NMS Galaxy Types, List & Travel

There are 256 galaxies in No Man’s Sky. Most players never leave the first one, and that’s fine, because Euclid alone is enormous. The others are worth knowing about, though. Getting between them is well understood by now, and they differ more than you’d expect. This guide covers how galaxies work, what changes between them, and how to travel.

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How galaxies work

The universe in No Man’s Sky is split into 256 unique galaxies. Galaxies 1 through 255 are reachable through normal gameplay; galaxy 256 (Odyalutai) and the legacy Yilsrussimil exist in the data but were closed off in the Atlas Rises update back in 2017. After Iousongola (galaxy 255), the sequence loops back to Euclid.

Each galaxy contains billions of procedurally generated star systems, regions, and planets. Resources, recipes, factions, base building, expeditions, and multiplayer all work the same everywhere. Changing galaxy doesn’t unlock new content. It just changes the seed.

Here’s what actually differs:

• The mix of biomes the galaxy spawns (its type, covered below).
• The galaxy’s core colour. Euclid is yellow, Hilbert Dimension is deep pink, Eissentam is orange, and so on.
• Region naming patterns and the names attached to systems.
• Where the active player community lives. Euclid and Eissentam have most of it. Past those, the Nexus gets quiet and you’ll rarely see other players.

What doesn’t change: the resource pool, item drops, Hyperdrive range, refining recipes, Cooking, Sentinel behaviour, your Base Computer limit, or any progression system. Mechanically, galaxy 47 plays exactly like galaxy 1.

The four galaxy types

Galaxies are sorted into four types. The type controls how planet generation is weighted in that galaxy.

Norm is the default, covering 178 of the 256 galaxies. They show a cyan hologram and have names like Imperfect, Improved, Parallel, or Rebuilt. Biome distribution and weather are standard. Think of it as the baseline.

Lush galaxies (25 of them) show a green hologram, with names like Halcyon, Inspiring, Serene, or Tranquil. Yellow stars in Lush galaxies have roughly 4× the chance of lush biomes compared with Norm, and half the chance of dead ones. In practice you get more Earth-like planets and milder weather, which is great for base building. Eissentam (galaxy 10) is the best known.

Harsh galaxies (26) show a red hologram, with names like Burning, Raging, Relentless, or Ruthless. Yellow systems behave like the red/green/blue extremes, so toxic, scorched, frozen, irradiated, and “weird” worlds dominate. Sentinels tend to be more aggressive. They look great and they’re rough to live in.

Empty galaxies (26) show a blue hologram, with names like Ancestral, Frozen, Exhausted, or Silent. Systems are sparse, dead biomes are about 4× more likely, and most worlds have almost no flora or fauna. Some have thinner atmosphere and lower gravity. They’re lonely, which some people love.

Type only affects planet generation. Every resource and every recipe is available in every galaxy.

Type	Galaxies	Hologram	In-game names	Yellow-star bias
Norm	178	Cyan	Imperfect / Improved / Parallel / Rebuilt	Balanced
Lush	25	Green	Halcyon / Inspiring / Serene / Tranquil	4× lush, fewer dead worlds
Harsh	26	Red	Burning / Raging / Relentless / Ruthless	More extreme biomes
Empty	26	Blue	Ancestral / Frozen / Exhausted / Silent	4× dead, sparse systems

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What carries over and what breaks

People ask about this constantly, and a lot of old answers are wrong.

These carry over:

• Active starship, freighter, exocraft, multi-tool, exosuit
• Units, nanites, quicksilver
• Inventory contents (ship cargo, exosuit, refiners, everything)
• Blueprints, faction reputation, expedition rewards, milestones
• Other ships in your collection (the freighter takes them along)
• Base teleporters and the Space Anomaly Nexus

These break during a Galaxy Centre transition (and only then):

• Every upgrade module in your active ship
• Every upgrade module in your active multi-tool
• Every upgrade in your exosuit

Repair these with Repair Kits or by manually restoring each module’s component. Bring more kits than you expect to need. Landing on a hostile planet with half-broken hazard protection is miserable.

Core technology (the Hyperdrive itself, Launch Thruster, Pulse Drive, Hazard Protection) doesn’t count as an upgrade module and survives the transition. Only modules built into upgrade slots break.

