How to Find All Water Planets in No Man's Sky

No Man's Sky features an almost incomprehensibly large universe, and ocean planets — commonly called water planets — are among the most visually striking and resource-rich environments in the game. Whether you're hunting them for base building, specific fauna, or pure exploration, knowing how to locate them consistently makes the difference between a frustrating search and a productive one.

What Counts as a Water Planet in NMS?

In No Man's Sky, a water planet (officially categorized under planet types like Oceanic or Waterlogged) is a world where the terrain is almost entirely submerged beneath a vast ocean, with little to no exposed landmass. These differ from planets that simply have some water features alongside normal terrain.

Key characteristics of true water planets include:

• Shallow or absent landmasses — most of the surface is ocean floor
• Abundant aquatic fauna — fish, underwater creatures, and unique flora
• Specific resource deposits underwater, including Kelp Sacs, Star Bulbs, and occasionally rare minerals
• Unique base-building opportunities — underwater bases and ocean-floor outposts

They are relatively rare compared to rocky, barren, or toxic planets, which is part of why finding them takes a deliberate approach.

How the Planet Generation System Works

NMS uses procedural generation to create planets within each star system. Each system contains between two and six planets, and each planet is assigned a biome type during world generation. You cannot influence which biome type spawns — you can only scan and filter to identify them faster.

The planet type is tied to the star system's classification, but not exclusively. Blue, green, and red star systems each have different probability distributions for planet types, but water planets can technically appear across multiple system types. Experienced players generally report a slightly higher occurrence in lush green star systems, though this isn't guaranteed.

Method 1: Using the Galactic Map Filters 🌊

The most efficient way to find water planets at scale:

1. Open the Galactic Map
2. Use the filter options to highlight star systems by type — prioritize green (lush) systems
3. Warp to candidate systems
4. Once in-system, open the System HUD and scan each planet from space before landing

When scanning from space, look for planets described with words like:

• "Oceanic"
• "Waterlogged"
• "Temperate" (sometimes indicates water presence)
• "Lush" (not always water-dominant, but a positive indicator)

Avoid wasting fuel warping planet-to-planet on foot — use the Analysis Visor from orbit to read planet descriptors before committing to an entry.

Method 2: Planet Scanner Upgrades on Your Ship

Your starship's scanner can be upgraded with S-class scanner modules to improve the detail of planetary readouts while still in orbit. A well-upgraded scanner gives more descriptive biome labels, making water planet identification significantly faster.

Investing in scanner upgrades early is one of the highest-value quality-of-life improvements for any exploration-focused playthrough.

Method 3: Using Space Stations and NPC Hints

Each space station contains cartographers — NPCs who sell planetary charts. While these charts are primarily for finding specific structures, experienced players use them as a way to jump between systems quickly and visually survey more planets in less time. The logic is simple: more systems visited = higher probability of encountering water planets.

Additionally, Nexus missions occasionally list destinations that include water planets. Checking the mission board before setting off can point you toward already-identified oceanic worlds without any active searching.

Method 4: Community Tools and the Discoveries Menu

The No Man's Sky community maintains several fan-built databases where players upload discovered planets, including coordinates for confirmed water worlds. Resources like the NMS Coordinate Exchange (a community hub) allow players to share portal glyphs directly to water planets others have already found.

If you're playing in Normal or Creative mode and don't mind using community resources, this approach finds confirmed water planets in minutes rather than hours.

For players who prefer organic discovery, the in-game Discoveries menu logs every planet you've visited, including biome type — useful for tracking patterns in which star system types produced water planets during your own exploration.

Variables That Affect Your Search

Not every playthrough leads to the same results. Several factors shape how long finding water planets actually takes:

• Game mode — Survival and Permadeath limit your fuel and risk tolerance, slowing system-hopping
• How far from the galactic center you are — outer regions and specific galaxy arms have different planet density and type distributions
• Which galaxy you're in — NMS has 256 galaxies, and planet type frequencies reportedly shift between them
• Scanner and ship upgrade level — directly affects how fast you can read planets from orbit
• Whether you use community coordinates — collapses a multi-hour search into minutes

A player in early-game Survival mode with no scanner upgrades faces a fundamentally different search than a late-game Creative mode player with a fully kitted explorer-class ship. What works efficiently for one setup may be frustratingly slow for another.