Around the galaxy in 80 days (with any luck)

Maia Posidana · Jul 17, 2015

Day 164 (42) Part 1 **IMAGE HEAVY**

The eagle has landed

The last few days have been quite eventful. Most of the time has been a sprint to get range and make up lost time, but I have still taken time to stop and smell the stardust. I've discovered quite a large number of water worlds in the last 10 days. Sadly only a couple of Earth like though. Fortunately I haven't encountered any more ammonia worlds though, they give me the creeps. I've done quite a few asteroid landings and EVA's. I even Highband transmitted a short video of one INSIDE the scooping range of the star. That one, I must admit, was a mistake and it almost cost me the mission...and my life. I took one HELL of a dose of gamma radiation from that one; more than my suit could absorb. Fortunately I have a good stock of anti-radiation meds on board, but I was one SICK girl for the next 4 days. Let me tell you here and now; Yak, in a recirculated air system...BEYOND unpleasant. When it was all over, I had to vent the dam ship to get rid of the smell.

In the last few days I've come across some planetary rings that run the gamut from hauntingly beautiful, to downright spooky. This is kind of what inspired me to start doing landings again. Sadly, in most cases actual landings are nigh on impossible due to whatever I'm trying to land on tumbling, so I wind up having to park just off the surface and either jump over with a tether (if I can safely get close enough) or use the MMU.

This moon had some wonderful geography. I was able to get close enough to almost land on the mountains, but was too busy trying not to crash to take more pictures

Normally I find protoplanets kind of boring but this one.... Is it just me, or does it look like someone wrote on this one with a laser...and then someone else tagged it with spray paint...

Gas giant with ammonia based life in the atmosphere, but the rings were spectacular...

While I was out here, I decided to take a panorama of the galactic disk from half-way down the Perseus arm.

One of the first landings I did this past couple weeks. The core sample I took showed it to be a nickle-iron asteroid. There must be some water vapor in this ring somehow because there seemed to be a fair amount of oxidization on this thing.

Touchdown...the crowd goes wild.

Behold, the planet SANGREAL. A class 4 gas giant in the HYPUAE sector.

A GLIMPSE OF HELL (as seen in the video a couple of posts previous). I got some beautiful shots here, and some epic video. Sadly the radiation destroyed some of the better shots that I took. These stills are all that survived.

Another class 4 gas giant, this one with water based life, and some absolutely EPIC rings.

Stepped out for a walk on this roid. Turned around and noticed a great reflection of the galactic plane behind me reflected in Prometheus's canopy.

Much closer in, there was a singular, very narrow ice ring. Performed an EVA there and found one chunk that, according to my instruments, was festooned with gold.

At the end of this long day, I settled into low orbit around a water world for the night. Spent several hours in my bed on the observation deck just watching the storm systems drift by. And what a glorious sight to wake up to. Being able to stand naked in front of the window in front of this sight while sipping coffee put me in a good mood for the rest of the day.

When I got back up to the flight deck to begin the days journey, I noticed a smudge off in the distance. A check of the stellar catalog showed it to be the SKULL AND CROSSBONES NEBULA. It was only about 1200 LY distant and slightly inward. I hadn't seen a nebula in the last few thousand light years and it looked like this may be the last one I was to see for quite a while. It was time for a slight detour...

Maia Posidana · Jul 18, 2015

Day 164 (42) part 2 **EXTREMELY IMAGE HEAVY**

The knowledge of fire

(had to break this transmission into two parts due to the extremely large number of images)

After leaving the orbit of that lovely water world, I sprinted across the intervening 1200 LY of space, stopping for very little. That's not to say that I stopped for nothing mind you, I am an explorer after all

However, in that space, there was very little to look at other than the SKULL AND CROSSBONES NEBULA (NGC-2467) growing large in my window. This nebula was gorgeous and held the promise of vistas the likes of which I had never seen before. With any luck, NO ONE had ever seen them before.

First jump of the day landed me right on top of this close orbiting eclipsing binary pair.

I couldn't explain it, but something drew me to this lifeless rock. I orbited it a couple of times scanning all the way, but...nothing, well, ALMOST nothing. Still, it had kind of a haunting look and some beautiful geology.

Sunrise...despite the scanners saying this rock was airless, it clearly has an oxygen atmosphere.