Black holes don’t damage anything anymore. That changed with the Waypoint update, so ignore older guides that say otherwise. A black hole jump is now just a teleport toward the centre.

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How to reach the Galaxy Centre

This is the main route between galaxies, and it takes the most planning.

Step 1: Set the Galactic Map waypoint

Open the Galactic Map and select Galactic Centre as your destination. The route appears as a glowing line. The problem is distance. The centre is typically hundreds of thousands of light-years from the rim, and a stock Hyperdrive covers 100 light-years per jump. Even a fully upgraded build with Cadmium Drive, Emeril Drive, and Indium Drive installed only does a few thousand per warp. Warping all the way would take hours, which is why you use black holes.

Step 2: Use black holes to skip distance

A black hole jump pulls you, on average, around 7,000 light-years closer to the centre per use. It isn’t a straight line, so you sometimes end up off at an angle, but each jump still gets you a good chunk closer. Five to eight of them puts you in Galactic Centre range.

To find black holes:

• Talk to Polo at the Space Anomaly and ask for a shortcut to the centre. He’ll pin a black hole system on your Galactic Map.
• After the Atlas Path’s “birth a new star” step, black holes show up on the local map.
• Every region of every galaxy has exactly one black hole system, always at portal address 0079. If you’ve activated a portal in that region, you can find it with a signal booster.

A few black holes, called hyper black holes, sit in the galaxy’s four spiral arms and can carry you over 300,000 light-years toward the centre in one jump. They’re rare, and worth a detour.

Since black holes no longer cause damage, you only need repair kits for the centre transition itself.

Step 3: The final jump

Once you’re inside roughly 5,000 light-years of the core, the Galactic Centre objective on the Galactic Map becomes selectable directly. Charge your Hyperdrive all the way (with Warp Cells or a Warp Hypercore), select the centre, hold the input until it confirms, and you’re gone.

You arrive in the next galaxy with a forced crash landing on a random planet. Your active ship, suit, and multi-tool upgrade modules are broken. Repair what you need to survive first, then deal with the rest.

Pre-flight checklist

• Fully charged Hyperdrive. Bring at least one extra Warp Cell for the next galaxy.
• Stack of Repair Kits
• Spare Carbon, Di-hydrogen, Ferrite Dust for storm-shelter and ship-repair busywork
• A Base Computer dropped in your current galaxy if you ever want to teleport back
• Optional: a junk shuttle to take the centre transition damage instead of your main ship

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The New Beginnings galaxy skip

The Artemis Path ends with the New Beginnings mission. The final choice lets you reset the simulation into a galaxy of a chosen type (Norm, Lush, Harsh, or Empty) and the game drops you in the next galaxy of that type in sequence.

If you want Eissentam and you’re still in Euclid, this is the fastest way there without save editing. Pick Lush at the New Beginnings prompt and you arrive in Eissentam (galaxy 10) regardless of where you currently are. Pick Harsh from Euclid and you land in Calypso (galaxy 3). Pick Norm and you go to Hilbert Dimension (galaxy 2).

You can repeat the skip by replaying the Atlas storyline, but there’s an in-game cooldown. For picking a specific galaxy type once, nothing is cleaner.

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Travelling back to a previous galaxy

The teleporter network ignores galaxy boundaries. Not many people realize this.

If you have a Base Computer placed in any previous galaxy, you can warp back to it from any base teleporter, anywhere. No centre run required, no tech damage, no repair cycle. The same applies to the Space Anomaly Nexus: any other player’s recently visited base shows up in the destination list, regardless of which galaxy it’s in.

You just need something to teleport to. Drop a Base Computer in every new galaxy you enter, even if you never build anything else there. It costs almost nothing and takes thirty seconds, and without it, getting back means another centre run.

There’s a soft cap on bases at 449. After that, new Base Computers won’t appear in the teleporter list until you remove one. If you hop galaxies a lot, keep an eye on that.

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Notable galaxies

Most galaxies are interchangeable. These are the ones people talk about.

Euclid (1)

The starting galaxy for every player. By far the largest active community, the busiest Nexus, and the original home of every long-running civilization (Galactic Hub Project, Eyfert Khannate, Federation of Travellers, etc.). If you care about multiplayer at all, stay here.

