Item #: SCP-4863

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: Foundation assets are to operate within global space agencies to prevent the development of manned missions into heliocentric orbits lower than that of Mercury.

Description: SCP-4863 is a perceptual phenomenon experienced by human subjects in a 0.31 AU1 radius of the Sun. No forms of recording equipment, typical or paratechnological in nature, have been capable of observing the anomaly. Subjects describe it to be "a second Sun," following a heliocentric trajectory at an unclear distance from the solar system, completing an orbit once every 24 hours. The anomaly occupies an amount of space in the sky comparable to that of the Sun when viewed from the Earth's surface.

Despite the aforementioned observational issues, subjects still perceive equipment in their vicinity as recording data on the anomaly. According to it, SCP-4863 possesses the spectra of an A-type white star, with a luminosity comparable to that of normal solar radiation. Details on distance are only described as "farther than us." No other information can be discerned; subjects state that the data is "too bright to see."

Upon exiting the 0.31 AU radius, all perceptual phenomena cease.

ADDENDUM I:

On 12/06/2024, the Foundation Extrasolar Activities Division conducted an experiment using a ship recently outfitted with a Lang Distortion Drive.2 The ship, the Semiautonomous Exploration Vessel Messier-002, was positioned within the radii required to view SCP-4863 and was aimed at an angle towards the anomaly's direction. The ship then accelerated to superluminal velocities and exited the solar system.

The Drive was disengaged after two hours of superluminal transit. The crew of Messier-002 reported themselves to be in orbit around a massive stellar object, hereafter designated as SCP-4863-A.

SCP-4863-A is a supergiant A-type white star with a radius of 1,436 R☉.3 From an orbital perspective around the object, the solar system is seen to be in its own orbit around the star, located at a distance of 14.5 ly4 and completing a full rotation about its axis once every 24 hours. The time to complete a full orbit is estimated to be on the order of millions of years. No perceptual phenomena are known to affect the object.

How SCP-4863-A exists is unclear. The star is among the largest known stars, and is vastly larger than any A-type star discovered to date. How it is capable of maintaining stability despite its structure being unsuited for such an existence is not explained by any developed models of stellar evolution, presuming the star developed through a natural or semi-natural process. The nature of the spatiotemporal mechanisms connecting it to the solar system is equally uncertain.

Through a thorough astronomical study of the space surrounding SCP-4863-A, the anomaly is believed to be outside the bounds of the observable universe.5 The density of stars, galaxies, and larger cosmic structures is substantially lower and more diffuse, with little to no formation of superclusters or voids. Readings for anomalous particle emissions (tachyons, Ψ-waves, etc.) are lesser in magnitude as well. Until further studies can be conducted, it is presumed that SCP-4863-A is the single largest object in this region of the universe.

Aside from the solar system, no other objects are in orbit around the star.

ADDENDUM II:

Researchers studying SCP-4863-A's surface behavior, distance of 6 ly, sent an alert to Divison outposts, reporting rapid emergence of anomalous phenomena. The phenomena was reported as visual in nature, witnessed when facing away from the star, and as holding an extremely high luminosity. Measurements identified it to be a Type-B blue white star.

On further elaboration, the phenomenon was said to be "a third Sun."

Footnotes

1. Astronomical units; 1 AU is approximate to the distance between the Earth and Sun (149.89 x 106 km).

2. An experimental mechanism used to accelerate vessels to faster-than-light speeds. Designs derived from [REDACTED BY DIVISION ORDERS].

3. Solar radii, defined by the radius of the Sun. For comparison, SCP-4863-A is close to the size of Saturn's total orbit (1,940–2,169 R☉ or 9.195–9.957 AU).

4. Light-years.

5. As seen from Earth.