Thank you. The journey just began again. I am actually working on the next post right now. Sadly I wont be able to finish it tonight, it should be up in the morning.
Around the galaxy in 80 days (with any luck)
- Thread starter Maia Posidana
- Start date
Day 135 (3) ***Image heavy***
PROMETHEUS ASCENDANT
A New Beginning
The loss of Magellan hit me hard. So much so that I almost considered giving up the mission. I headed SOL ward in to the inhabited systems for a few days. Spent most of my money buying and fitting out a vulture, deciding I would try my hand as a combat pilot. Sadly, after about a week of bounty hunting and flying in the regions many combat zones, I had lost a little more money than I had made. Thus I sold the vulture and returned to SOTHIS where my as yet unnamed ASP sat waiting.
While I prepared to continue my mission, I was pouring through the historical archives in SOTHIS and came across what is perhaps one of the oldest surviving pieces of music from old EARTH. This song dated back a bit more than a thousand years, to a time before the wars and environmental catastrophes forces the temporary evacuation of the entire planet. The piece was titled "Fire in the Sky" and as soon as I heard it, I knew I had the name for my new ship.
Behold: PROMETHEUS
In mythology, Prometheus stole the knowledge of fire from the heavens. Now, I was stealing back into those very same heavens for the sake of the fire of knowledge.
With Prometheus polished, fueled, charged, provisioned and itching for her maiden flight, I departed Ejeta starport in SOTHIS the day before yesterday. I made for the WITCH HEAD NEBULA, closely, but not directly following my previous route.
HYADES SECTOR: Under the brilliant white light of a T-tauri proto-star, I set Prometheus down on an asteroid very near to the corona of the star. I took samples for the study of the early life of a solar system.
On my way toward the WITCH HEAD SECTOR I passed through the SYNUEFE SECTOR where I came across this little gem. SYNUEFE BX-R D5-23 2 is a ringed high metal content planet with metal rich rings. It is itself a moon of a ringed gas giant (also with metal rich rings - a miners paradise). The rings around this world were so dense that it was actually dark inside them. As such it was, quite frankly, rather unnerving trying to maneuver through them. THe WITCH HEAD NEBULA can be seen in the first image here right below BARNARDS LOOP.
In the system of HIP 24146 I came across this gorgeous gas giant. With a primarily ammonia based atmosphere (and ammonia based life as well) the atmosphere was startlingly white. Again, more highly metal rich rings (why is nobody out here mining these?) HIP 24146 AB 1
HIP 23759 11 A and 10
HIP 23759 11 A is an atmosphere bearing(CO2 mostly) ringed, high metal content world that is one of 2 such that are moons of Planet 11, itself a ringed gas giant. I chose the explore this world because it looked like a likely candidate for finding ice rings. Sadly, as I got closer,, the scanners revealed all metal and rock. I chose planet 10 for the same reason...and sadly, with the same result. With the WITCH HEAD NEBULA close by I was hoping to find some ice to reflect the heartbreakingly beautiful blue hues in the nebula.
WITCH HEAD SECTOR QD-S B4-0 1
The rings of this gas giant, just on the outskirts of the nebula, had temperatures just a few degrees above absolute zero. Prometheus's heating systems were hard pressed to keep up. In addition to the insane cold, there was a phenomenal amount of water gas in the rings as well. So much so in fact that it created a visible CLOUD that made traversing the rings difficult due to low visibility.
Leaving WITCH HEAD NEBULA behind. Heading for V2 142 ORIONIS
V2 142 ORIONIS
A system of gas giants, mothered by a red dwarf star. The fifth planet in the system showed to be a gigantic RED gas giant! I had to look, I've never seen a red gas giant before. at a little over 5,000 LS from the parent dwarf, almost no light reaches this world. Approaching it was like approaching a black hole (without the lensing effect). Occasionally I could see hints of red around the limbs, but that was it. Still, against the plane of the Milky Way, and with BARNARDS LOOP behind it, it was a STUNNING sight.
BARNARDS LOOP and the ORION NEBULA in all their combined glory.
2MASS J05352845-045 1548
A little past BARNARDS LOOP is the 2MASS sector. There I came upon this beautiful ice planet...and FINALLY some ice rings. Sadly the rings did not reflect the color of the nearby nebula like I'd hoped it would (due to ambient lighting conditions), but the view was still incredible. This world is nearly 3 Earth radius in size making it one of the largest snowballs I've ever encountered.
I ended the second day of this part of the voyage in the same system, same belt, where I lost Magellan. Coming in from a different direction, I managed to arrive safely. I'd hoped perhaps, to find some of her wreckage; perhaps even recover her flight data recorder. No such luck. At the speed I was going when the accident occurred, over two weeks, anything left of her has likely flown close enough to the sun to be vaporized. Thus I followed through with the plan that had brought Magellan to this belt in the first place. a beauty shot on an asteroid.
And that is where I parked Prometheus for the night. Today is a day of rest as the last couple of weeks have been rather hectic. Today I do as little as humanly possible. Perhaps, if I get bored, I might suit up and go take a stroll on this rock. It would be nice if it had an atmosphere, I could go sunbathing...
One last note before I sign off for now. That piece of music of which I spoke...
