We're still riding high on Mandalay and Ascendancy fever, and in that spirit of exploration we're setting a new type of challenge: a photoessay! What is a photoessay? A photoessay combines a series of themed images with minimal text accompanying each photo. Together, the photos and text should tell a non-fiction story exploring a topic.
In this case, your photoessay's theme should be exploration or exobiology, but we advise you choose a more specific topic on top, for example: 'the life of a solo explorer in the farthest reaches of the galaxy'. We recommend between five and 15 images. Don't forget to give your photo essay a name and be sure to verify your images via social media.
This is a tiered bounty, offering 20 $10 rewards as well as a $50, $30, and $20 reward for the best photoessays.
Greetings, Commanders. I was, once again, traveling the Neutron Star Highway, and in one of the Neutron star systems where I stopped to refuel at the secondary star, I noticed some landable, atmosphere-bearing moons that had already been mapped but without any landing records, orbiting a Class III Gas Giant.
Being curious as I am, I scanned with the FSS and spotted this moon with three biological signals, and the most intriguing detail: an Argon atmosphere, relatively rare compared to those with Ammonia or Sulfur. Despite needing to move on with my journey, I couldn’t let an opportunity like this slip by.
As I approached, I noticed the beauty of the planetoid, as blue as the object it orbited. My scan confirmed the rare opportunity: a plant from the Electricae family! And in my case, they could only be Electricae pluma, and here’s why:
These rare specimens only thrive on worlds with atmospheres of Helium, Neon, or Argon, on icy planets that orbit Type A stars with a luminosity class of V or higher, Neutron Stars, or White Dwarfs. This conditions need to be fullfilled all at once... My case was even rarer! The planet orbited the boundary between an M-type star and a Neutron star. Life truly never ceases to amaze us. What a day to be alive!
Well, now it was time to get a closer look. Sometimes, I forget how beautiful planets with this kind of atmosphere are. Just look at the view I had from my Mandalay. And there they were, just as expected!
With the First Footfall confirmed, I began the manual search for different specimens to ensure the genetic diversity of the sample. I confess I was surprised by the sheer amount of life I found - the planet was “infested”! I thought I would have to search much harder, considering the inhospitable and eccentric conditions of this encounter.
As an exobiologist/explorer, of course, I wouldn’t leave the other species on the planet without the attention they deserved. After finishing the sampling of Electricae pluma (Red), I moved on to the less rare Fonticuluae campestris (Sage) and Bacterium vesicula (Red).
But this discoveries wasn’t over yet. Intrigued by the rare configuration I found, I decided to investigate the planetary system a bit more, as there were five other moons there. And this is where, besides capturing a beautiful photo of the Gas Giant (which, by the way, has Pristine Reserves of Monazite and Painite in its rings), I had a pleasant surprise: moons A and B were orbiting each other at an incredible tiny distance of 6.4 Mm!
One is completely white (AB 2 A), and the other completely black (AB 2 B), almost the same size (Radius difference = 209 Km), as if it were some kind of signal of balance here, as if it were a sign meant for me - who took the time to pay attention to a system already scanned and often ignored by other explorers in search of something uniquely theirs (which is totally understandable).
I had to see this up close, and the result is below (these two close bright dots southeast to the planet are the 2 mentioned moons).
Despite finding only geological signals, which don’t interest me as much, I felt compelled to land on AB 2 B to capture this moment (another First Footfall, but I don’t think it’s worth recording it here).
The image says it all, but I’ll reiterate: o7 CMDRs.
Current system: BOEPH BA-P D6-131 Distance from Sol: 18,033.34 light-years Distance to destination (Colonia): 3,970.91 light-years
I'm a long way from home
I think I can call this set of photos "Heaven and Hell."
When I activated the full-spectrum scanner, a shiver ran down my spine. A fluctuation appeared on the frequency band slightly to the right, indicating a terrestrial planet. This was the first time during my journey of over 10,000 light-years that I discovered a terrestrial planet in an unexplored system.
Water, the essence of life!
Further scanning revealed that the planet's environment was astonishingly good: an atmospheric composition nearly identical to Earth's and a comfortable average temperature. The only downside was that its pressure and gravity were slightly low, but this did not prevent the environment from being highly favorable for humans. A visual inspection from orbit showed that the planet's surface was already covered in green, suggesting that the native plants on this planet also "disliked" green light (or perhaps the game developers were just being lazy).
Sunrise
This planet was located in a stable binary star system, which also contained a rocky planet and a metal-rich planet marked as terraformable by the system. I noted this system in my bookmarks as "A New Home," as it was indeed an ideal new home.
In contrast, there was a hellishly hot planet.
In another system, once the system scanner was charged, I glanced at the stellar composition. This system had five stars, all main-sequence stars: two A-type, one F-type, one K-type, and one M-type. The two A-type stars orbited each other very closely.
