NGC 7822 Nebula didn't catch my attention until I arrived near the Cave Nebula. NGC 7822 hangs like a scattering of bright diamonds, but that is only apparent as you draw near. From a distance the nebula looks like a large white dot; easily mistakable for a planetary body. Yet whilst it may look quite unremarkable at this view point, it is without doubt one of the wonders of the galaxy.
Once you enter the nebula it is as though you are transported to a different dimension, the first thing that hits you is the blue light of the stars which illuminate your cockpit with vivid shades. All the major systems inside this region contain Class O Blue / White stars. The nebula itself is red and black, the dark areas are in fact so dark that they completely occlude the galactic core. The surrounding space is dark with so few stars that it is actually possible to count them, the absence of the galactic core after its constant presence is striking.
A typical system will often contain multiple stars, and it's not unusual for a system to contain around 10 stars and in some cases many, many more. Such stars will be from a variety of class, and will include the usual white and brown dwarfs. All orbiting in sometimes complex layouts.
[video=youtube;IJg06PgkcUI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJg06PgkcUI[/video]
Black holes exist in this nebula in abundance, the majority of systems will contain one and some contain two - one of the systems even contained three black holes.
In most cases the black holes orbit at a great distance from the main star, but on occasion unusual and/or uncommon orbits occur. I very nearly lost my ship in the following area as I was so mesmerised by the black hole that I forgot to pay attention to my heat. The heat actually raised up to over 260% and dropped my hull damage down to 69%. I made it out with the use of heat sinks, never take an exploration trip without them! The black hole has a semi-major axis of just 0.05AU, the size of the star and the closeness of the black hole makes it difficult to fly between them without building up heat levels.
Most of the stars in this region are very, very young a few as fresh as 1 million years. I didn't find any stars over the age of hundreds of millions of years, but whatever the age - stars of all types exist in abundance out here.
This area is easily one of the most impressive I have explored so far, much of this was due to the region feeling completely isolated from the rest of space. The lack of stars, and the complete absence of the core left me feeling as though I was in an entirely different realm. For those of you with an Oculus Rift, this place is a truly wonderful experience - it literally is out of this world. In the end I stayed in this region far longer than I have any other nebula - and I made sure to take system maps of all the systems that contained Class O type stars. There are a few systems that require permits so I expect this area to be fully used at some point in the future.
For now, I am off to the next nebula, but this is an area I will be returning to for sure. If your interested in more adventures in NGC 7822 - I chronicled some of them in episode 15 of my Exploring Elite: Dangerous series.
[video=youtube;YeOTRjygobE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeOTRjygobE[/video]
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