Algae planet

An unnamed 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 at least on one side of its surrounding space.

The planet was actually settled on at one point by the Thirteenth Tribe. They built the Temple of Five on the planet and hid the artifact known as the "Eye of Jupiter" there. The eye is said to point the way to the Thirteenth Tribe's destination, Earth.

Little else is known about the planet except for the very large amount of edible, protein-rich algae that exists on the planet, as scouted by Athena.

After the Fleet manages to bring almost all of its ships through an almost-unnavigable and deadly star cluster cloud, harvest of the algae and processing likely begins to resupply the Fleet (The Passage).

Shortly after Chief Tyrol discovers the Temple of Five, the Cylons appear over the planet seeking the Eye. A standoff ensues as Admiral Adama threatens to bombard the planet with Galactica’s remaining nuclear warheads if the Cylons try to go down and Number Three and Cavil threaten to destroy any craft that attempts to return to Galactica from the surface.

It is later discovered that the planet is orbiting a star that is on the verge of going supernova. Estimations from Lt. Gaeta suggest the star is less than a year away from exploding, possibly less than a day (The Eye of Jupiter).

Notes

• Algae are simple aquatic organisms. Many are actually processed on the real-world Earth for use, among other things, as nutritional additives or foods.
• This planet, located near a star cluster, is the same one that Gaius Baltar and Number Three discern as the source of an artifact in determining the identities of the last five Cylon agents, or a clue to Earth.

Original Series definition: another type of food