Exploring In Elite Dangerous

There are around 400 billion star systems in Elite Dangerous and currently less than 0.01% has actually been explored.  That's including all players from PC and consoles.

Exploration gives players the opportunity to earn credits by using a Discovery Scanner to scan star systems and using a Planetary Surface Scanner to scan individual stars and planets.  Players can then sell the data collected at ports for credits.  If you manage to scan any stars or planets that haven't previously been scanned by anyone else you not only will get a bigger payout but also have your name (gamertag, PSN, etc) displayed on the planetary body.

Elite Dangerous Wiki

I'm not going to tell you all the ins and outs of exploring.  If you'd like to know more about exploring in Elite Dangerous, there is an excellent wiki page with all sorts of information about exploring including tips for building exploration ships, guides for how to set up the star filter in the galaxy map, how many credits you'll earn for scanning each type of planetary body, etc.

Exploration Ships

Technically there's no such thing as an exploration ship, all ships in Elite Dangerous can be fitted out for exploration.  The only thing is; some ships are better suited than others.
Below is a table of all ships currently in Elite Dangerous showing both unmodded and modded jump range and price.  As you can see, if you're strapped for cash, you can still have a reasonable exploration build for a Hauler, but, if you can afford it I recommend the Diamondback Explorer because it has the largest unmodded jump range, it's relatively cheap to buy and build, and because of its small size you can land at any port.

Note:
The prices in the table below were taken from the Coriolis ship builder website and will vary at different ports across the galaxy, e.g. Li Yong-Rui controlled systems offer a 15% discount and in Jameson Memorial it's 10%.
Also, the builds are based on pre-update 2.4 modules so do not include repair limpets.  I am waiting for an update to the production Coriolis website and the Beyond 3.0 before I redo all the ship builds.

Note:  The engineer changes in the Beyond 3.0 update will change some of these figures but you'll still be able to use it as a guide

Ship Pad Size Unmodded (ly) Modded (ly) Ship Price Build Price Total Price Build
Anaconda Large 37.80 62.13 141,889,930 133,199,570 275,089,500 https://eddp.co/u/fUiw7Eop
Diamondback Explorer Small 39.40 58.92 1,635,700 16,326,990 17,962,690 https://eddp.co/u/whAQZy9C
Asp Explorer Medium 36.16 55.09 6,135,660 46,094,930 52,230,590 https://eddp.co/u/x6TjxgEl
Orca Large 34.16 52.76 47,790,590 26,566,250 74,356,840 https://eddp.co/u/xQ9KW9cp
Dolphin Medium 31.89 48.48 1,115,330 12,771,830 13,887,160 https://eddp.co/u/ahqk35mc
Asp Scout Medium 30.07 45.73 3,818,240 18,989,670 22,807,910 https://eddp.co/u/5JSUawnl
Type-6 Transporter Medium 30.46 45.45 865,790 21,628,870 22,494,660 https://eddp.co/u/4XlceuYM
Beluga Liner Large 29.16 45.21 79,654,610 96,180,730 175,835,340 https://eddp.co/u/R2fi2aHQ
Hauler Small 29.41 44.61 29,790 2,887,080 2,916,870 https://eddp.co/u/aU1Abu9S
Python Medium 28.47 43.89 55,171,380 53,252,680 108,424,060 https://eddp.co/u/XFe1QBHL
Diamondback Scout Small 29.26 43.87 461,340 4,585,780 5,047,120 https://eddp.co/u/c7qhcCAQ
Cobra Mk III Small 26.67 40.25 205,800 11,651,420 11,857,220 https://eddp.co/u/KHAtPn9J
Keelback Medium 26.67 39.86 2,943,870 22,728,710 25,672,580 https://eddp.co/u/cCqKeNBE
Imperial Courier Small 26.50 39.86 2,481,550 6,043,030 8,524,580 https://eddp.co/u/UjELqES4
Adder Small 26.06 39.73 40,000 3,425,140 3,465,140 https://eddp.co/u/W361noj3
Imperial Cutter Large 25.61 39.55 199,926,890 399,926,500 599,853,390 https://eddp.co/u/A6EUrunk
Imperial Clipper Large 25.68 39.07 21,077,780 118,985,040 140,062,820 https://eddp.co/u/TudZbeqj
Type-7 Transporter Large 25.61 38.60 16,780,510 52,995,280 69,775,790 https://eddp.co/u/bC1AGbmV
Viper Mk IV Small 25.61 38.52 310,220 11,644,910 11,955,130 https://eddp.co/u/HRjjyugA
Imperial Eagle Small 23.23 34.95 72,180 3,237,100 3,309,280 https://eddp.co/u/wtN1LAgF
Eagle Small 23.13 34.77 10,440 3,391,390 3,401,830 https://eddp.co/u/ddqaVeov
Viper Mk III Small 22.45 34.33 95,900 3,402,560 3,498,460 https://eddp.co/u/NipybndH
Federal Assault Ship Medium 22.24 33.76 19,072,000 26,575,030 45,647,030 https://eddp.co/u/DXNSPfZs
Alliance Chieftain Medium 25.13 38.29 18,182,883 https://eddp.co/u/jjneq2K4
Vulture Small 21.28 32.27 4,689,640 13,164,150 17,853,790 https://eddp.co/u/ipovkVYs
Federal Corvette Large 20.14 31.71 182,589,570 145,857,670 328,447,240 https://eddp.co/u/dy6ey59q
Sidewinder Small 20.78 31.42 4,070 2,266,220 2,270,290 https://eddp.co/u/6VL8zGCs
Type-9 Heavy Large 19.70 29.57 73,255,150 341,021,130 414,276,280 https://eddp.co/u/UohwJQN3
Type-10 Defender Large 24.93 37.57 121,454,173 https://eddp.co/u/exVvkYWX
Fer-de-Lance Medium 19.43 29.56 51,232,230 13,233,460 64,465,690 https://eddp.co/u/fH5SwgkV
Federal Dropship Medium 18.87 28.56 13,469,990 46,261,450 59,731,440 https://eddp.co/u/53l34jo9
Federal Gunship Medium 18.60 28.29 34,774,790 36,850,290 71,625,080 https://eddp.co/u/DW57J18r

Note:  The ship builds in this list are subject to change