Approaching the SKULL AND CROSSBONES NEBULA across a thousand LY

In the last system before the nebula, only 9 LY to the actual cloud boundary. This was an interesting system. In addition to 9 brown dwarfs, there were 2 black holes. Sadly I didn't get any stills of the singularities (was too busy trying not to HIT them) I DID get lots of video, some of which I will Highband back to inhabited space in the next day or two. Some will also be part of my next POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE. Also, sadly, apparently this nebula HAS in fact been visited before. Every system I visited in the nebula was tagged clear down to the farthest moon. The first image in this set is was taken during filming of the brown dwarf flyby video that is linked a couple of posts above.

After exploring all the B class stars around the nebula (and finding a total of 3 black holes), I finally jumped in and started looking around. After some searching, I finally found what I was looking for. A double planet pair of ringed gas giants BOTH with water based life in their atmospheres. These afforded the most haunting views I have ever seen. If you ever make it out here, I HIGHLY recommend visiting this nebula to visit these planets if nothing else.

Eventually I managed to find a rock to set PROMETHEUS down on, suited up, grabbed a couple extra oxygen packs, then stopped out onto the rock and spent a whole afternoon just admiring the view.

After spending 2 days exploring, and relaxing in Skull and Crossbones, it was time for me to move on. I set my course angling back out to the edge of the arm and sprinted across the next 2300 LY. Once again, while I stopped for very little, that is not to say that I didn't stop for anything.

Skull and Crossbones receding in my baffles.

In one stop along the way I happened across this ENORMOUS water world. This monster has a RADIUS of 13,000 KM. It weighs in at 9.116 earth masses and has an air pressure of 30.47 atmospheres. A nice place to visit...from orbit...but if you enjoy being 3 dimensional, you wouldn't want to land there...

The very next system on my route turned up the first Earthlike world I'd found in more than 300 jumps.

Sunset

The last three jumps of the day turned up some wonderful sights. The first, and greatest of these was a gas giant bearing water based life. This stellar jewel sported 2 rings; one Icy and the other metal rich. Both of these rings tuned out to be extremely dense, and HEAVILY dust and gas laden. This made for vistas that were positively SPOOKY! Still, I made several EVA's and got some significant core samples. Sadly, I wasn't able to spend QUITE as much time as I would have liked walking around outside as the exo-packs were still recharging from the day before in the nebula.

The next jump landed me next to a common class M star with to close orbiting red dwarfs...which were orbiting each other VERY close...less than 1 LS. I decided to do something PROFOUNDLY stupid and thread the needle between the two. While I did make intact, they went by so fast I wasn't able to get images of both stars as I passed, and was too nervous to try it again...

On the last jump of that sprint I found another lovely little water world to spend the night next to. I'm watching the world go by beneath me as I sit on my bed on the observation deck writing this report. It's a wonderful sight, let me tell you.

So here is where I've ended the day. I am now 16,707 LY downrange from SOL. As I survey off to my right, I see that I was correct all those weeks ago. The outer arm extends still a ways past my current location, but the gap between the arms became a VOID nearly 10,000 LY back. Between where I am right now, and the outer arm, there are probably 15 stars...spread across 8000 LY. My survey ahead shows that I will not have nearly as bad of a problem when I get to the end of the Perseus arm.

The tally to date is:

Earth like worlds - 11
Water wolds - 59
Ammonia worlds - 8
Life bearing gas giants - 12
Netron stars - 1
Black holes - 4
Nebula visited - 6
HERBIG HE/BE stars - 2
T-tauri stars - 39

Time for me to enjoy some more of this gorgeous view while I go to sleep.
Fly safe, fly smart, and good hunting

Maia

Maia Posidana · Jul 21, 2015

18,176 LY downrange from SOL in the PERSEUS ARM and still outward bound. In about 8 or 9000 LY I will have passed the last vestiges of the OUTER ARM. At that point wherever I am becomes the rim. As of this morning with every jump, I am the farthest from home I've ever been. I af finally getting over the radiation sickness with the help of the meds, but still I am several days behind where I should be. As such, in an effort to make up lost time and distance, the next couple of days will be pretty much a pure cannonball run, with little more than a dscan in system before I jump to the next unless I see a potential earthlike or I come across something that absolutely demands investigation.