[video=youtube;-Ryd_p20XEU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ryd_p20XEU[/video]
PROMETHEUS ASCENDANT
A New Beginning
The loss of Magellan hit me hard. So much so that I almost considered giving up the mission. I headed SOL ward in to the inhabited systems for a few days. Spent most of my money buying and fitting out a vulture, deciding I would try my hand as a combat pilot. Sadly, after about a week of bounty hunting and flying in the regions many combat zones, I had lost a little more money than I had made. Thus I sold the vulture and returned to SOTHIS where my as yet unnamed ASP sat waiting.
While I prepared to continue my mission, I was pouring through the historical archives in SOTHIS and came across what is perhaps one of the oldest surviving pieces of music from old EARTH. This song dated back a bit more than a thousand years, to a time before the wars and environmental catastrophes forces the temporary evacuation of the entire planet. The piece was titled "Fire in the Sky" and as soon as I heard it, I knew I had the name for my new ship.
Behold: PROMETHEUS
In mythology, Prometheus stole the knowledge of fire from the heavens. Now, I was stealing back into those very same heavens for the sake of the fire of knowledge.
With Prometheus polished, fueled, charged, provisioned and itching for her maiden flight, I departed Ejeta starport in SOTHIS the day before yesterday. I made for the WITCH HEAD NEBULA, closely, but not directly following my previous route.
HYADES SECTOR: Under the brilliant white light of a T-tauri proto-star, I set Prometheus down on an asteroid very near to the corona of the star. I took samples for the study of the early life of a solar system.
On my way toward the WITCH HEAD SECTOR I passed through the SYNUEFE SECTOR where I came across this little gem. SYNUEFE BX-R D5-23 2 is a ringed high metal content planet with metal rich rings. It is itself a moon of a ringed gas giant (also with metal rich rings - a miners paradise). The rings around this world were so dense that it was actually dark inside them. As such it was, quite frankly, rather unnerving trying to maneuver through them. THe WITCH HEAD NEBULA can be seen in the first image here right below BARNARDS LOOP.
In the system of HIP 24146 I came across this gorgeous gas giant. With a primarily ammonia based atmosphere (and ammonia based life as well) the atmosphere was startlingly white. Again, more highly metal rich rings (why is nobody out here mining these?) HIP 24146 AB 1
HIP 23759 11 A and 10
HIP 23759 11 A is an atmosphere bearing(CO2 mostly) ringed, high metal content world that is one of 2 such that are moons of Planet 11, itself a ringed gas giant. I chose the explore this world because it looked like a likely candidate for finding ice rings. Sadly, as I got closer,, the scanners revealed all metal and rock. I chose planet 10 for the same reason...and sadly, with the same result. With the WITCH HEAD NEBULA close by I was hoping to find some ice to reflect the heartbreakingly beautiful blue hues in the nebula.
WITCH HEAD SECTOR QD-S B4-0 1
The rings of this gas giant, just on the outskirts of the nebula, had temperatures just a few degrees above absolute zero. Prometheus's heating systems were hard pressed to keep up. In addition to the insane cold, there was a phenomenal amount of water gas in the rings as well. So much so in fact that it created a visible CLOUD that made traversing the rings difficult due to low visibility.
Leaving WITCH HEAD NEBULA behind. Heading for V2 142 ORIONIS
V2 142 ORIONIS
A system of gas giants, mothered by a red dwarf star. The fifth planet in the system showed to be a gigantic RED gas giant! I had to look, I've never seen a red gas giant before. at a little over 5,000 LS from the parent dwarf, almost no light reaches this world. Approaching it was like approaching a black hole (without the lensing effect). Occasionally I could see hints of red around the limbs, but that was it. Still, against the plane of the Milky Way, and with BARNARDS LOOP behind it, it was a STUNNING sight.
BARNARDS LOOP and the ORION NEBULA in all their combined glory.
2MASS J05352845-045 1548
A little past BARNARDS LOOP is the 2MASS sector. There I came upon this beautiful ice planet...and FINALLY some ice rings. Sadly the rings did not reflect the color of the nearby nebula like I'd hoped it would (due to ambient lighting conditions), but the view was still incredible. This world is nearly 3 Earth radius in size making it one of the largest snowballs I've ever encountered.
I ended the second day of this part of the voyage in the same system, same belt, where I lost Magellan. Coming in from a different direction, I managed to arrive safely. I'd hoped perhaps, to find some of her wreckage; perhaps even recover her flight data recorder. No such luck. At the speed I was going when the accident occurred, over two weeks, anything left of her has likely flown close enough to the sun to be vaporized. Thus I followed through with the plan that had brought Magellan to this belt in the first place. a beauty shot on an asteroid.
And that is where I parked Prometheus for the night. Today is a day of rest as the last couple of weeks have been rather hectic. Today I do as little as humanly possible. Perhaps, if I get bored, I might suit up and go take a stroll on this rock. It would be nice if it had an atmosphere, I could go sunbathing...
One last note before I sign off for now. That piece of music of which I spoke...
[video=youtube;-Ryd_p20XEU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ryd_p20XEU[/video]
Day 137 (5)
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
I've leaped off the edge of the ORION SPUR and into the rift. Only managed 10 jumps today. Spent most of the day in a single system exploring the rings and surrounds of the most beautiful gas giant I've yet seen. With the full glory of BARNARDS LOOP and the HORSE HEAD NEBULA in the sky behind it the view was breathtaking.
The image processing system on Prometheus is being cantankerous right now, so I will upload the images here in a few hours, as soon as I can beat it into submission...
