Monday, June 1, 2015

The Explorer's Graveyard

Speaking of the 'doorstep' of inhabited space, both Musca Dark Region and the Coalsack sport some very interesting places to see. As I came across several of these, I decided I might as well share them with you, so here we go.

First of all, there is HIP 63835. Granted, it's still in the Wregoe Sector but I'd like to include it anyway. Dubbed the 'Explorer's Graveyard', it's truly worthy of having an entry of its own. This system seems to have claimed many lives and you can virtually feel all the wrecks drifting aimlessly in some unidentified signal source throughout the system. Still, the Graveyard is a very popular magnet for Explorers, despite the dangers lurking within. And here is why:

The star system's central body is a very young O-type Main Sequence star with more than 74 Solar masses and 14.55 Solar radii. This alone makes an astonishing sight when dropping out of Hyper. But what is more impressive still is the first of the three (!) Black Holes orbiting the central star at a mere 55 Light Seconds (LS), which is only a tenth of the distance between Sol and Earth. It has 15.5 Solar masses and an orbital period of (only) 1.2 standard days. I guess orbiting a star with more than 14.55 Solar radii in not much more than a day makes the BH quite fast. Luckily my FSD Drive didn't drop me into the Hole's Accretion Disk or Event Horizon, because that would have made my trip real quick (and fatal).


But HIP 63835 madness doesn't stop there. No!

Orbiting the central star at a mere 680 LS (Earth orbits Sol at appr. 500 LS) are two more Black Holes (6.4 and 3.7 Solar masses), interlocked in a mutual orbit at an unbelievable 4 LS! That's less than four times the distance between Earth and Luna!
And dancing dangerously close around them are no fewer than four Brown Dwarfs and two Class III Gas Giants, waiting to be eventually sucked into the Holes' black, gaping maw.

Interestingly, there's even a mineral-rich planet suitable for Terraforming on the twin Holes' dinner platter. Its characteristics DO look a bit odd but I guess Terraformers are little miracle machines anyway. A house with a view of the night sky would be fine.


I hope the Sirius Corporation doesn't get any funny ideas about this...

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