You’ll have to make it into the Southern Observatory on Brittle Hollow in Outer Wilds to get some crucial clues to continue the story. Getting there is tough. Brittle Hollow is falling apart and the direct entrance to the Southern Observatory, the front door, is damaged and won’t open from the outside. Even once you know the path, it’s full of peril, and you’ll always have to worry about falling into the black hole in the center of the planet.
How to get to the Southern Observatory on Brittle Hollow in Outer Wilds
Since the front door of the Southern Observatory won’t open, you’re going to have to go in the back way. This means traveling through the interior of Brittle Hollow. Your best bet for success here is to go to Brittle Hollow right after you awaken. You’ve only got 22 minutes in Outer Wilds before the time loop restarts, and the trek to the observatory can take a bit.
Once you’re in orbit around Brittle Hollow, head to the Tower of Quantum Knowledge. There’s a staircase beside it that you can use to descend into the planet’s interior. When you reach the bottom of the steps, you can go left to find a chasm. If you jetpack over the gorge to the nearby platform, you’ll find a pair of rings that can transport you across the gap to the distant platforms.
Near the rings is a switch you can activate by moving the glowing ball. Move it into the upward position and get ready to cross the enormous gap. You’ll want to use the ring furthest from the switch. This will propel you over the hole and into the pull of another transport ring. One thing to note here is that you don’t want to use your jetpack too much. If you get to going too fast you’ll skip right off the platform you’re trying to land on.
Once on this platform, jetpack over to the next one nearest to you. You can then climb up to the second level using the gravity stones. Now, it’s just a matter of heading south. Jetpack from platform to platform and use your minimap to make sure you keep going south.
When you’re just about at the south pole, you’ll reach a glacial wall. You’ll notice on the side of it that there are more gravity stones. Take these and proceed until you get a warning about ghost matter. You’ll need to jetpack over to a ledge across from you, walk down it, then jetpack over to the gravity stones again. This will let you avoid the ghost matter, which will kill you if you touch it. This will allow you to walk up the wall to an area filled with trees.
You’ll want to cross to the far side of this area and find the crumbling building. On the roof of the area, you’ll see the rings of a grav lift. If you jetpack up, you can ride the elevator, and it will take you into the Southern Observatory.
Make sure to read everything at the observatory carefully. There’s a lot of info here about what you need to do on Giant’s Deep and how the Nomai planned to get to the Eye of the Universe. Of particular note are the models of the Outer Wilds system that you can check out on the second floor. This will give you an idea of just where the Eye of the Universe may be located with respect to the sun and planets.
Once you’ve finished at the Southern Observatory, it’s a lot easier to leave than it was to get in. All you need to do to exit the observatory is to go to the front door and use the orb to open it. You can then head through, and you’ll find yourself at the front entrance.