I stopped for the night in a B0 system with a pair of terraformable metal rich worlds (gods I love blue stars). I've parked PROMETHEUS for the night in low orbit around a gorgeous (albeit airless) metal rich planet. Sadly I made the mistake of turning off her thrusters while taking some selfies. This resulted in putting the thrusters into repair mode and waisting precious parts...won't make THAT mistake again.

PROMETHEUS's structure is holding at 77% integrity and all her systems are in the mid to high 90s (except thrusters which are back to 100%). At my average of 1000 LY per day, I should make it back to GUAYAMBAAN in about a year.

I haven't taken many images in the last few days because even I haven't been sick, I've been in a sprint to make up my average. I will transmit what few images I have taken in a few hours. For now, I need to go throw up and get some sleep...

Bertrand Du Guesclin · Jul 21, 2015

Pictures, attention to detail, storytelling, writing style… this thread is AWESOME
Have some (very well deserved) rep.

Just found your diary on the first page, I still have a lot of reading to catch up with your latest post.

Good luck for your journey, I’m already looking forward reading the next part of your adventures.

Maia Posidana · Jul 21, 2015

Day 168 (46)

Ok, as promised, here are the images from yesterday. As I said, yesterday was essentially a cannonball run, so I didn't spend a lot of time scanning or sightseeing. That is not to say however that I did NO sightseing. Here are the highlights.

I discovered another ammonia world just a couple of jumps in. This one was tiny, only about 0.4 earth mass and aver 4000 LS from the parent star. Got distracted throwing up and overshot it by a week. Had to turn around and go back.

About halfway along the run, I came across this interesting looking, VERY close orbiting pair of rocky planets.

At my first navigational waypoint of the day, I FINALLY managed to get a picture, while dropping out of the jump, of the true color of a type B0 star, before the glare washed it out.

The very next jump I THOUGHT that the scanner had come back with no returns. I was about to jump out (already had the FSD spooling up) when I visually spotted this hot Jupiter off in the distance (only 220 LS from the star). I aborted the jump and cruised out to check it out.

End of the day. Dropped out of SC at this beautiful little rock for the night.

PROMETHEUS venting heat just after I dropped out of SC

I love blue stars. "don't go into the light" "I can't help it, it's sooo beautiful..."

PROMETHEUS - portrait of the artist

And here is my current location. As you can see, I'm only a few thousand LY from the last vestiges of the OUTER ARM. My main concern now is will there be a crossing point when I get to the end of the PERSEUS ARM.

Allitnil · Jul 21, 2015

Maia Posidana said:
And here is my current location. As you can see, I'm only a few thousand LY from the last vestiges of the OUTER ARM. My main concern now is will there be a crossing point when I get to the end of the PERSEUS ARM.

I've just come from there and the answer is "no". Even in an Anaconda it's a 10K+ detour there & back if you intend to travel to the end of the Perseus arm.

Maia Posidana · Jul 21, 2015

Allitnil said:
I've just come from there and the answer is "no". Even in an Anaconda it's a 10K+ detour there & back if you intend to travel to the end of the Perseus arm.

Thank you Alitnil. I will have to keep my eyes out for a route. I have a while before I'll be getting there though, I still need to travel to the end of the arm. The OUTER ARM however, had a cutback that came back more than 20000LY which made going that route impossible.

Allitnil · Jul 21, 2015

Yeah, I did that one a couple of months back

. It's worth doing if you ever feel like a sizeable trip after you complete this epic though, as near the end of it you'll find the furthest reachable systems from Sag A*. I got to just over 45,000 LY away whereas most of the outer rim edge falls in the 39 - 42K range.

The shortest detour to the end of an arm seems to be the one directly the other side of Sag A* from Sol (what I refer to as "north"). In an Asp it's about a 5K detour and with a stripped down Anaconda you can pretty much go straight across the gap with about 1000 LY of manual routing.

Maia Posidana · Jul 21, 2015

POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE 2 (just an addendum)

Had a serious system malfunction today while investigating an ammonia planetl

[video=youtube_share;aleC0wm8zBM]https://youtu.be/aleC0wm8zBM[/video]

Maia Posidana · Jul 24, 2015

Day 170 (48)

Gone round the bend

I have finally arrived on the rim. As of yesterday afternoon, NavCom/Stellar Cartrography informed me that I have finally passed the last stars on the extreme end of the OUTER ARM. Where I was at that point then became the new rim. I have come so far downrange now that I am actually having to deal (navigationally) with the curvature of the galaxy.

