SpaceEngine

I'm just wondering what sort of things people have found in SE that they didn't expect (or possibly that the dev didn't expect either), that emerged out of the procedural generation and the way the program works.

For example, I was surprised by the incandescent moons around Planemos. These are tidally heated moons that are so hot (over 700°C) that they emit a red light that illuminates the other objects in the system, which would otherwise be in total darkness. This provides a reason to go visit planemos and get some nice pictures!


Another thing (possibly? Not sure if this is deliberate) is the central region of the Arp 148 galaxy (a galactic collision site) seems to be unusually rich in nebulae - it looks like there are a lot more in the background too:


Has anyone else come across something that emerged from the procedural generation like this? 

Nobody else has found anything like this?

I don't think this pattern was intended, just a random Gaussian process I guess. RS 7353-4-8-8313721-68 A2

I found contact binaries but I have lost them. What description are contact binaries under?

just a random Gaussian process I guess.

Are you sure? Could be an exotic type of life .

Nature (kind of) has a precedent.  It reminds me of the terraced bacteria mats around Yellowstone's Grand Prismatic spring:

I found a planemo moon with life before. Also appeared to had some tidal heating enough that it has sub glacial life.

i fount this RN 8474-10302
an extra-galactic nebula.

At first sight, you may think these two planets orbiting one another. However, the program apparently generated one planet with one moon which happened to be equivalent in size.
RS 0-2-7-709-21648-0-0-790 4.1

I suppose, had such a situation been observed in reality, both of these objects would have been classified as planets and this is purely an engine related issue.

Actually, there is the same situation in the Locations entry "Beatiful binary ice giant"

Neptune-sized moons before the first candidate (Kepler-1625b I).

I have seen several double gas giant systems before.

One of such is RS 8935-928-6-25885-125 A3

Well, i hasn't expected finding Septenary Star System

I don't think this pattern was intended, just a random Gaussian process I guess.
scr03092.jpg
RS 7353-4-8-8313721-68 A2

I have seen a similar pattern at the bottom of an oceanic planet. Don't have a screenshot, but that pattern does seem to happen to be a thing in Space Engine.