Captain's log - Stardate 2261.254

We will be entering the Alpha 17 system to explore the seventh planet - imaginatively called Alpha 177.

The Empire became interested in this rock because of a report from a merchant ship. Daytime temperatures average ten degrees Celsius, but drop overnight a near negative eighty-five degrees. It won't be the planet itself that we will be studying so much as the native flora and fauna to see what allows them to survive the daily extremes. Bones is particularly excited. He says many animals living in extreme conditions tend to produce interesting toxins.