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
I've leaped off the edge of the ORION SPUR and into the rift. Only managed 10 jumps today. Spent most of the day in a single system exploring the rings and surrounds of the most beautiful gas giant I've yet seen. With the full glory of BARNARDS LOOP and the HORSE HEAD NEBULA in the sky behind it the view was breathtaking.
The image processing system on Prometheus is being cantankerous right now, so I will upload the images here in a few hours, as soon as I can beat it into submission...
Last edited:
Well, spent a few hours arguing with the image processor. I'm beginning to think it's either broken or there is something interfering with it. Gonna have to have the guys back at port take a look at it if I ever make it home. At any rate, as promised, here are the highlights of yesterdays travels.
The far side of BARNARDS LOOP with the HORSE HEAD NEBULA dead center of it.
COL 70 SECTOR JL-X D1-5 5
This is the planet that I spent the better part of a day exploring. The views here were beyond breathtaking.
And the very next system on the route turned up THIS beauty. An amonia rich gas giant.
First water world I've come across since I left station a few days ago.
I had to take my sensors apart and clean them when I saw the results of this, found nothing wrong with it. Would you believe that all 3 of these stars are T-tauris? I didn't know that they came in different flavors. Can I get one in grape?
The far side of BARNARDS LOOP with the HORSE HEAD NEBULA dead center of it.
COL 70 SECTOR JL-X D1-5 5
This is the planet that I spent the better part of a day exploring. The views here were beyond breathtaking.
And the very next system on the route turned up THIS beauty. An amonia rich gas giant.
First water world I've come across since I left station a few days ago.
I had to take my sensors apart and clean them when I saw the results of this, found nothing wrong with it. Would you believe that all 3 of these stars are T-tauris? I didn't know that they came in different flavors. Can I get one in grape?
>I am now at the end of the first day of my second attempt and I am powering down the ship for the night in OOCHORRS LD-A C 17-2
If you don't mind me asking... I've never exited the game with not being docked in a part... Is "parking" it in space safe? As in, when you log back in, are you back in the same location?
And do you just drop out of SC and hit the ESC key? Nobody can attack you while logged out?
Love the mission and the updates... Wanting to do the same and would join you if I had my ship ready.
- - - Updated - - -
> I can jump slightly over 38 lightyears.
How do you pick where to jump? As in... What if you jump those 38ly, right past the most awesome black hole or the birth place of a new alien life form?
There are just SO MANY stars to choose from... How do you pick? Arrgh!!
If you don't mind me asking... I've never exited the game with not being docked in a part... Is "parking" it in space safe? As in, when you log back in, are you back in the same location?
And do you just drop out of SC and hit the ESC key? Nobody can attack you while logged out?
Love the mission and the updates... Wanting to do the same and would join you if I had my ship ready.
- - - Updated - - -
> I can jump slightly over 38 lightyears.
How do you pick where to jump? As in... What if you jump those 38ly, right past the most awesome black hole or the birth place of a new alien life form?
There are just SO MANY stars to choose from... How do you pick? Arrgh!!
***OOC Warning***
Red 13, parking in space is perfectly safe. You disappear from the game almost the instant you log off. This is why combat logging is such a problem and considered such bad form. Normally I drop out of SC before I log (I don't think the game takes this into account when you do, but if you read back a page or two, you will see the consequences of dropping from SC at extreme velocities). When you log, you will log back in exactly where you were (with exceptions) when you logged off. If you are in planetary rings (or in orbit around a planet) you are gravitationally bound to that point, meaning your position will orbit the planet, so when you log back on, you could find yourself on the dark side of the planet.
I take it you are flying an Aniconda? (only ship I can think of that can get better jump range than an ASP) As for as how to pick my locations, well, this mission is more in the way of a canonball-run than a mission of exploration. I choose the fastest jump route to get distance, Jump, scoop if I need to, D-scan, see if there is anything that looks like it may be visually interesting to visit and if not, jump. Lather, rinse, repeat...
If you can catch up with me I am always happy to have visitors. Feel free to send me a friend request.
Red 13, parking in space is perfectly safe. You disappear from the game almost the instant you log off. This is why combat logging is such a problem and considered such bad form. Normally I drop out of SC before I log (I don't think the game takes this into account when you do, but if you read back a page or two, you will see the consequences of dropping from SC at extreme velocities). When you log, you will log back in exactly where you were (with exceptions) when you logged off. If you are in planetary rings (or in orbit around a planet) you are gravitationally bound to that point, meaning your position will orbit the planet, so when you log back on, you could find yourself on the dark side of the planet.
I take it you are flying an Aniconda? (only ship I can think of that can get better jump range than an ASP) As for as how to pick my locations, well, this mission is more in the way of a canonball-run than a mission of exploration. I choose the fastest jump route to get distance, Jump, scoop if I need to, D-scan, see if there is anything that looks like it may be visually interesting to visit and if not, jump. Lather, rinse, repeat...
If you can catch up with me I am always happy to have visitors. Feel free to send me a friend request.
Day 140 (
OCEANS IN THE DESERT
Well, the last couple of days have been a mix of boring, aggravating, an joyously productive. I've leapt off the edge of the Orion Spur and into the Perseus Gap. Almost immediately the stellar density gave way to 20-30 LY spacing and my path took on the now all too familiar "Wandering Drunk" navigation. Needless to say, forward progress slowed to a crawl. I am angling toward the SEAGULL NEBULA which lies almost dead center of the gap, now about 1,200 LY from me.
The first day was a grind. Did almost no exploration at all as I did not come across a single system that looked interesting. I flew almost 2000 LY that day and mode less than 500 LY in forward progress.