Well in real world I think the gravity of the two stars is going to pull them to the shape of egg
Additionally, the scanner picked up another planetary signal. However, when I aimed the scanner at the other three stars, I found nothing. Looking around, I finally found the planet orbiting the A-type binary stars.
Can you imagine seeing the two suns rise on this planet?
A-type main-sequence stars are young and scorching, mercilessly burning any celestial bodies that dare approach them. Unfortunately, this poor planet was only 0.09 AU away from its star.
The two white eggs are scorching the poor planet.
Under the relentless blaze of the binary suns, the planet's surface temperature reached a terrifying 4,816K, close to that of the Sun’s surface. At such a temperature, silicon on the planet’s surface existed in gaseous form, contributing to the dense atmosphere. The surface pressure, about 21,000 standard atmospheres, created an out-of-control greenhouse effect, which in turn maintained the planet's furnace-like temperature. This process was similar to what happened on Venus in the Solar System, but far more severe.
A super venus
In one direction, the stars seemed to grow denser. I think I was beginning to enter the inner region of the galactic ring.
Nebulae are clouds of dust and gas. Right now we, humans can observe them only through telescopes, but in Elite Dangerous, we can discover what lies inside them. Here's my trip to North America and Pelican Nebulae. I'll show you what have I found!
Nebulae from the distance of around ~20-40 Ly
First planet that I have landed on, full of massive craters and no atmosphere to watch the nebula above me
Another planet with slightly different view. Instead of craters, I have found a mountain range
Asteroid ring with a direct view at the North America Nebula
If you want to visit those nice-looking plants below, here's the system and planet: North America Sector JH-V C2-13, planet 5.
And in this field of dust, here I've found an emerald Fonticulua
More Fonticuluas
North America isn't very rich of planets with organic life. I've spent a couple of minutes before I have found anything than bacterium. But I wasn't expecting Electricae and Fonticuluas on the same planet here.
And this one was truly unexpected. Electricae Radialem Blue is on the same planet
A pair of large Electricaes
And for the end, a couple more images with Nebula view from the planet with atmosphere
When you arrive in a system that is thousands if not tens of thousands of light years away from the bubble, you explore it trying to find what you set out for.
Gather everything you need and enjoy the views from a planet where you are ONE, realizing that there is not a single living soul for hundreds of light years away.
Intro: Here follows a collection of photographs of ExoBiology species, from each known genus, from scanning & sampling my way to Exobiology Elite V over the past 3 years :]
Osseus species grow a single thick stalk from which emerges a wide, broadly circular, pitted endoskeleton. This structure is designed to dramatically increase the surface area of the organism, facilitating chemical capture and chemosynthesis on its catalytically active surface. [FromIn-Game Description ]
Fungoida live deep inside a planetary substrate. They share similar morphology to fungi but are not saprophytic, instead their mycelial body drives its metabolism through chemosynthetic and thermosynthetic processes. Some fungoida exhibit bioluminescent behaviours as a part of a metabolic process involved in the breakdown of accumulated toxins. [FromIn-Game Description ]
Fonticulua are photosynthetic colony organisms found exclusively on ice worlds, where they have embraced the surrounding frozen material as a form of protection. As the fonticulus develop they melt ice from around them, absorbing the liquid through tiny cellular pores and passing it to the colony's reproductive edge. Frond structures create a wide flat space that expose internal photosynthetic cells to as much light as possible. [FromIn-Game Description ]
Electricae are found exclusively on extremely cold ice worlds in the vicinity of frozen lakes. The visible tips can be observed protruding from the ice, often near fissures where it is thinnest. The surface structure exists to provide a connection point to the atmosphere, which in turn creates a point of potential electrical difference. A by-product of this is the bioluminescent display that runs through the organism. [FromIn-Game Description ]
CMDR_M - excellent screenshots, but don't forget the text part of the photoessay. Please update your entry before the deadline if you want to be eligible for a prize. o7
CMDR_M that sounds like it could be very cool. The answer is 'yes, kind of.'
- We don't have a way to attach files, so it'd need to be a link to a place the PDF is hosted online (somewhere safe and secure). - We would still need you to authenticate the images via social media and share them in your reward submission, as you have already done here. - Ideally, as well as the PDF link and the social media post, you'd copy-paste the contents of the PDF into your reward submission, so it can be judged on-platform. Though granted, that's not always going to be possible, and we're lenient when it's not. For example, one of my favourite ever reward entries was this one, in which AlexGoesTheWorld created an entire fictional travel agency website.
As with that one, if we like what we saw, we'd be sure to include a link to your PDF or equivalent in any curated content we produced from this reward.
The data collected will be delivered back to the Chamo system, to the minor faction New Chamo Free, under the mantle of Pranav Antal and for the purpose of enriching the source of galactic knowledge throughout Utopia.
