HI. When i am in a certain area, in the left hand of the cockpit there are all these unexplored systems/areas under "navigation". As i intend to be an explorer in this game, does "unexplored" mean unexplored by ME or generally unexplored? Would it be a good goal to explore everything i see in the navigation panel?
Another exploration question. What are all these systems??
- Thread starter Arismac
- Start date
In the Nav Panel? They're unexplored by you. Might also be unexplored by others, the FSS / system map will tell you that. Some people explore everything - others .. no so much 
Try and and work out what you enjoy - I think at last count fdev reckoned they had identified 17 types of explorer.
Try and and work out what you enjoy - I think at last count fdev reckoned they had identified 17 types of explorer.
Our Factabulous is on the money.
What a lot of people starting out (and some "bubblelubbers") don't appreciate at first is that when you arrive in a system that was "Unknown" before you jumped in you can have 3 types of condition appear when you arrive:
1. Everything is revealed on your sensor display and all bodies and stations are identified by name on your Nav panel and in the system map - these are systems which originally everyone had in their ship's database but which for some reason F D made "unknown" until you arrived in-system.
2. Everything is revealed on your sensor display but all bodies and stations are listed as Unexplored on your nav screen and system map - these are systems where someone has explored, discovered stuff and sold the data. You can "discover" these bodies in this system (using FSS or flying within passive detection range - 30ls) and sell that data.
3. Nothing is shown on your sensor display until shortly after arrival the star pops up on the sensor and your HUD displays "discovered XXXX" (also anything else in passive range) - the system map will be empty apart from the initial arrival discovery - you need to "discover" bodies by using the FSS or flying near them. This system's data when sold will carry extra reward as "first discovered".
There is another variation where you arrive in system and the star and maybe a couple of bodies are shown on the display and system map but there are other bodies not shown and there to be discovered by you. This is where people either just jumped straight away or only cherry-picked high-value bodies and so sold only partial system data.
In cases 2 and 3 you can map anything you want and get paid for it, in case 3 the mapping carries an extra bonus "first mapped". You can map bodies in case 1 but I think the payouts there are very low - maybe people can fill you in on that.
(Oh dear, what was meant to be a one-line reply got out of hand, sorry.)
TL/DR: use the FSS and system map to decide what you want to investigate.