Are you up on your periodic table? Well, you might as well pick it up and study it if you plan on playing Starfield. From what we've seen of the game’s planet view, the interface will show resources contained in each planetoid by using elements of the periodic table.
For example, if a planet might contain resources such as Iron and Cobalt, you'd have to know that the view is indicating "FE" (for Iron) or "CO" (for Cobalt). Sure, that might be a good way to start actually learning something, but we'll probably guess the game will also have some tooltips to avoid actually using a periodic table while playing.
On the Starmap, the player seems to have plenty of interesting little information on a planet, beside resources. For example the type of planet, which will also clearly influence its flora, fauna and resources as well. Gravity is also quite important, so we'll have to know how to maneuver around it.
Temperature will also play a part of course, even though our suit will probably keep us safe from most extreme temperatures. Atmosphere and magnetosphere are also two technical things that might come in handy before deciding to venture down and explore.
Flora and fauna, while slightly less important, might also be two things to keep in mind. If we are looking for plants to harvest, clearly a planet with more flora might be the right choice, and same goes for the animals. We don't know yet the extent of our interactions with the animals in each planet, but we're sure there's going to be interesting things in store.
So, while perhaps having a periodic table on hand might - in the end - not be required, it is a good chance as any to brush up on those elements. You don't want to find yourself wondering how magnets work, much like the Insane Clown Posse, now do you?