Arrival ε Eridani

Hawk began the busy preparations, the design of the ring ε Eri large particle collider was on the agenda, and the site selection of the base was also started.

At this distance, with Hawk's current technological means, it is sufficient to make a fairly accurate and detailed determination of ε Eri. The latest observations show that the ε Eri galaxy and the solar system have considerable similarities, with only some differences in certain details.

With an age of about a billion years, ε Eri is still in the juvenile stage of a star, where there are a large number of early stellar features, and the ε Eri galaxy, like the Sun in its youth.

Using the occultation method, Hawk determined that ε Eri has one rocky planet and two gaseous planets. The nearest planet is a rocky planet, only 30 million kilometers away from ε Eri, which has a mass of zero.4 times that of Earth and is about the size of Mars. This planet is already gravitationally locked to ε Eri and will always have only one side facing the main star.

Hawk's chosen home base is on top of this rocky planet. If we only consider the convenience of access to fuel, it would be most appropriate to build the base on the moons of the gas planet, but Hawk has other considerations, so he still intends to build the main base on this planet.

On the outside, about 50 million kilometers from ε Eri, is a spectacular asteroid belt. This asteroid belt is much larger than the asteroid belt in our solar system, and Hawk estimates that the total mass of matter here is about six times that of Earth.

Whether a new planet will be formed here is uncertain; after all, the initial physical quantities that could determine this outcome are too numerous and chaotic for Hawk to make an estimate.

Four hundred million kilometers further out is a giant gas planet of 1.6 times the mass of Jupiter, which forms an orbital resonance with the third planet of the ε Eri system in a ratio of three to two, with the gas planet orbiting ε Eri for three weeks and the third planet orbiting for two weeks.

Three hundred million kilometers away from this giant gaseous planet is the third planet. It is also a gaseous planet with roughly five times the mass of Earth and roughly nine times the volume of Earth. This suggests that the density of the third planet is considerably less than the density of Earth. Hawk believes that this would be a gaseous planet in the process of evolution.

There are still many raw materials left in the ε Eri system to make stars as well as planets. The density of matter in the interstellar space of the ε Eri system is roughly six times the density of matter in the interstellar space of the solar system, which indicates that this third planet will continue to absorb various gases in the interstellar space, getting bigger and bigger, and eventually growing into a gaseous planet similar to Jupiter.

The first and second planets, however, are too close to ε Eri, where the matter has been blown away by ε Eri's powerful stellar winds, so they have lost the ability to continue growing.

Three planets, along with countless asteroids and a young star, make up this vibrant galaxy.

Hawke named the first planet ε Eri a, then, in order, ε Eri b and ε Eri c.

"ε Eri a will be my main base, and I will build a huge scientific institute and spacecraft construction base on the dorsal surface of ε Eri a. ε Eri b will be my fuel base, which will provide me with a constant and endless supply of fuel, and the ε Eri star system will be my new home, where... ...is heaven!"

Hawk thought with joy.

The entire voyage, the last two hundred years, remained.

In full anticipation, Hawk spent one hundred and ninety years, and with ten years left in the voyage, Hawk finally entered the real control of ε Eri.

The stellar winds emitted by the ε Eri came to a halt here. Outside the heliosphere is the world of interstellar radiation, and inside the heliosphere is ε Eri's territory.

Here, two hundred billion kilometers away from ε Eri. Although ε Eri is smaller than the sun, but because it is too young, its stellar activity is thirty times stronger than the sun, accordingly, the distance of its heliosphere top from the main star, also than the sun to exceed ten times.

Here, for the first time, Hawk directly detected energetic charged particles from ε Eri.

Somewhat curiously, the ε Eri star system does not have a presence similar to the solar system's Kuiper belt. Hawk estimates that this may be due to its special inner planetary composition, whose gravitational engagement emptied the belt of material.

This represents a much smaller number of observable comets in the ε Eri system than in our solar system.

It would take about ten years to sail the 200 billion kilometers. During these ten years, Hawk watched the increasing strength of the stellar wind with a sense of joy. The stronger the stellar wind, the closer to ε Eri.

Time passed slowly, and Hawk was only three billion kilometers away from ε Eri. This distance is roughly equivalent to the distance of Uranus from the Sun.

