Subnautica 2 celestine occurs naturally only as Celestine Deposits, and you have to break them with the Sonic Resonator. The official wiki lists five places to find it: the Intermediary Basin, the Needler Nest, the Root Canyon, the Karakorum Metal Farms and the area below the Karakorum Power Plant. You refine it into Strontium, spend it directly on the Modification Station and the Tadpole Depth Module Mk. 1, and once you own a Metal Farm you can grow three at a time.
This guide reflects the official Subnautica 2 Wiki and the Unknown Worlds patch notes as of Buddy System Hotfix 2 (October 6, 2026). Subnautica 2 is in Early Access, so locations, recipes and balance can change in later updates. It is a sourced guide, not a hands-on test, and undocumented details are marked as unconfirmed.
01
Where to find Celestine
The table collects every Celestine location the wiki names, with the depth each biome page gives. Its item description calls it a local source of radioactive Strontium that burns brilliant red.
| Location | Region | Depth listed | What to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intermediary Basin | Tar Delta | 0 to 360 m | Largely empty trench between the Coral Gardens and the Karakorum Ruins, patrolled by a Collector Leviathan |
| Needler Nest | Karakorum Ruins, inside the Overgrown Ruins | 300 m | Mesa at -202056, 451382, home to aggressive Needler Mangos |
| Root Canyon | Karakorum Ruins | 364 to 750 m | Deepest accessible biome in the current build, beneath the power plant and bordering the Metal Farms |
| Karakorum Metal Farms | Karakorum Ruins | 470 m (the Biomes table says 0 to 500 m) | Axum facility northeast of the power plant |
| Below the Karakorum Power Plant | Karakorum Ruins | Plant spans 20 to 470 m | Plant coordinates -166269, 437515 |
Not every listing is equally detailed. The Needler Nest and Root Canyon pages include Celestine in their own resource lists, so they are the best-documented spots. The Karakorum Metal Farms show Celestine in the wiki's Biomes table but not in that biome's own resource section, and the Intermediary Basin and power plant pages list no resources at all.
There is also no exact Subnautica 2 celestine location map on the wiki. It does not publish coordinates for individual deposits, and none of its interactive map pages has a Celestine layer, so expect to search each area rather than follow a pin. The map and biomes guide explains how these regions connect.
02
Celestine near the alien ruins
If you heard that Celestine sits near alien ruins, that matches the wiki. The Axum are an intelligent alien species native to Proteus, and the Karakorum Ruins region was once their industrial site. Four of the five Celestine spots lie inside it: the Needler Nest carries a pair of ancient Axum ruins on its top plateaus, the Root Canyon is dominated by Axum infrastructure ruins, the Karakorum Metal Farms are an Axum metal-farming facility, and the Karakorum Power Plant is an enormous Axum power plant. The fifth spot, the Intermediary Basin, is the trench you cross on the way east.
These landmark coordinates come from the wiki's main interactive map:
| Landmark | Coordinates (X, Y) | Depth listed |
|---|---|---|
| Rosetta Stone | -213863, 449442 | 125 m |
| Axum Observatory | -222792, 432315 | 130 m |
| Karakorum Power Plant | -166269, 437515 | 300 m |
| Upper Generator Control Room | -159184, 450457 | 196 m |
| Lower Generator Control Room | -160859, 444948 | 402 m |
The Needler Nest sits just east of the Rosetta Stone and west of the power plant. The Root Canyon fills most of the space beneath the power plant, and the wiki places both the canyon and the Metal Farms to its northeast.
03
What breaks Celestine: the Sonic Resonator
Celestine only appears as resource deposits, so the wiki says you need the Sonic Resonator. To unlock the tool, scan two Sonic Resonator fragments, then craft it at the Fabricator from 2 Titanium Ingot, 2 Lead, 1 Wiring Kit and 1 Basic Battery. Most of the eleven fragment spots on the wiki are shallow, such as a shelf in the Old Habitat at -337674, 392986 @ 55m, while one sits on a cliffside just northeast of the Karakorum Power Plant at -159495, 427967 @ 305m.
To mine, aim the resonator at a deposit. The crosshair grows and turns green when the target is valid, a blast takes about a second to charge, and it fires when you release (letting go early cancels it). The tool runs on a battery, so carry a charged spare on long trips.
How much Celestine one deposit yields is not documented on the official wiki yet.
04
Finding Celestine deposits faster
- Scanner Station. This base module lists Celestine among the resources it can scan for. It covers a spherical radius of 300 m, draws 10 energy per second, and lets you turn any signal into a HUD marker. A filter only appears when a matching signal is in range, so a missing Celestine filter means nothing is within 300 m. Build it with the Habitat Builder from 1 System Chip, 3 Titanium and 1 Wiring Kit after scanning one at Camp One or the Old Habitat. Buddy System Hotfix 2 fixed the station not finding resources accurately.
- Sonic Echo. This active Biomod emits a sonar pulse that highlights nearby ore deposits regardless of their size, with a 10 second cooldown. Bio-scanning a Collector Leviathan with a Bioscanner unlocks it at the Biolab, which is risky but helps on every later resource run.
