R.J. Bruner

A galaxy is the second largest named object in No Man's Sky.

The universe of No Man's Sky comprises 255 unique galaxies (the max value of an 8 bit unsigned integer). In turn, these are composed of:

All star systems feature 2-6 planets and moons, and usually a single space station. There are about 18 quintillion possibilities (seeds) for planets (the max value of a 64 bit unsigned integer).

Players start in galaxy 1, Euclid, and travel through galaxies in order by reaching the Galaxy Centre or jump several by finishing the New Beginnings primary mission. After the player leaves galaxy 255 (Iousongola), they return to the first galaxy again. There are several methods of moving to a different galaxy, and various hazards and damages will occur during the transfer.

There are four types of galaxies:

When visiting a certain galaxy type, the probabilities of discovering various planet biomes are as follows. Meaning of the line "All" is not yet known, but the most likely explanation is that the probabilities for Biome types of these colored stars (Red, Green, & Blue) do not change based on Galaxy type.

Due to the harsh galaxy missing, the speculation is that this galaxy type is like the norm galaxy, but with more storms.

The values in the table could be interpreted as per the following:

This is the table for normal planet probability:

This is the table for prime planets, the planets that have been added with Origins:

Convert Dead To Weird is a property with a value of 0.5.

It was added in the Visions update that introduced new Weird (Exotic) biomes by converting previously existing Dead biomes.

Due to this change there is a higher chance to find these biomes, even in yellow star systems as well.

The first handful of names are not as whimsically chosen as they look. Euclid was an early Greek mathematician who defined some of the basic mathematical rules for defining two-dimensional shapes in both 2D and 3D space. This is followed by the Hilbert Dimension; Hilbert space is a mathematical framework for certain types of finite- or infinite-dimensional vector spaces that are central in for example quantum mechanics.

Next up, Calypso breaks from the mathematical/spatial references but is still related. Calypso is a mythological figure, which lured Odysseus from his path on the Odyssey and held him captive for seven years. Hesperius and Hyades are all names/terms that refers to the daughters of Atlas in Greek mythology. Beyond that point, the galaxies appear to have a similar naming scheme to the randomly generated planet names and are likely using the same generator.

The first five galaxies DO have procedurally generated names, but they are overridden.

NOTE: These names were exposed by a bug in Origins 3.03, then fixed in Origins 3.05.

The intent of the following list is to not only show a list of known galaxies, but to indicate the order in which they are visited by the player. When adding new galaxies, be sure to place them in the correct spot in the list.

Negative Galaxies are presumed galaxies that precede Euclid (Galaxy 1). While No Man's Sky will generate names for an apparently infinite number of negative galaxy designations, these are all really just different names for the same place; all galaxy names and numbers below Euclid point to Galaxy 256, Odyalutai.