Van Maanen's Star is the 7th Interstellar Object and the 4th Late Stage Star obtained in The Beyond Bubble Universe, which can generate Stardust. (Unlocked at Rank 19)
In-Game Description[]
"Van Maanen is a dying white dwarf that’s two-thirds the mass of the Sun and just 1% of its size. The helium atmosphere has a puzzling supply of heavy elements—iron, magnesium, and calcium. They might be the dust of a planet crushed by the superdense star’s gravity."
Traits[]
Common[]
- Coolest White Dwarfs (Speed):
"White dwarfs take billions of years to cool, a testament to the immense amount of energy in their youth. The coolest ones on record are about 11 or 12 billion years old. They offer a window into the early universe, which is 13.8 billion years old."
- Black Dwarf? (Payout):
"What happens after the last of a white dwarf’s energy radiates away? It becomes a black dwarf, emitting zero light. Or rather, it will become one—in the future. This stone-cold death takes longer than the universe is old, so no black dwarfs exist yet—as far as we know."
Rare[]
- Late-Stage Star (Payout):
"Once a star’s core is weaned of hydrogen, it matures into a late-stage star. As before, mass dictates size, color, luminosity, and temperature. But now it also determines the manner of death—following a long, gradual decline or in a cataclysmic explosion?"
Epic[]
- Cosmology (Speed):
"The scientific study of the universe asks the very biggest questions. How did it form? What came before? How does it work? Is it infinite? Will it die? All the pieces we observe—comets, moons, planets, stars, galaxies, nebulae, and even voids—provide some answers."
- Dark Matter (Payout):
"Dark matter acts like a superhero. It’s everywhere in space and yet invisible. Its gravity distorts huge objects that we can see. It can even buttress a dwarf galaxy against annihilation by a giant one. The duo of dark matter and dark energy make up 95% of the universe."
- Dark Energy (Discount):
"Little is known about dark energy, except that it’s repulsive. Opposing gravity, this strange force causes matter to scatter rather than attract, pushing our universe to expand faster and faster. Dark energy makes up 68% of the universe’s mass-energy density."
Constellations[]
- Eridanus (1.5x Speed):
"Eridanus, The River, is the longest constellation in the sky. It starts near Rigel and twists and turns all the way to its brightest star, Achernar (“River’s End” in Arabic). It was named after Eridu, an early Sumerian city in the marshes of what is now southern Iraq."
- Orion (2x Speed):
"The hourglass shape of Orion, the Hunter, is so striking that the star pattern figures in many of the world’s oldest cultures, perhaps even those of early humans. It rises seasonally, visible north of the equator for half the year and south for the other half."
System Components[]
Star[]
Van Maanen's Star (also known as Van Maanen 2) is a white dwarf of spectral type DZ8.
Achievements[]
- Quantum Limit (Rank 3):
"The Chandrasekhar limit is the most mass a stable white dwarf can have—1.4 solar masses. Above that, quantum physics dictates that outward pressure can’t resist gravity, so the star collapses. If it gains mass from a binary star, it explodes as a type Ia supernova."
- Stellar Evolution (Rank 6):
"The life cycle of a star from birth to death is called stellar evolution. (The term refers to stages of aging, not biological evolution.) The oldest star we know is Methuselah, a subgiant calculated to be older than the universe, but with a margin of error."
Real Image[]
.png "Van Maanen's Star (Space Engine).png (670 KB)")
Sources[]
- Van Maanen 2 — Van Maanen 2 image above taken