The last 6000 LY or so have been essentially a cannonball-run sprint to make up some lost time and distance. I've done very little exploration. That is not to say that I haven't done any, just not much. For the most part, my routine has been: Arrive in system – scoop while aligning – scan while scooping – spool up FSD just before scoop completes – check scan results while spooling (5 to 8 seconds max to decide weather or not to abort and investigate findings) – JUMP! - lather, rinse, repeat till plotted route is complete.

I had a bit of a scare along the way. As per the above video that I highbanded back the other day, I was investigating an ammonia world. A few moments after dropping out of SC, my thrusters and flight assist suddenly went off-line. At the same time, there appears to have been an anomalous thruster firing that sent Prometheus tumbling in a degrading orbit. It took me almost 10 minutes and several attempts to get the thrusters back online. When they came back, so did the flight assist... I had been sweating lasers in my seat thinking for a bit that I had been attacked, but no damage showed up.

At the end of each day, I've been just looking for any planet that looks interesting to spend the night in orbit of. I've never been happier since I moved my quarters to the lower observation deck. I think when I get back to port I'm going to have a word with the dockrats and see if they can rework the wiring and plumbing so as to have all the comforts of home down there...That and cut an access hatch between the decks and install a ladder. I only regret not bringing a companion on the trip with me; what a view to share with someone as you keep each other warm at night...

Among the more interesting (and in some cases spectacular) things that I've managed to image in the last few days are...

The true color of a B class star before the glare washes it out

A hot Jupiter, a mere 72 LS from its parent star. This is the second one I've come across that has had nearly all the color leached out of it by the heat.

A second ammonia planet. This one had a water bearing MOON, that had a pure ammonia atmosphere.

The day before yesterday, I discovered this amazing pair of double water worlds.

And this blood red gas giant that appears to be contracting towards becoming a brown dwarf.

The other night I pulled up to this metal world for the night. As I watched the planet glide by beneath my bed, I contemplated setting Prometheus down next to that mountain range just south of the northern polar cap...then I took another look at the atmospheric composition and thought better of it...

Yesterday I had a personal first. I discovered my first ringed water world. The rings were immensely wide and very loose. I just had to drop down into them for some pictures. Some from the outer most ring, and some from the innermost. My EVA suit was finally finished with decontamination (after talking a walk on a roid in scooping range of the star) so I even stepped out and walked around on a couple of them.

One of my other great highlights was gravi-braking around a gas giant. As I was nearing the daylight side, I looked up and saw the super-luminous B class star shining through the deep atmosphere.

From a distance of 370000 LS on the scanner, this planet looked like it might have been an earthlike world (nitrogen rich atmosphere) Sadly it turned out to merely be a metal rich planet. Still pretty though.

Scanners showed this to be a metal rich planet, albeit terraformable. Still, visual evidence shows signs of abundant vegitation.

Last night, I discovered another Earthlike world. Not a whole lot of landmass though. Whatever sentient life evolves there is going to depend a lot on sea power.

This is my position to date, about a thousand LY past the last vestiges of the OUTER ARM. My current downrange distance is 22,985 LY from SOL. Here soon I am going to have to start designating WAYPOINT systems every so often to keep track of downrange distance, so I can get an idea of distance traveled around the galaxy.

Madoc Owain · Jul 24, 2015

That picture of the sun shining through the atmosphere of the gas giant? Amazing.. I haven't seen anything like it in-game before!

facmanpob · Jul 30, 2015

Red_13 said:
Ah, OK... I see what you mean, now... Still pretty cryptic! And I don't think it shows planets.
For example, the system I just jumped from "Lie Zhangwe" has in that little fact box in the Galaxy map: M2 VA, L3 V

So I can figure the M2 is an M class Star of magnitude 2, and an L class mag 3 star.

But what does VA or the V stand for? I can't figure that out as the M2 has 9 planets and the L3 has none.

Thanks for pointing that out!

Now I have to print off a Star Chart to tell me what all those letters mean.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_classification

The suffix of the star type should refer to the Yerkes spectral classification. So in the example you gave of an L3V, the V means that it is a main sequence star. The number refers not to the magnitude, but to further subdivide the spectral class from 0-9, with 0 being the hottest and 9 being the coolest. That is, of course, assuming that FDEV have followed standard nomenclature.