The second day proved almost as frustrating. After some 60 jumps, I came up against a wall. A jagged wall that from my scans showed was thousands of LY long, a thousand or so LY tall, and about 40-70 LY wide. I could not find a way to cross it, so I wound up having to go over it. In the midst of this climb up through the plane of the galaxy, I Jumped through 8 systems CONSECUTIVELY all with 3 to 6 stars, ALL of which were T-tauri proto-stars. And in a whole rainbow of different colors. Again, I wasn't aware that T-tauri's came in different flavors other than brilliant white). Now I am a star pilot, not an astrophysicist, but the gap has VERY LITTLE dust content, and almost NOTHING in the way of nebulae (the nearest was over 500 LY behind me), so how is it, that in the middle of the gap, I stumble upon a stellar nursery hundreds of LY across?
Yesterday proved to be MUCH more interesting. I finally found a way over the wall I'd been climbing (My kingdom for an Anaconda), and the stellar density increased a little bit, so my route was a bit straighter. On the way, I came across a binary pair of high metal content planets so close to the parent star that their orbital period (of the star) was 3 days. In SC at 30 KMS I literally COULD NOT KEEP UP with them. Dropping out of SC was out of the question as they would have receded into the distance before I had fully decelerated. They also had an orbital period of EACHOTHER of about 3 hours. I followed along beside them for almost an hour and got a front row seat to about half of a binary pair orbit (Think I got that on video too) The route I traveled along yesterday was quite rich. In addition to NINE water worlds, I discovered TWO Earthlikes in two consecutive jumps! Sensors indicated life on both worlds, but sadly interstellar law still forbids me to pop down for a look at what form that life takes. I saw no sign of cities on either, so whatever form that life is, it hasn't reached the level of civilization yet. The first of the two was almost more water than land. Whenever life there reaches the stage of industrial civilization, sea power is going to dominate their world. The second Earth like had MASSIVE amounts of land. In fact, There was a single continent that dominated almost an entire HEMISPHERE! Towards the end of my day of flight, I finally came across an interesting looking ringed gas giant, so I headed across the 4500 LS to it. The view from above the metal rich rings was magnificent and spooky. While traversing the rings I actually managed to find a 'roid that wasn't spinning, so I lowered Prometheus's gear and set down on it to take some samples. I've no idea what in the hell kind of metal was in that thing but it burned out the CORE-sample bit in under 3 inches.
I begin today in OOCHOXT PD-B EQ 1, and I am still making for the SEAGULL NEBULA some 1,247 LY ahead of me. I intend to traverse the nebula before continuing across the gap to the PERSEUS ARM.
Yes, these are BOTH T-tauri's, along with the 2 RED ones right behind me.
And again, all 4 are T-tauris
The second Earth like in one day
Sunrise on the second Earth like
Prometheus on the ground
OCEANS IN THE DESERT
Well, the last couple of days have been a mix of boring, aggravating, an joyously productive. I've leapt off the edge of the Orion Spur and into the Perseus Gap. Almost immediately the stellar density gave way to 20-30 LY spacing and my path took on the now all too familiar "Wandering Drunk" navigation. Needless to say, forward progress slowed to a crawl. I am angling toward the SEAGULL NEBULA which lies almost dead center of the gap, now about 1,200 LY from me.
The first day was a grind. Did almost no exploration at all as I did not come across a single system that looked interesting. I flew almost 2000 LY that day and mode less than 500 LY in forward progress.
The second day proved almost as frustrating. After some 60 jumps, I came up against a wall. A jagged wall that from my scans showed was thousands of LY long, a thousand or so LY tall, and about 40-70 LY wide. I could not find a way to cross it, so I wound up having to go over it. In the midst of this climb up through the plane of the galaxy, I Jumped through 8 systems CONSECUTIVELY all with 3 to 6 stars, ALL of which were T-tauri proto-stars. And in a whole rainbow of different colors. Again, I wasn't aware that T-tauri's came in different flavors other than brilliant white). Now I am a star pilot, not an astrophysicist, but the gap has VERY LITTLE dust content, and almost NOTHING in the way of nebulae (the nearest was over 500 LY behind me), so how is it, that in the middle of the gap, I stumble upon a stellar nursery hundreds of LY across?
Yesterday proved to be MUCH more interesting. I finally found a way over the wall I'd been climbing (My kingdom for an Anaconda), and the stellar density increased a little bit, so my route was a bit straighter. On the way, I came across a binary pair of high metal content planets so close to the parent star that their orbital period (of the star) was 3 days. In SC at 30 KMS I literally COULD NOT KEEP UP with them. Dropping out of SC was out of the question as they would have receded into the distance before I had fully decelerated. They also had an orbital period of EACHOTHER of about 3 hours. I followed along beside them for almost an hour and got a front row seat to about half of a binary pair orbit (Think I got that on video too) The route I traveled along yesterday was quite rich. In addition to NINE water worlds, I discovered TWO Earthlikes in two consecutive jumps! Sensors indicated life on both worlds, but sadly interstellar law still forbids me to pop down for a look at what form that life takes. I saw no sign of cities on either, so whatever form that life is, it hasn't reached the level of civilization yet. The first of the two was almost more water than land. Whenever life there reaches the stage of industrial civilization, sea power is going to dominate their world. The second Earth like had MASSIVE amounts of land. In fact, There was a single continent that dominated almost an entire HEMISPHERE! Towards the end of my day of flight, I finally came across an interesting looking ringed gas giant, so I headed across the 4500 LS to it. The view from above the metal rich rings was magnificent and spooky. While traversing the rings I actually managed to find a 'roid that wasn't spinning, so I lowered Prometheus's gear and set down on it to take some samples. I've no idea what in the hell kind of metal was in that thing but it burned out the CORE-sample bit in under 3 inches.
