Starfield Investigate the Source of the Anomaly Guide: How to Complete Into the Unknown

• About
• Latest Posts

Cody Perez

Cody has been in the video game business as part of media and content creation for more than 10 years. During that time, he has contributed and even led some of the largest sites in the world dedicated to gaming and entertainment. He has also dabbled some in PR and was a tester for Activision in the past working on the Call of Duty series. When not playing games or writing about them, he enjoys cooking, sharpening his Japanese skills, and watching the latest anime shows.

Latest posts by Cody Perez (see all)

• Lords of the Fallen All Umbral Eye Locations Guide - November 30, 2023
• Lords of the Fallen Runes Guide: Best Runes, How to Get Runes, and More - November 13, 2023
• Lords of the Fallen Best Weapons: Bloodlust, Pieta’s Sword, and More - November 8, 2023

If there is one thing I recommend to all players who boot up Starfield for the first time, it is to mainline the main story in this game with Constellation, start over with New Game+, and then start exploring everything else there is in the game.

As part of the main story, you’ll inevitably have to complete the rather lengthy but enjoyable Into the Unknown quest, which you’ll find in this Starfield investigate the source of the anomaly guide.

Into the Unknown is one of the earlier main story quests in Starfield, and it is certainly one you’ll want to do as soon as possible. Not only does it grant you access to the final main companion from the Constellation group, but it also unlocks one of the more secretive and fascinating features of this game.

I’ll explain how to complete this confusing quest in this Starfield investigate the source of the anomaly guide.

Quest Details Up Front

Before we begin with this quest, here are some of the details you should know about the Starfield Into the Unknown main story quest.

This quest is relatively early on, after completing The Old Neighborhood and unlocking a string of main story quests for you to do. The ‘investigate the source of the anomaly’ part is one of the main sections of this quest.

Here’s what you need to do before you begin:

• Quest Location: It begins on New Atlantis at the Constellation Lodge but takes you to several planets.
• Quest Giver: Sarah Morgan and the rest of Constellation
• Requirements: Prologue and The Old Neighborhood completion
• Length of Quest: 2-3 hours in general (depending on how long it takes you to complete some of the puzzles)
• Difficulty: 6.5/10 (only the anomaly puzzle makes it a true challenge if you complete it in a certain way)

Quest Synopsis

After joining Constellation and taking a trip to the Sol System with Sarah Morgan, it is time to venture out and find other artifacts. There are two new artifacts that Vladimir from The Eye has located, and it is up to you to find them. Along the way, you’ll need to find Andreja, the final missing member from Constellation, and help her with any issues.

Brief Walkthrough

I get that some of you are in a hurry to finish up the Starfield main storyline before it is spoiled for you or so that you can go around the galaxy and freely do whatever you want in New Game+. As such, there is a short and cliff note version of the Into the Unknown and anomaly walkthrough below for you to quickly use.

Here are the exact steps you’ll need to take if you want to complete this quest the fastest and without any issues. Note that there are some spoilers ahead for the quest objectives.

1. Complete The Old Neighborhood and speak with Sarah to unlock Into the Unknown at the same time as Back to Vectera and The Empty Nest.
2. Visit Vladimir on The Eye and meet him for the first time.
3. Visit one of the two planets where Vladimir tells you an artifact is found. The order doesn’t matter, but note that each planet is randomly chosen for every player.
4. Grab the artifact from the first planet you visit.
5. Head to the second planet that Vladimir gives you.
6. Enter the cave and meet Andreja to recruit her.
7. Go to the end of the cave and grab the second artifact.
8. Return to the Constellation Lodge and insert the two artifacts you found there.
9. Speak with Vladimir aboard The Eye once more and learn about the anomaly you must visit.
10. Head to Procyon III to investigate the source of the anomaly.
11. Use your scanner to locate the anomaly, which is Temple Eta.
12. Enter the temple and complete the zero gravity lights puzzle to finish the rotating rings.
13. Unlock the first Starborn power known as Anti-Gravity Field.
14. Return to the Constellation Lodge and use your new Anti-Gravity Field power in front of the group members to finally complete this quest.

Full Walkthrough

Of course, you are here for a reason so it is likely that a brief walkthrough isn’t what you need. In that case, I have broken down this entire Into the Unknown quest and investigate the source of the anomaly objective, in particular, so you can adequately complete this main story quest with no problems.

Here is everything you need to know about this quest from start to finish in Starfield.

Visiting the First Planet

First off, you need to meet the requirements even to begin this quest in the first place. You want to complete the prologue in the game and then head to New Atlantis, speak with Sarah Morgan there, meet the members of the Constellation group, and join them. After that, you need to journey with Sarah to the Sol System and complete The Old Neighborhood.