Maia Posidana · Jul 31, 2015

facmanpob said:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_classification

The suffix of the star type should refer to the Yerkes spectral classification. So in the example you gave of an L3V, the V means that it is a main sequence star. The number refers not to the magnitude, but to further subdivide the spectral class from 0-9, with 0 being the hottest and 9 being the coolest. That is, of course, assuming that FDEV have followed standard nomenclature.

Thank you. I've been wondering that for ages.

Ziggy Stardust · Jul 31, 2015

Maia Posidana said:
but I have still taken time to stop and smell the stardust.

Hey now!

Uncalled for!

Pilot Mark · Jul 31, 2015

Maia Posidana said:
Day 170 (48)
This is my position to date, about a thousand LY past the last vestiges of the OUTER ARM. My current downrange distance is 22,985 LY from SOL.
http://i.imgur.com/nvfLYs5.png

Sounds like you were roughly where I am now. I attempted to cross between arms and managed to get about half way, my max jump range is 40.22LY but despite this I had to turn back. I'm now heading back towards SOL and debating whether I really need the shields, beam lasers and heatsinks I'm currently carrying. Might go back for a re-fit before heading back out again.

Maia Posidana · Jul 31, 2015

Pilot Mark said:
Sounds like you were roughly where I am now. I attempted to cross between arms and managed to get about half way, my max jump range is 40.22LY but despite this I had to turn back. I'm now heading back towards SOL and debating whether I really need the shields, beam lasers and heatsinks I'm currently carrying. Might go back for a re-fit before heading back out again.

This is why I'm flying a naked ASP. No shields, weapons or heatsinks (haven't needed them yet). All this to eke out the max possible jump range out of her, 37.6 LY.

nexxo · Jul 31, 2015

It's not because I fancy her, OK? I mean, yeah, I fancy her. Of course I fancy her. What male, heterosexual pilot doesn't? I bet even some of the girls do. She's a looker, right? Right? Yes, of course she is. Blonde, athletic, the whole package. She even makes a space suit look sexy. And the thing is, she's totally unselfconscious about it. You see her hanging out in the Restless Soul, you know, just being one of the gang, and all the guys drooling over her and she's got no idea. That's what makes her so damn sexy. She's unassuming, modest, even. That and the fact that she's one hell of a pilot, can match the best of us and no mistake...

What? Yeah, 's what I'm saying. It's not because I fancy her, it's because she's one of the gang, is why I worried about her. Remember how she nearly got killed by that rock? The goddess was looking out for her that day. You should have seen the queue of spacers at the hospital. Some of them real grizzly iron asses, flying longer than you and I have lived. Some of them camped out in the waiting room for three days, 'till they heard she was going to be OK. She's like the daughter they never had, she's that kind of girl. So yeah, I worry when we don't hear from her. We all do, and don't you try to deny it. That's why it's rounds for everyone since twelve, when her latest transmission came in. She's OK, and she's out there, exploring. Here's to Maia Posidana, the flyest fly girl in the galaxy! You go, girl!

Maia Posidana · Aug 1, 2015

TRAILEAE DH-M D7-4 2
Dropped out of hyperspace on my final jump of the day to find this amazing ringed lava world. I was Lining up for some photos right on the break line at the shadow when I noticed that the sun was setting...so I let the camera roll...for 2 hours...

Nexxo, I'm glad I'm 30,000 LY out. In space, no one can see you blush.

[video=youtube;AKE-7tNNgTE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKE-7tNNgTE[/video]

***OOC WARNING*** I have no idea what youtube has against me, but every time I post a video they fail on the thumbnail...

facmanpob · Aug 1, 2015

Great vid! I spent 25 minutes in a planetary ring on my way to NGC7822 last night for 3 screenshots! It's that sort of game!

Drus Loran · Aug 1, 2015

Damn you Woman!........

What a story. Have spent the whole morning in station reading all of it. Only got my License 2 weeks ago and am finally running rare's around in an old, second hand, hauler.

I was rummaging through one of the old boxes still in the hold from a previous owner and came across a 'gem'.... back from the year 2000. A Magazine called National Geographic published a Galaxy Map on an A3 sheet of paper. I am now pouring all over it. Probably worth a few credit's as a collectors item but I can't imagine selling it now.

You are an inspiration.......

Jump Far and Scoop Cool.