Eve Online players light up the galaxy in tribute to Stephen Hawking

The Eve Online community is paying tribute to renowned scientist professor Stephen Hawking – who passed away yesterday at the age of 76 – by lighting up the universe with beacons in his honour.

“Remember to look up at the stars,” Hawking told us. Here’s our list of the best space games on PC. 

Originally reported by PC Gamer, it was a Reddit threadby kairiola that started the tributes yesterday, who suggested Eve Online players lay down their arms, head to New Eden, and light their cynosural beacons in memoriam of Hawking from 22:00 (UTC).

For those not in the know, cynosural beacons are jump beacons for capital ships which produce a bright light. These beacons can only be lit in null-sec, which are the emptiest areas of the galaxy due to in-game rules, hence New Eden was chosen as a destination.

It didn’t take long for the galaxy to light up in honour of “one of the brightest minds humanity has ever had.”

Credit: Image via ThePictureDino on Imgur.

Credit: Image via xtra_squishy on Imgur.

The below image is a heat map of New Eden that shows the vast number of lit beacons. Red and blue dots are players lighting beacons – the bigger the dot, the more people there are.

Credit: Image via TiberTheGalient1 on Imgur.

One player, who was unable to light a beacon, flew to Eve Online’s graveyard on Molea and left a memorial there.

Credit: Image via Darkchyylde on Imgur.