I begin today in OOCHOXT PD-B EQ 1, and I am still making for the SEAGULL NEBULA some 1,247 LY ahead of me. I intend to traverse the nebula before continuing across the gap to the PERSEUS ARM.
Yes, these are BOTH T-tauri's, along with the 2 RED ones right behind me.
And again, all 4 are T-tauris
The second Earth like in one day
Sunrise on the second Earth like
Prometheus on the ground
Day 140 ( 8 ) part 2
Waypoint
It has been a productive day. I took Prometheus across nearly 1300 LY and about a hundred jumps, and am now sitting in the system of BD-10 1848 just on the far side of the SEAGULL NEBULA. Today was a hard push, so not a lot of exploring. Not a whole lot to see along the way anyways though. I did come across another system with both an earthlike world and a water world. Sadly I could not find any ringed gas giants inside the nebula (my main reason for going there). On the down side, the main star in this system is a gorgeous type BO, which my navcom so politely dropped me nearly INSIDE!! It DID drop me well inside the collission zone. Got a little bit of damage and a little bot cooked, but not too bad in all. I am currently just a hair under 3883 LY from GUAAMBAAN, the original mission start/end point. Tomorrow I press on towards the PERSEUS arm.
The Earthlike world I found today. Bringing my total to 3 in 2 days. There is a storm system you can see in the second image that is almost the size of a hemisphere.
Believe it or not, this it the DAY side of this particular gas giant. It orbits its parent brown dwarf at a distance of 6800 LS.
The SEAGULL NEBULA up ahead of me, only 95 LY out.
Waypoint
It has been a productive day. I took Prometheus across nearly 1300 LY and about a hundred jumps, and am now sitting in the system of BD-10 1848 just on the far side of the SEAGULL NEBULA. Today was a hard push, so not a lot of exploring. Not a whole lot to see along the way anyways though. I did come across another system with both an earthlike world and a water world. Sadly I could not find any ringed gas giants inside the nebula (my main reason for going there). On the down side, the main star in this system is a gorgeous type BO, which my navcom so politely dropped me nearly INSIDE!! It DID drop me well inside the collission zone. Got a little bit of damage and a little bot cooked, but not too bad in all. I am currently just a hair under 3883 LY from GUAAMBAAN, the original mission start/end point. Tomorrow I press on towards the PERSEUS arm.
The Earthlike world I found today. Bringing my total to 3 in 2 days. There is a storm system you can see in the second image that is almost the size of a hemisphere.
Believe it or not, this it the DAY side of this particular gas giant. It orbits its parent brown dwarf at a distance of 6800 LS.
The SEAGULL NEBULA up ahead of me, only 95 LY out.
Day 141
T-tauri's and Thargoids and Roids oh my!
Today was a good day. I pushed Prometheus a solid 1400 LY today, and now I sit at the edge of the ROSETTE NEBULA after a long day of wonder and terror.
As I watched the SEAGULL NEBULA recede behind me I wondered at the adventure that lay ahead of me this time. How long to the rim? How long to circumnavigate? How many jumps to the next waypoint? (87 as it turned out)
A few jumps into the push, I came across a beautiful system with an 8 solar mass BO class star. Sadly as it turns out, I wasn't the first person here. Still, I'd never seen anything on the cortex about this system, so I decided to have a look around. There were 3 other stars here, all of them T-tauri's. I had to wonder how 3 relatively newborn stars came to be in the orbit of this giant blue old lady. What I found even more interesting was that 2 of these young stars were ringed. I've seen images of ringed T-tauri's before, but never seen one in person.
The second ringed protostar
Halfway to my waypoint I jumped into a system with an average G type star. As soon as I landed in system I began to get an uneasy feeling. Something just felt dark and foreboding about the place. As soon as I pinged the system I knew why. The fifth planet out; right in the Goldylox zone, was an ammonia world. With everything that's been going on lately, the artifacts, reported noises, the presidential disappearance; my every instinct told me to get the hell out of this system, just spool up the FSD and get the hell out right now. I however, have never been one to listen to that side of my instincts. A few minutes later I was staring up at a dusky brown world that for all I knew could be the very home of the mythical and dreaded enemy. Nearly a half hour I spent scanning that world. I turned up a veritable cornucopia of nothing. I realized that this did not mean that I was safe. The Thargoids ARE supposely more advanced than us, so I could easily imagine them being able to hide themselves from our sensors if they chose to. So, counting my lucky stars that I didn't actually find anything, I withdrew. As I aligned out for my next jump, I came across another small world that just kind of reinforced my feeling about this system...
A dozen jumps later I came out of the jump into a brief heart attack as I saw the VERY close orbiting trinary that I landed on top of, all 3 of them as it turned out, T-tauri's.
Still further down the road to ROSETTE, I landed in a system that gave me such hope. As I studied the results of the ping I saw what appeared to be 2 Earthlike worlds. Sadly the first one turned out to be an atmosphere bearing metal rich planet (terraform candidate, so not such a great loss) but the second; oh the second turned out to be one of the most beautiful Earthlike planets I've ever laid eyes on. Oh, to be able to go down and see what form the life there took. Sadly, Pilots Federation rules and all... Still, this meant my fifth Earthlike this trip.
