Spirograph Nebula
21 Feb 2016Thelan
As we approach the next objective of this not-so-grand tour, the red veil of Barnard's Loop looms ever closer, taking a significant part of the dark sky. The Spirograph Nebula is tiny in comparison and includes a single star, but yet it is a prominent feature of the starscape from six light years away, bright blue and shining. 
"...Sick with longing for those glittering sunset streets and cryptical hill lanes among ancient tiled roofs, nor able sleeping or waking to drive them from his mind, Carter resolved to go with bold entreaty whither no man had gone before, and dare the icy deserts through the dark to where unknown Kadath, veiled in cloud and crowned with unimagined stars, holds secret and nocturnal the onyx castle of the Great Ones..."
* * *
BD-12 1172 rages with searing blue-hot plasma, but even when scooping fuel from the corona, the green shadow that the nebula casts over everything in this system colors the ship.
As strange as it is, despite being bright blue from the outside, from the inside the Spirograph Nebula is dark green. The giant star barely illuminates this moldy fog, but gives existence to numerous planets, some of them truly monstrous, like, for example, a partially molten metallic abomination of 66 earth masses. Of course, my ship computer wouldn't let me land on it. Those terrestrial planets here that happen to be slightly smaller also boast gravity of 2 and more G's and impressive sets of rings.
When one tries to land on one of those scorched worlds, a wondrous landscape opens. The skies - and everything else - burn with bright teal and the ashy plains far below seem to be pure white. It's like the entire planet is made of mint icecream.
In fact, this "icecream" is overheated volcanic rock, regolith and fine dust that would instantly roast alive anyone foolish enough to leave the protection of a ship or a rover's cockpit. Geysers spew silicate vapor into the lifeless vacuum under the deathly glow of immense metal-rich rings.
Alas! No sentient magic equines, curious green-skinned aliens or mint-flavoured icecream deposits were found on BD-12 1172.