The first time Hawk observed the gorgeous aurora at the poles of ε Eri c. The magnetic field of ε Eri c is five times stronger than that of Earth, and the stellar wind of ε Eri is thirty times stronger than that of the Sun.

Hawk manipulated the huge fleet to start slowing down, and twenty days later, Hawk reached the ε Eri c orbit. As it happened, ε Eri c happened to be orbiting not far from Hawk. Looking at this small gaseous planet, the excitement in Hawke's heart was beyond words.

A large number of probes were launched by Hawke into the orbit around ε Eri c orbit, and a steady stream of information was collected by Hawke.

"I'm going to use ε Eri c as a base and build a big fortress." Hawk thought somewhat naggingly, "Whoever dares to invade my territory, I'll hit it hard."

The dark universe theory has become a shadow in Hawke's heart, in order to prevent the possible arrival of alien civilizations. Hawke must improve his strength as much as possible to ensure that his scientific research plan, can be carried out smoothly.

Sixteen days later, Hawk crossed the ε Eri b orbit. But at this time ε Eri b just run to the back of ε Eri, Hawk regrettably did not see the true face of ε Eri b.

After another twenty days, Hawk finally reached ε Eri a orbit.

Here, only thirty million kilometers from ε Eri, roughly equivalent to only one-half of the distance from Mercury to the Sun. The intensity of radiation here is at least seventy times stronger than that of Mercury. But thanks to the high-powered anti-jamming communication instruments that Hawk had prepared long ago, all the ships were still under Hawk's control.

"What a strong interference ... Hey, it's time to start the research work of hyper-range communication. Hyper-range communication is not afraid of any interference. Also, if there is no hyper-range communication, when I am above ε Eri a, the fuel collection at ε Eri b and ε Eri c will have to be left to the program, and I really don't feel comfortable."

Hawk pondered silently and made up his mind.

Under the current theoretical framework, super-range communication could only be achieved with quantum entanglement technology. This has been a lot of research above the Earth, but basically no progress, and, in the future, there is no progress, no one is sure.

The reason is simple, although quantum entanglement is superluminal, the impact of a particle in a place, another coherent particle in b place will immediately manifest, but people can not detect the pair of interdependent quantum what information was passed between, must be combined with the corresponding secret key, that is, what is the impact of a place on this one particle and a place of observation, the two together, in order to information Deciphered, but the key will only be delivered through traditional means, counting, still can not be considered FTL.

But Hawke already has a vague speculation in mind, perhaps, through a specific means, can subtly circumvent this limitation. Now, just waiting for a large number of experiments to verify.

Looking at the ε Eri at this distance, its full five or six meters in diameter, and blinding dazzling can not see straight. Not only is it impossible to see, but this is simply an ocean of light, endless amounts of light carrying huge amounts of energy spurting out, like a raging sea.

ε Eri a face up to ε Eri, as if a basketball on top of a sesame seed. ε Eri a has been ε Eri gravitational lock, always only one side towards ε Eri, which gives Hawk a certain convenience. With ε Eri a the big shield here, Hawke could safely hide from ε Eri's excessive radiation on ε Eri a's back sun side, build bases and develop technology from a comfortable position.

Hawk has slowed the fleet to ninety-seven kilometers per second relative to ε Eri, a speed that is only twenty kilometers per second relative to ε Eri a. Hawk is chasing the ε Eri a. When he catches up, Hawk will land on the ε Eri a and begin his construction endeavor.

Because it is too close to ε Eri, ε Eri a's atmosphere has long been stripped away by ε Eri's powerful stellar winds, so it has no atmosphere and no satellites.

The density of ε Eri a is very high, like a solid iron ball, it has no geological activity, the surface is cratered with craters, its temperature reaches seven hundred degrees Celsius on the side facing ε Eri, but only minus one hundred and fifty degrees Celsius on the side facing ε Eri, which, in turn, is very similar to Titan.

There is no methane lake on Titan, but with Hawk's current speed, it only takes ten days to go back and forth between ε Eri a and ε Eri b. Fuel collection is convenient, and it doesn't matter if there is no methane lake.

After a full month passed, Hawk finally caught up with ε Eri a. Then, three county-class ships with all the township-class ships and two hundred village-class ships entered the orbit around ε Eri a. The remaining six hundred or so village-class ships, carrying a large number of instruments, equipment, etc., began the landing process.