That is the first main story quest for Constellation, and after completing it, Sarah and the rest of the group will give you three new main story quests at once. You can do Back to Vectera, The Empty Nest, and Into the Unknown in any order you want.

I don’t have a recommendation, except Into the Unknown grants you a lot for your game, such as a new companion and more, so it is worth doing sooner rather than later.

When you are ready to start this quest, head to The Eye, which is the small space station that orbits Jemison, where New Atlantis is. Go aboard the ship and speak with Vladimir to meet this other member of the group. He will tell you about two planets he has discovered that likely have artifacts to add to your collection.

What is odd about this part that is hard to help you out within this guide is that these first two planets are entirely randomized. Yes, the planets you get and the ones I got during this quest are unlikely to be the same, given how massive the galaxy is, with more than 1,000 planets to explore.

But there seem to be some parts I can help you with. You can visit either of the two planets in whatever order you want, so pick whichever you want to visit first. From my experience, it seems you won’t encounter Andreja until you reach the second planet of the two.

For the first one, it can be something like an abandoned outpost that is overrun by criminals or a cave or a mine, and so on. For me, it was the first option, and I had to run through a small facility with space pirates everywhere for me to take out.

Fortunately for you, the artifact is all you need, so you can run through the location you visit and go straight to the artifact, pick it up, and leave without fighting anyone. I highly suggest this because there are way too many enemies, and it can take too long to defeat them, and the experience isn’t always worth it.

Visiting the Second Planet and Meeting Andreja

After finishing up at the first planet and collecting the first artifact, Zeta, it is now time to visit the second planet. It seems there is a bit more consistency for this second planet in that you will have to visit a cave or abandoned mine that is underground for this one.

Head to whatever planet the game tells you to go to. If you need some help locating it, I recommend opening up your missions, going to the Into the Unknown quest, and then pressing X on a controller to automatically fast-travel to the planet you are supposed to go to.

When you arrive here, there should be a cave or other underground area you’ll need to enter in order to find the next artifact. When you enter this place, you’ll be greeted by Andreja, the missing member of Constellation, and her taking out one of the space pirates in cold blood.

She will now join you and be your forced active companion until you complete this part of the mission. This is similar to the first planet in that you don’t have to remove all the enemies you find within this cave. All you need to do is visit the end of the cave and extract the artifact there.

So, you can choose whether you want to take your time, take out all of the pirates for experience and their items, and then get the artifact or gun straight for the artifact at the end, as I did. Once you get the next artifact, Iota, it is time to escape the cave, leave the planet on your ship, and head to the next destination in this quest.

Take the Artifacts to the Lodge

Once you have both of the new artifacts, Zeta and Iota, it is time to head to the Constellation Lodge again on New Atlantis. You can insert the artifacts there to add them to the growing collection and have Andreja become your permanent party member. You can now choose to bring her along or have her wait for you at the Lodge.

Regardless of what you pick, this quest is somehow not over yet, even though you could spend well over an hour just on the parts we already did. It is now time to return to Vladimir at The Eye. This time around, he will tell you of a location where there is an anomaly.

He wants you to head there and investigate the source of the anomaly and see why it is stopping him from being able to locate more artifacts for the collection. This is the second half of this quest and the far more spoilery part, so turn away now if you aren’t ready for this section.

Head to the Next Planet

The planet in question you need to head to for this part seems to be set in stone for every player, unlike the first part of this quest. That planet is Procyon III, the third planet in that system. When you get to this planet, there is an anomaly landing mark you can head to.

When you arrive here on this planet, it is time to finally investigate the source of the anomaly and complete this Starfield main story quest once and for all.

How to Find the Anomaly

Finding the anomaly is easier said than done. The game doesn’t exactly make this part that easy. All it tells you to do is pull out your scanner, which does not do much if you don’t know what to do with it. To investigate the source of the anomaly, use LB for controller players to pull out the scanner.

With the scanner in hand, note the white ring in the middle of your screen; it’s quite large and hard to miss. This is the bounds with which you are able to scan things. If something isn’t in this circle, you aren’t able to scan it. Well, you want to be pointing this circle towards the anomaly.

How you know what the anomaly is starts with you standing still and rotating in a circle 360 degrees. Go kind of slow with this, and you will notice at some point while you rotate looking around that the white circle will start to distort and show some red static in the middle of the white border.

When you find this, which is somewhat tricky if you are far away from the anomaly, you want to stay still on that distortion. This is where the anomaly is; now it is time to locate it. To do that, head toward the distortion and ensure you always see it on your screen. If you don’t, you’ve veered off course.