As I turned from this system, rich with light and life and wealth I continued on toward my destination. Over the next few jumps the nebula rapidly grew in my canopy, along with a huge field of type BO stars just beyond it. After 1400 Ly of travel, I finally arrived on the fringes of the ROSETTE NEBULA. Tomorrow I will explore the nebula itself a little bit, but what interests me the most is that field of blue stars. I may wind up spending a day or two there.
Strangest orbit alignment I've ever seen. Apparently the universe decided to put this star in a cosmic bullseye.
T-tauri's and Thargoids and Roids oh my!
Today was a good day. I pushed Prometheus a solid 1400 LY today, and now I sit at the edge of the ROSETTE NEBULA after a long day of wonder and terror.
As I watched the SEAGULL NEBULA recede behind me I wondered at the adventure that lay ahead of me this time. How long to the rim? How long to circumnavigate? How many jumps to the next waypoint? (87 as it turned out)
A few jumps into the push, I came across a beautiful system with an 8 solar mass BO class star. Sadly as it turns out, I wasn't the first person here. Still, I'd never seen anything on the cortex about this system, so I decided to have a look around. There were 3 other stars here, all of them T-tauri's. I had to wonder how 3 relatively newborn stars came to be in the orbit of this giant blue old lady. What I found even more interesting was that 2 of these young stars were ringed. I've seen images of ringed T-tauri's before, but never seen one in person.
The second ringed protostar
Halfway to my waypoint I jumped into a system with an average G type star. As soon as I landed in system I began to get an uneasy feeling. Something just felt dark and foreboding about the place. As soon as I pinged the system I knew why. The fifth planet out; right in the Goldylox zone, was an ammonia world. With everything that's been going on lately, the artifacts, reported noises, the presidential disappearance; my every instinct told me to get the hell out of this system, just spool up the FSD and get the hell out right now. I however, have never been one to listen to that side of my instincts. A few minutes later I was staring up at a dusky brown world that for all I knew could be the very home of the mythical and dreaded enemy. Nearly a half hour I spent scanning that world. I turned up a veritable cornucopia of nothing. I realized that this did not mean that I was safe. The Thargoids ARE supposely more advanced than us, so I could easily imagine them being able to hide themselves from our sensors if they chose to. So, counting my lucky stars that I didn't actually find anything, I withdrew. As I aligned out for my next jump, I came across another small world that just kind of reinforced my feeling about this system...
A dozen jumps later I came out of the jump into a brief heart attack as I saw the VERY close orbiting trinary that I landed on top of, all 3 of them as it turned out, T-tauri's.
Still further down the road to ROSETTE, I landed in a system that gave me such hope. As I studied the results of the ping I saw what appeared to be 2 Earthlike worlds. Sadly the first one turned out to be an atmosphere bearing metal rich planet (terraform candidate, so not such a great loss) but the second; oh the second turned out to be one of the most beautiful Earthlike planets I've ever laid eyes on. Oh, to be able to go down and see what form the life there took. Sadly, Pilots Federation rules and all... Still, this meant my fifth Earthlike this trip.
As I turned from this system, rich with light and life and wealth I continued on toward my destination. Over the next few jumps the nebula rapidly grew in my canopy, along with a huge field of type BO stars just beyond it. After 1400 Ly of travel, I finally arrived on the fringes of the ROSETTE NEBULA. Tomorrow I will explore the nebula itself a little bit, but what interests me the most is that field of blue stars. I may wind up spending a day or two there.
Strangest orbit alignment I've ever seen. Apparently the universe decided to put this star in a cosmic bullseye.
Great thread, wonderful journey! As a budding explorer (just bought myself a DB Explorer, will be ready to head out in a few days time) I wish you the best of luck.
Regarding the T Tauri stars (remembering back 20 years to my undergraduate days reading Astrophysics), they can come in a variety of different colours from a yellowy white through to red, but they are all relatively small - around 2 solar masses or less iirc. My biggest potential issue with them in the game (which I hope to analyse on my journeys) is the rate of planetary formation in T Tauri systems. Protoplanetary systems should be common in younger stars (around 50% of the time for T Tauris), but full blown planetary systems with rocky planets should only really occur around the older T Tauris, say 10 million years plus. It'll be interesting to find out!
Regarding the T Tauri stars (remembering back 20 years to my undergraduate days reading Astrophysics), they can come in a variety of different colours from a yellowy white through to red, but they are all relatively small - around 2 solar masses or less iirc. My biggest potential issue with them in the game (which I hope to analyse on my journeys) is the rate of planetary formation in T Tauri systems. Protoplanetary systems should be common in younger stars (around 50% of the time for T Tauris), but full blown planetary systems with rocky planets should only really occur around the older T Tauris, say 10 million years plus. It'll be interesting to find out!
Thank you Shabby, great to see you here.
Day 143 (11)
Marathon Run
I spent a day casually exploring around the ROSETTE NEBULA. Sadly it wasn't quite as exciting as I'd hoped. There were very few ringed gas giants, and all that I found had rings of metal and rock. However, there is a large field of type B stars just beyond it that did prove interesting. I managed to scan several neutron stars (not initial discoverer sadly, but still both interesting and valuable) and my very first black hole. Unfortunately this singularity was within 2 LS of the star and the nebula was on the other side of the star. The lensing effect was not spectacular, as it was not a very big singularity, I got lens effect of some background stars and my own ion trail.
