After a several orbits of Proxima Centauri B, it was time to start testing out the FTL drives properly. I consulted the galaxy map and decided on Tau Ceti - it's a sun-like star 11.7 light-years from the sun.
This is the the galaxy map. I've selected T Ceti as my destination and it is highlighted for clarity as shown. The green disc is the average plane of the galaxy. The lines on the disc are 1 light year ticks at this scale. Proxima is located just "to the right" of the solar system in this map.
I used the "Planetarium mode" on the sim to set up the following informational snapshot from a vantage point that is 2.71 AU above (or below) the star, perpendicular to the system's ecliptic and set orbit markers to "on"
The circles and diamonds are points of perigee and apogee. Looking at the system summary in the top left, I see planet F is blue, has clouds, and is almost not too hot. I decide to send the ship over to take a look using the in-system drives. The fictional engines these ships have are fantastic - 5g accelerations for days. Similar to the GUT-Drives in Baxter's "Xeelee Sequence". It takes about 18 hours to close distances of 2-3 AU with engines like this. Time acceleration is a must when exploring the galaxy in your free time.
"Looks like a water world" is what I think. "With rings.... cool". I plan an orbit like the one I took around Proxima B, except this time, I'm going to "land a probe" on this world - which means detaching the sim from the orbiting ship and using "free mode" to go have a look around. So, I head on down to the surface.
It was indeed a water world. Surface temperature 75 C. Metal-poor, rich in water and silicates. Atmosphere is 624 atm of pressure, 71% CO2, 27% Nitrogen. Not a nice place. The Oceans' depth on average is 52 kilometers. 1% dissolved sulfur dioxide in the water would render it corrosive. Thanks to pressure, the boiling point of this soup is 373 C.
This is the most Earthlike planet this system has to offer. Besides this world, G is a Venus-analog and the other two are a gas and ice giant (Saturn and Neptune-like) respectively.
The rings were pretty, though. After a few orbits, my ship recovers it's drone, breaks orbit and starts considering it's next destination.
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