The Great Annihilator was named by its discoverers in the 20th century by the Einstein Observatory via soft X-rays. They originally spotted it as one of the brightest X-ray sources in the Milky Way, and subsequent observations showed a variable emitter of massive amounts of photon pairs at 511 keV, the energy level associated with positron-electron annihilation events. Hence the Great Annihilator name. The system was thought to consist of a black hole and a companion star, forming a microquasar.

The first Commanders who visited this system found a pair of black holes and five T Tauri stars. A single High Metal Content world orbits the main black hole on a highly inclined orbit at a great distance: it is likely a captured planet. The surface is extremely cold at 20 K, and despite all the emissions from the Great Annihilator, the planet somehow still holds on to a thin helium atmosphere - although not thin enough to safely land on with current technology.

For information on the Azura Initiative that is currently based around this system, see this entry.

Astrophotography by Phill P