05
What Celestine is used for
The wiki's uses list shows these recipes that take Celestine directly:
| Product | Crafted at | Ingredients |
|---|---|---|
| Strontium | Processor, 0:30 | 2 Celestine |
| Modification Station | Habitat Builder | 2 Titanium, 2 Celestine, 2 Copper |
| Tadpole Depth Module Mk. 1 | Modification Station | 3 Celestine, 2 Enameled Glass, 1 System Chip |
| Axum Wall Lamp | Habitat Builder | 1 Celestine, 1 Titanium |
The Axum Pot and Axum Street Lamp also list Celestine, but the wiki marks both as currently unavailable in regular gameplay. For the other ingredients, see the resources guide.
The Modification Station is the bench for Tadpole upgrade modules and prototype tool mods such as the Bioscanner, so Celestine stands between you and all of those upgrades. Its blueprint comes from scanning the Modification Station at the Research Outpost, listed at -208879, 425138 @ 140m.
The Tadpole Depth Module Mk. 1 raises the Tadpole's safe depth from 250 m to 450 m. Its Recipe Data Card is in the Needler Nest at -200191, 450554 @ 295m, the same place you find Celestine and the Creature Enamel for its Enameled Glass; see the Creature Enamel guide. The Axum Wall Lamp gives a warm yellow light and can be built in water.
Strontium is where most of your Celestine ends up. The Processor turns 2 Celestine into 1 Strontium in 30 seconds, and the wiki lists Strontium in these recipes:
- Cavitation Muffler: 3 Titanium, 2 Strontium. It makes the Tadpole quieter, so hostile lifeforms are less likely to notice it.
- Feedback Resonator: 1 Sonic Resonator, 2 Enameled Glass, 2 Conduit Crystal, 2 Strontium.
- Strike Armor: 2 Enameled Glass, 2 Strontium.
- Tadpole Haul Chassis: 4 Titanium Ingot, 3 Strontium, 3 Enameled Glass, 1 Dedicated Core.
- Power Plant Turbine repair: 10 Titanium Ingot, 10 Strontium, 10 Axum Ingot.
The turbine repair is a major progression step at the Karakorum Power Plant, and its 10 Strontium alone means 20 Celestine. Adding up the recipes listed on this page, one Modification Station (2), one Depth Module Mk. 1 (3) and one of each Strontium recipe above (19 Strontium, or 38 Celestine) total 43 Celestine. That is this guide's own sum of the wiki's current recipes, not an in-game figure, and it leaves out Axum Wall Lamps. The Feedback Resonator also needs Conduit Crystal, which the wiki places below the Karakorum Power Plant and in the Root Canyon, so one trip can cover both.
06
Farming Celestine in a Metal Farm
Yes, a Metal Farm can produce Celestine. Seed it with one Celestine, which is not used up, and it grows a deposit that yields 3 Celestine every 10:00 (ten minutes), the same cycle the wiki lists for Lead, Silver, Gold and Sulfur.
- Blueprint: scan the metal farm structures at the Karakorum Metal Farms, which is itself a Celestine biome. The wiki lists three fragments.
- Build: Habitat Builder, 1 Axum Ingot and 1 Axum Bacterial Culture.
- Power: the farm must be submerged and powered. The wiki lists a draw of 20 units of electricity, and the timer pauses when power runs short.
- Harvest: shatter the finished deposit with the Sonic Resonator. A new cycle only starts after you do.
The wiki does not say whether Celestine Deposits respawn. Its Troilite page notes that Mineralized Clinkers respawn, unlike most resource deposits, so treat ordinary deposits as limited and keep one Celestine in reserve for seeding. The Metal Farm guide has more on the structure itself.
07
Staying safe on Celestine runs
Two Collector Leviathans live in Celestine country, one in the Intermediary Basin trench and one patrolling the water above the Karakorum Metal Farms, and neither can be killed. At the Metal Farms, the wiki says the Collector will not notice you as long as you stay deeper than 350 m. In the Basin, the table-like rocks give short-term cover and Distraction Flares can pull its attention, while breaching the surface or fitting a Cavitation Muffler can help you get across. For more on the Collector, see the leviathans guide.
The wiki lists the Tadpole's safe depth as 250 m with no module and 450 m with the Mk. 1, and the Tadpole takes damage when it dives past that limit. It also shows 800 m for a Depth Module Mk. 2, but that page is built from game files, and its recipe needs Tar Graphene, which the wiki marks as unimplemented. For now, 450 m is the practical limit, while the Root Canyon reaches 750 m. At the Needler Nest, Needler Mangos fire volleys of needles and will even attack a parked Tadpole, so stun them with the resonator, which works on most creatures for up to 10 seconds.
08
Common questions about Celestine
What tool do I need? The wiki names the Sonic Resonator. It lists Celestine only as Resource Deposits, not as smaller nodes you break by hand.
Which spots are best documented? The Needler Nest and the Root Canyon, since their own wiki pages list Celestine. The nest also holds the Depth Module Mk. 1 blueprint, which matters because the canyon runs deeper than the Tadpole's 250 m base safe depth.