There were also several systems with numerous ringed Brown Dwarfs. Nothing much to look at, but it is interesting to be able to get within a few tens of thousands of KM of a star and not burn to a crisp. It's also kind of humbling to realize that you are sitting next to something that has the possibility to outlive the rest of the cosmos (Brown Dwarfs, it is believed have the possibility to live as long as 1 TRILLION years.
After a day of being a tourist at ROSETTE, I decided it was time to move on. so I set my course, spooled up my FSD and jumped away. The trip was relatively uneventful, if long. IN all, I covered some 2000 Ly yesterday. Along the way, I discovered my 6th Earthlike world and my 12th through 15th water worlds (including 2 methane atmosphere water worlds...). I came across one VERY hot Jupiter, sitting just off of 2 suns at a range of 69 and 76 LS from them respectively.
Ringed metal rich world, in orbit of a ringed gas giant.
And the view from the parent gas giant. With a view of the far side of the ROSETTE NEBULA (note the extensive field of blue giant stars)
My current calculations put me 7327 LY from GUAYAMBAAN and about an just a couple of hours from the edge of the PERSEUS arm. My intention is to turn wydershins at the outer edge of PERSEUS and start traveling down the arm from there. With any luck, when I reach the end of the arm, I won't have the same problem I encountered in the outer arm.
Marathon Run
I spent a day casually exploring around the ROSETTE NEBULA. Sadly it wasn't quite as exciting as I'd hoped. There were very few ringed gas giants, and all that I found had rings of metal and rock. However, there is a large field of type B stars just beyond it that did prove interesting. I managed to scan several neutron stars (not initial discoverer sadly, but still both interesting and valuable) and my very first black hole. Unfortunately this singularity was within 2 LS of the star and the nebula was on the other side of the star. The lensing effect was not spectacular, as it was not a very big singularity, I got lens effect of some background stars and my own ion trail.
There were also several systems with numerous ringed Brown Dwarfs. Nothing much to look at, but it is interesting to be able to get within a few tens of thousands of KM of a star and not burn to a crisp. It's also kind of humbling to realize that you are sitting next to something that has the possibility to outlive the rest of the cosmos (Brown Dwarfs, it is believed have the possibility to live as long as 1 TRILLION years.
After a day of being a tourist at ROSETTE, I decided it was time to move on. so I set my course, spooled up my FSD and jumped away. The trip was relatively uneventful, if long. IN all, I covered some 2000 Ly yesterday. Along the way, I discovered my 6th Earthlike world and my 12th through 15th water worlds (including 2 methane atmosphere water worlds...). I came across one VERY hot Jupiter, sitting just off of 2 suns at a range of 69 and 76 LS from them respectively.
Ringed metal rich world, in orbit of a ringed gas giant.
And the view from the parent gas giant. With a view of the far side of the ROSETTE NEBULA (note the extensive field of blue giant stars)
My current calculations put me 7327 LY from GUAYAMBAAN and about an just a couple of hours from the edge of the PERSEUS arm. My intention is to turn wydershins at the outer edge of PERSEUS and start traveling down the arm from there. With any luck, when I reach the end of the arm, I won't have the same problem I encountered in the outer arm.
Day 144 (12)
Did another 1000 LY push today. I think I chose probably the most boring route in the history of space travel. In 32 jumps, I came across all of 3 systems with gas giants at all. No Earthlike and only 1 Water World (totally Nitrogen atmosphere...no swimming unfortunately) As for the rest, It seems like I flew through a thousand LY wide field of snowballs. Big snowballs, small snowballs, Pink snowballs (red dwarf).
Prometheus is holding up better than Magellan did by this point. Structure is still above 90%, and all modules are still above 98%. I've not had to use the brand new field service kit once thus far.
Jumped into one system, began scooping, looked up and say THIS beginning to peek out from behind the star. Glad the navcom didn't drop me BETWEEN the two...
This was the only gas giant interesting enough to make me divert long enough to scan it. Glad I did. It was a class 4 gas giant and Prometheus's sensors were returning life readings (water based) that were off the scale.
One of the very few worlds along my route today that were not snowballs. This metal rich world was interesting. It appears to be a younger world that is almost cooled.
Pure nitrogen atmosphere water world.
Another close binary, though not quite as close as the last pair.
So here I sit for the night, 8300.04 LY from Guayambaan. I am effectively on the very outer edge of the PERSEUS arm. I can go about another 450 LY out into the rift but that would make navigation a nightmare. Think I may just make my turn right here.
Did another 1000 LY push today. I think I chose probably the most boring route in the history of space travel. In 32 jumps, I came across all of 3 systems with gas giants at all. No Earthlike and only 1 Water World (totally Nitrogen atmosphere...no swimming unfortunately) As for the rest, It seems like I flew through a thousand LY wide field of snowballs. Big snowballs, small snowballs, Pink snowballs (red dwarf).
Prometheus is holding up better than Magellan did by this point. Structure is still above 90%, and all modules are still above 98%. I've not had to use the brand new field service kit once thus far.
Jumped into one system, began scooping, looked up and say THIS beginning to peek out from behind the star. Glad the navcom didn't drop me BETWEEN the two...
This was the only gas giant interesting enough to make me divert long enough to scan it. Glad I did. It was a class 4 gas giant and Prometheus's sensors were returning life readings (water based) that were off the scale.
