An unnamed, habitable, algae-bearing planet is the Fleet's destination after its main food stores are contaminated and its population left in a starvation state.
The planet has a debris ring, likely created from the disintegration of a small planetoid such as a moon or asteroid. The planet also appears to have seas or oceans based on its blue-green appearance. An extremely large radiation-contaminated star cluster is located on at least one side of its surrounding space.
Edible, protein-rich algae grow on the planet surface, as scouted by Athena.
After almost all of the ships manage to get across the almost-unnavigable and deadly star cluster cloud, harvesting and processing of the algae begins in order to resupply the Fleet (The Passage).
Two weeks later, as harvesting is wrapping up, Galen Tyrol mysteriously detects the presence of the Temple of Five, built by the Thirteenth Tribe approximately 4,000 years before. The Temple is the supposed location of the Eye of Jupiter, an artifact mentioned in the Sacred Scrolls. It is believed to point the way to the Thirteenth Tribe's destination, Earth.
Shortly after Chief Tyrol discovers the temple, a Cylon fleet appears over the planet, seeking the Eye. This results in the Battle of the Algae Planet (The Eye of Jupiter).
At the end of the battle the planet's sun goes nova, as predicted by Lieutenant Gaeta. The Colonial ground forces are evacuated and both fleets jump away, just as the expanding star consumes the planet. The nova ultimately turns out to be the Eye of Jupiter, and a similar nova, which occurred around the time of the first exodus, gives the Colonials their next clue as to the location of Earth (Rapture).
Notes[edit]
- Algae are simple aquatic organisms. Many are actually processed on the real-world Earth for use, among other things, as nutritional additives or foods.
- The algae planet parallels New Caprica as an intermediate home on the journey to Earth.