system, the deep bluish-purple glow of the star and nebula pervades the entire system, which provides a nice backdrop for anyone wanting some ship selfies. There's not much in the system, two moonless Class V giants and a ringed metal-rich 2700 LS out from the star.
Finally, kudos must go to our very own Agony Aunt, who managed to gain the first discovery tags on all four objects in the BD-17 3140 system. It's the first time I've ever found tags from someone I actually know from the forums.
It's only a small planetary nebula, just 2 LY across according to Wikipedia and 1400 LY from Sol; it's a barely visible fuzzball on the galactic map. You've got to be within 20 LY of it to notice it on the skybox, and even closer for it to appear as anything other than a deep blue star. Here's the view of the nebula from the nearby "Ghost of Jupiter Sector IH-V c2-1" system, about 5 LY away, where there's a terraformable water world (one of those nearly-airless deep blue marbles) with a nice view from the side.
Inside the BD-17 3140 system, the deep bluish-purple glow of the star and nebula pervades the entire system, which provides a nice backdrop for anyone wanting some ship selfies. There's not much in the system, two moonless Class V giants and a ringed metal-rich 2700 LS out from the star.
Finally, kudos must go to our very own Agony Aunt, who managed to gain the first discovery tags on all four objects in the BD-17 3140 system. It's the first time I've ever found tags from someone I actually know from the forums.
