Local Guidebooks, abridged: Observatory Planet Socor-Ro (1 and 2)
Most places you can go in the Galaxy are barren wastes of dust, ice, or radiation, but these hells are not good for nothing. Dead planets are often used by young species as refueling points in order to plunge deeper into the unknown. For those planets that are not exploited for their resources, there are other uses.
Organizations large enough to enact massive renovations to a planet have done innumerable things to whole planets. Many have been hollowed and filled with engines and decks and used as ships, others are sculpted into art pieces, and so many have been exploded (both for work and pleasure).
A more unique use was found by the Galactic Stewardship when they sliced the planet Socor in half. Each hemisphere was partially hollowed and transformed into an observatory.
The two halves orbit on opposite sides of the star Ro. The hollowed half contains a single radar dish while the rounded half is covered in smaller dishes. Together the hemispheres have been able to create high resolution maps of the Galaxy and provide compositional and atmospheric information about millions of previously undiscovered planets and stars.