Keep following this until you start to come upon a large intriguing structure. Once you are close enough, the game will mark the anomaly location on your map, and you will have finally found the source of the anomaly, which is a location known as Temple Eta. Now that you are here, it is time to rid the galaxy of this anomaly.

How to Complete the Lights Puzzle at Temple Eta

There are two entrances to Temple Eta, and they both lead to the same large empty room, so pick whichever one you want to enter from. Once inside, this is a massive room that happens to have zero gravity. It can be hard to maneuver around in zero gravity, so take your time and familiarize yourself with it if this is your first time in this situation.

When you are ready, approach the only object in this room: the massive floating rings. As you get close to them, they will start to light up and spin around in circles like crazy. As this happens, music will start to boom, and lights will start to sparkle across the place.

What you want to keep an eye out for is a gathering of lights that come together in a crystal-like shape. They are really hard to see in the middle of all the swarms of other lights, but this is your target. When you see it, try to boost and fly your way to the light and pass through it.

Once you do this, the lights will dissipate, and then they will regather again somewhere else in the room. You might think you messed up, but you haven’t. The next part of this light puzzle is to fly to that next crystal-like gathering of lights and pass through them. The same situation will repeat now with more lights gathering somewhere else.

Yes, you have to repeat this trick quite a few times. It varies from temple to temple, but I would say at least seven or eight times, if not a full ten times, on your first temple. You’ll know when you are finally done because the music will reach its crescendo, the place will brighten quite a bit more, and the rings will rotate at an astonishing speed.

This will culminate with the rings blasting a wave of light across the room and finally settling into one massive portal. All you need to do now is head to the portal, and your character will go inside of it for a cutscene that will result in you leaving Temple Eta.

Use Your New Starborn Power

As you leave Temple Eta, you will now find out that you have unlocked the first of many Starborn powers. These powers are similar to the Dragonborn breathes you had in Skyrim and so on. The first power you have is the Anti-Gravity Field, and you’ll be able to try it out using LB and RB at the same time on a controller.

However, you need to watch out because there is a Starborn Guardian Eta who will appear before you as soon as you leave the temple and attack. There is no reasoning with this person, so you will have to defeat them before you are able to continue.

After you defeat them, it is now finally time to return to the Constellation Lodge and show the members of the group the new power you’ve unlocked. When you walk in, the game will ask you to demonstrate your Anti-Gravity Field Starborn power to them using LB and RB.

Once you do this, everyone will comment on the surprising matter, and you will finally complete this lengthy Into the Unknown Starfield main story quest.

You might also be interested in our guide: Starfield Best Skills Guide: Piloting, Security, Persuasion, More

Quest Rewards

With the long-awaited completion of the Into the Unknown quest in Starfield and investigating the source of the anomaly, you will now earn some well-deserved rewards.

Besides the primary rewards you get from this quest’s completion, you’ll also be able to obtain tons of items, credits, and experience during your adventures in the various dungeon-like areas on the planets you visited.

But if you were like me and ignored all of that, you would only get the quest rewards at the end, for the most part. You’ll get the first Starborn power in the form of Anti-Gravity Field, plus a massive bit of experience that seems to be somewhat relative to your current level, 9500 credits to spend on whatever you like, and two med packs.

You’ll have Andreja as a permanent party member who you can add as your active companion or even to your ship or outpost as a crew member. You’ll also have the opportunity to take on the Power Beyond Constellation mission in the game, which takes you to various planets to uncover the temples there and unlock further Starborn powers like this one.

FAQs

How to Steal Ships in Starfield Next

When you are finally done with the Into the Unknown quest, you’ll unlock one of the coolest and most hidden features in Starfield.

It is absolutely worth going through all the trouble of locating the various planets you need to visit for this quest, going through the different little dungeon-like areas to find the artifacts, and even completing the lights anomaly puzzle.

There is so much to do in this quest that it can be overwhelming, but it is worth it for everything it unlocks. Besides the new gameplay feature you’ll unlock, you also get access to Andreja, who is one of the four main companions in this game and someone you can romance if you so desire.

Now that you are done with Into the Unknown, I highly recommend checking out everything you need to know about ships next in Starfield. There is so much to ships that the game doesn’t explain well to you, including how to get new ones, sell your ships, and even steal ships to help you locate more artifacts for Constellation.

Continue reading:

Starfield Best Ship Weapons Guide: Best Lasers, Missiles, EM, More

Starfield Traits Guide: Which Is Right for You?

Baldur’s Gate 3 Save Mayrina Guide: How to Defeat Auntie Ethel