Hilbert Dimension (2)

Norm-type, deep pink core. The first stop for anyone climbing the galaxy ladder. Most people arrive, take a photo, and keep going.

Calypso (3)

Harsh-type, medium orchid core. The first Harsh galaxy in the sequence and the destination when you pick Harsh at New Beginnings from Euclid. Expect more extreme biomes and higher Sentinel aggression than the early Norm galaxies.

Eissentam (10)

The most popular destination after Euclid. Lush-type, orange core, home to the Galactic Hub Eissentam civilization, the second-largest player community in No Man’s Sky. If you’ve heard about Hub bases, traveller civilizations, or community projects outside Euclid, they almost all live here. The Lush biome odds make it very pretty. The fastest way in is the New Beginnings Lush skip from Euclid.

Hesperius Dimension (4), Hyades (5)

Norm galaxies that get a fair amount of community traffic, mostly from explorers chasing the count.

Budullangr (7)

Empty-type, green core. One of the quieter galaxies on the ladder. Sparse systems, dead-heavy planet rolls, almost no fauna. Good if you like solitude. The New Beginnings Empty skip from Euclid (and several galaxies after it) lands here.

Iousongola (255)

The end of the line. After this galaxy, the sequence loops back to Euclid. Getting here takes 254 centre runs, minus whatever New Beginnings skips you can use. A handful of players have documented doing it. Far fewer have done it twice.

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Tips for galaxy hopping efficiently

Chain black holes. Five to eight jumps gets you within Galactic Centre range, and they don’t damage anything anymore.

Always drop a Base Computer. It takes thirty seconds and almost no materials, and it gives you teleporter access forever. Forgetting this is the biggest mistake people make.

Carry Repair Kits. Craft them from Di-hydrogen Jelly and Metal Plating before you leave, and bring more than you think you need.

Use a junk ship for transitions. Keep a cheap shuttle around just for centre jumps and let it take the upgrade-module damage. Repair it on arrival and switch back to your main ship at the next station.

Use portal addresses. With all 16 glyphs, 100104005005 drops you in a system very close to the centre in most galaxies, which skips the long approach. The wiki also lists gateway systems for each galaxy.

Keep a Hyperdrive Augmentation on standby for the jump. The base Hyperdrive is fine, but don’t show up at the centre with an empty tank. Bring one Warp Cell for the jump and another for your first warp on the other side.

Save exploring for later. Black-hole-and-portal your way to the centre, scan the new starter planet, then start exploring. It’s faster and saves resources for the climb.

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The 255-galaxy loop

The full sequence (Euclid through Iousongola) is the longest endgame goal in No Man’s Sky. Players who go for it usually use New Beginnings skips wherever they can and black-hole-chain the rest. It’s hundreds of hours, and some traveller civilizations track progress publicly.

Galaxies 256 (Odyalutai) and the older Yilsrussimil are accessible only by:

• Joining a multiplayer session with someone already there
• Visiting another player’s base via the Space Anomaly Nexus
• Save editing on PC

For everyone else, the loop quietly resets at galaxy 1 once you cross out of Iousongola.

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Should you bother?

Most players don’t need to leave Euclid. You won’t run out of things to see in 1,000 hours, and no recipe, resource, or progression system is locked to a galaxy.

Leaving is worth it if:

• You want a Lush biome run and the New Beginnings Lush skip to Eissentam appeals
• You like the long-term goal of climbing the count
• You want to escape the noise of Euclid and live somewhere quieter
• You want the Galactic Hub Eissentam community specifically
• You like the cosmetic variety of different core colours and naming patterns

Don’t bother if:

• You think there’s locked content beyond Euclid (there isn’t)
• You don’t want to manage a base teleporter network across multiple galaxies
• You hate repair-kit busywork

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Sources

• No Man’s Sky Wiki: Galaxy
• No Man’s Sky Wiki: Galaxy Centre
• No Man’s Sky Wiki: Black Hole
• No Man’s Sky Wiki: Eissentam
• No Man’s Sky Wiki: Hilbert Dimension
• No Man’s Sky Wiki: Hyperdrive
• Hello Games: No Man’s Sky Official Site