One of the very few worlds along my route today that were not snowballs. This metal rich world was interesting. It appears to be a younger world that is almost cooled.
Pure nitrogen atmosphere water world.
Another close binary, though not quite as close as the last pair.
So here I sit for the night, 8300.04 LY from Guayambaan. I am effectively on the very outer edge of the PERSEUS arm. I can go about another 450 LY out into the rift but that would make navigation a nightmare. Think I may just make my turn right here.
I have finally reached the edge of the PERSEUS ARM and have begun m run wydershins down the arm. A day after making it here, I took some time to put together this, the first in a companion series of video logs for this journey. I present to you POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE 1 - OUTWARD BOUND
(Please forgive the amateurish camera work and editing, I'm still learning.)
[video=youtube;ElJmmGTYFbY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElJmmGTYFbY[/video]
(Please forgive the amateurish camera work and editing, I'm still learning.)
[video=youtube;ElJmmGTYFbY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElJmmGTYFbY[/video]
Day 148 (16)
Walking in starlight
Where to begin. Well, firstly, apparently I burned out the high-gain antenna on Prometheus by uploading that video log. Sadly, until I manage to jury-rig a fix for the high-speed comms system I will only be able to transmit text only, no imagery.
I took Prometheus for an 1800 LY sprint today. When I began my run today I was exploring a set of BO stars that the universe had somehow managed to lay out in almost a perfect ring 150LY across. This was just a minor tourist detour. For the most part this whole journey is a giant cannonball run; Jump, scoop, Dscan, look to see if there is anything truly worthy of a moments distraction, JUMP!...Lather, rinse, repeat.
Most of the last few days there has been a remarkable dearth of actual interesting distractions, nothing like the voyage of Magellan. That said, it hasn't been entirely without interest. I found my 7th Earthlike today, and an amazing orange giant star. I must say, I wasn't expecting that. I also came across another ammonia world. I was starting to get the creeps when I got back the readings telling me what it was. Those creeps turned to terror when the readings showed that there was actually LIFE on this world. Needless to say, I broke orbit and jumped to the next system as fast as Prometheus's FSD would carry me.
The tally for this trip thus far is:
7 Earthlike worlds
23 Water worlds (20 of them candidates for terraforming...and also bearing life)
3 life bearing gas giants
1 neutron star
The very first black hole I have personally seen
5 nebula flown through
1 HERBIG HE/BE star
35 T-tauri class stars (in a veritable rainbow of flavors)
I've powered down for the day in DRYAFIAE VU-X E1-0 a lovely system sporting nothing but 2 HO class blue stars, approximately 10,000LY from Guayambaan. Before I can hit sleep cycle for the night I have to spend a couple of hours seeing what can be done for the high-gain comms array. Sadly, from what I've seen of it so far, it looks like this is going to take a few days. I will have a large image transmission when I manage to get it fixed.
Here's hoping everybody is safe wherever you are in the galaxy tonight. All you fellow explorers out there please keep your heads on a swivel; the reports I've been hearing the last few weeks hint at a possible return of an ancient enemy and its giving me the creeps. I urge you to document well any and every ammonia world you come across, but use extreme caution in doing so.
Good nigh, and fly safe.
Walking in starlight
Where to begin. Well, firstly, apparently I burned out the high-gain antenna on Prometheus by uploading that video log. Sadly, until I manage to jury-rig a fix for the high-speed comms system I will only be able to transmit text only, no imagery.
I took Prometheus for an 1800 LY sprint today. When I began my run today I was exploring a set of BO stars that the universe had somehow managed to lay out in almost a perfect ring 150LY across. This was just a minor tourist detour. For the most part this whole journey is a giant cannonball run; Jump, scoop, Dscan, look to see if there is anything truly worthy of a moments distraction, JUMP!...Lather, rinse, repeat.
Most of the last few days there has been a remarkable dearth of actual interesting distractions, nothing like the voyage of Magellan. That said, it hasn't been entirely without interest. I found my 7th Earthlike today, and an amazing orange giant star. I must say, I wasn't expecting that. I also came across another ammonia world. I was starting to get the creeps when I got back the readings telling me what it was. Those creeps turned to terror when the readings showed that there was actually LIFE on this world. Needless to say, I broke orbit and jumped to the next system as fast as Prometheus's FSD would carry me.
The tally for this trip thus far is:
7 Earthlike worlds
23 Water worlds (20 of them candidates for terraforming...and also bearing life)
3 life bearing gas giants
1 neutron star
The very first black hole I have personally seen
5 nebula flown through
1 HERBIG HE/BE star
35 T-tauri class stars (in a veritable rainbow of flavors)
I've powered down for the day in DRYAFIAE VU-X E1-0 a lovely system sporting nothing but 2 HO class blue stars, approximately 10,000LY from Guayambaan. Before I can hit sleep cycle for the night I have to spend a couple of hours seeing what can be done for the high-gain comms array. Sadly, from what I've seen of it so far, it looks like this is going to take a few days. I will have a large image transmission when I manage to get it fixed.
Here's hoping everybody is safe wherever you are in the galaxy tonight. All you fellow explorers out there please keep your heads on a swivel; the reports I've been hearing the last few weeks hint at a possible return of an ancient enemy and its giving me the creeps. I urge you to document well any and every ammonia world you come across, but use extreme caution in doing so.
Good nigh, and fly safe.