Introduction

When aboard a space ship, we're not much compared to the vast dimension of the world around us.
While it feels mostly empty, space is actually filled with Astronomical/Celestial objects of various kind and size.

General principles

A Celestial object is a naturally occurring physical entity, association, or structure existing in the observable universe. Those ranges from very small asteroids to large star systems or even galaxies. Smaller ones are directly accessible in space while other can be landed on, typically a planet.

Structures in space

While travelling through space, many smaller structures can be found, including:

• asteroids
• gas clouds
• planetoids of various size and type
• derelicts

Most of those are generating randomly, or through the /generate creative command.

Asteroid fields

Asteroids are usually found in large fields, they are filled with valuable ores. Many variations exist, especially when used in conjunction with Underground Biomes or Metallurgy.

Gas clouds

Pockets of gas are found every now and then. They are usually too sparse to be worth collecting and most astronauts only consider them as nice backgrounds.

Planetoids

When large enough, asteroids have a more spherical appearance, not unlike a mini-planet. Those planetoids are usually composed of different geological strata, so don't let them fool you with their exterior appearance: richness and dangers are frequently found in their core!

Stars

Needless to say, you don't want to stand near a star, especially outside your ship. They're only generated by the /generate admin command.

Planets

Large structures like planets can be orbited and, in most cases you can even land with your ship on it.
Due to fuel costs, only smaller ships (up to 1200 m³) are used when landing or exploring planets.

Some celestial objects are too dangerous to be explored: you can see and orbit them, but landing isn't option. Those are known a dimensionless or virtual planets.

Hyperspace

Star systems are excessively large for us humans. Space travelling is greatly accelerated when using hyperspace, an alternate dimension reachable by the largest ships (more than 3000 m³).
Hyperspace can be used to travel much faster, including between multiple Star systems.

Due to gravitation fields of planets, your ship needs to be already in space to attempt to reach hyperspace.

Jumpgates

Using massive amount of resources, jumpgates were built to travel even faster along large distances. They're generated by the /generate admin command but can be used by any ship small enough to fit inside the gate.

Tips and tricks

Different celestial objects are known to hold different resources, sometime even blocks of valuables resources like Iridium!

Other mods dimensions can be used for planets, you'll have to add them manually through the celestialObjects*.xml configuration file(s).

Here's an asteroid fields from Cr0s, using only vanilla blocks:

Natural world generation goes from 5 to 200 along the Y axis. Remember to fly high to avoid it.