Erikson's Star and Closing the Circle (image heavy)
The Hermes has now completed a full circuit of the Milky Way, revisiting systems in Aquila's Halo that were first visited at the start of the circumnavigation. I have yet to return to the Hermes' starting port (Robardin Rock, Carcosa) and sell data. This is likely to be delayed a little by update 12 but I should be in time to compete in the next Buckyball Racing Club event.
The exploration of the region around Erikson's Star and the journey to close the circle by revisiting a location in Aquila's Halo will be combined here but under separate headings. When closing the circle I was concerned about the available time and so I took steps to speed up my journey, the key influence being to stop mapping bodies for credits - it is surprising how much longer things take when you stop often to map bodies 1-2 KLs from the jump-in point! I was selective about what I did stop for, especially not making long supercruise journeys or landing on worlds without plenty of life, though I think I was a little harsh in one instance in the latter case, as I mention below.
Erikson's Star
I approached Erikson's Star, Sphiesi HX-L d7-0, from an angle coming in from the North-East along the spiral arm. There turned out to be fewer First Discovery tags on this approach but one system of interest was thoroughly explored: Sphiesi EQ-G d10-0. Here the fourth planet is an Earth-like World and possibly the Western-most Earth-like World in the Milky Way, at about 41,309 LY West of zero (i.e. Sol, which is 54,602.71 LY away). It has a mean surface temperature of 285 K and 1.01 bars surface pressure, with 0.75g surface gravity and if the day side is representative, upwards of 80% ocean coverage, making for a comfortable environment.
Sphiesi EQ-G d10-0 4 is about 41,309 LY West of Sol, possibly the Westernmost Earth-like World in the Milky Way.
My next finding was a bit of a surprise, as I was finding more tags and also First Footfalls as I closed in on Erikson's Star. A long jump away, on Sphiesi LD-K d8-0 C 15 a, the FSS showed 1 biosignal and 2 geologicals on a moon with no atmosphere and no First Footfall, though it was tagged and mapped: a possible sign of Crystalline Shards? I was not disappointed when, after a long supercruise trip, the DSS reported Crystalline Shards and I tried to find a scenic spot to land. The moon is cris-crossed by canyons and I landed near where several of these crossed with the parent gas giant with water-based life low in the sky. It turned out to be a difficult place to get screenshots with the high contrast between areas in shadow and sunlight. I needed to visit two locations to complete my sample of the Crystalline Shards and the screenshot below is from the first, in a smoother location where I found many clustered together.
The Spin Cycle visits a field of Crystalline Shards on Sphiesi LD-K d8-0 C 15 a. The rare material on this moon is Technetium but Germanium and Cadmium are also present on the surface.
With plentiful supplies of jumponium, I did not feel the need to plot out an optimal route and was not afraid to use standard or premium boosts to speed things up and save me from using multiple lesser boosts. I did the same when departing, using almost twenty FSD boosts until I cleared the region and could plot 500 LY again. About half of the FSD boosts I used were basic and the rest split between the other two types.
Arriving at Erikson's Star, I was not surprised to find the small system fully tagged, mapped and with First Footfall tags on the four small planets and one moon. It might not be a spectacular system but I felt that the scenery on the moon A 1 a (metal rich, 433 km radius) did have its moments, though I only caught it near its best as I was leaving - the screenshot below is from a moment before my FSD began charging.
The landscape of Sphiesi HX-L d7-0 A 1 a, the only moon at Erikson's Star. Sulphur dioxide fumaroles and gas vents are present on the surface, sometimes found in caldera-like structures.
I was keen to move on and close the circle and sometimes ran my fuel down so as to avoid needing FSD boosts. I cut it fine on this occasion - an awkwardly-placed belt cluster might have left me in an embarrassing Code Red situation a fraction of a light-second from a scoopable star!
Careful fuel management.
The region around Erikson's Star had a final gift for me: my first encounter with the Recepta genus of surface plant. As shown below, these plants seem almost to be growing another plant inside of them! They grow the outer casing first and then the interior structure. The species shown is Recepta Umbrux - Orange and was found on Sphiesi VX-L d7-1 AB 5 d, which has a sulphur dioxide atmosphere with 4 biosignals (already tagged, mapped and with a First Footfall when I arrived). From the small crater I landed in, one of the two parent stars is just below the lip of the crater in the second screenshot.
The moon AB 4 d is also home to abundant surface life, with 7 biosignals in an ammonia atmosphere and the system as a whole is home to a total of 20 biosignals, spread between the moons of the planets AB 4 and AB 5 (AB 5 is a Y dwarf, visible in the second screenshot below).
Recepta Umbrux - Orange thrives on Sphiesi VX-L d7-1 AB 5 d. It grows both singly and in clusters with over twenty individuals.
The species was abundant in this small crater, where Frutexa Collum - Emerald also grows. The two species can co-exist in close proximity.
Closing the Circle
After my encounter with the Recepta (which is about 1 KLY from Erikson's Star), I felt that I would not be stopping much more and resolved to speed onwards, no longer even mapping terraformable worlds.
Very soon I did encounter a world worth landing on, this being Hypuae Bra LW-N d6-1 5 a, where there are 7 biosignals in a carbon dioxide atmosphere. Here I sampled Stratum Paleas - Emerald, Aleoida Coronamus - Teal, Tussock Propagito - Yellow and Bacterium Aurasus - Lime and in chasing a metallic meteorite I dismissed the Hermes, which gave me a chance to search for more signals. I restocked my Cadmium and gained drops of Germanium and Arsenic before recalling the Hermes and continuing.
The carbon dioxide atmosphere of Hypuae Bra LW-N d6-1 5 a allows it to host 7 biosignals, four of which were sampled near to the landing site shown.
Next came a moment of regret that I was hastening on, with the tiny (445 km radius) Hypiae Brue DW-N d6-0 2 hosting 6 biosignals within its thin water atmosphere. The planet itself is photogenic with several large impact craters with dark craters spewing light-coloured rays over the surface. I only captured the image of it from close DSS range, feeling that I would be likely to drive around for an hour or more if I landed and wanting to push on.
Hypiae Brue DW-N d6-0 2 hosts 6 biosignals within its water atmosphere, despite the tiny planet having sustained multiple large impacts.
I encountered one or two locations that I did not stop to screenshot but noted for interest, of which the main one was Sphieseae SS-U e2-0 where planet 5 is an extremely oblate gas giant with water-based life and planet 4 is another gas giant almost as oblate. I am not sure my FSS screenshot is fully representative but the distortion is visible on the system map to a lesser extent for both worlds.
One place I did spend the time to get a good screenshot was Oushaink SS-F c0, where the innermost planet is a ringed class IV gas giant with an orbital period of 4.2 days. It is rare to find a ringed gas giant orbiting so close, so I flew around deciding which would be a good angle to show it off, with the result below.
The ringed class IV gas giant Oushaink SS-F c0 1 orbits its parent K2 VA star every 4.2 days.
Another site worthy of landing was encountered in Glaisooe YC-T c20-0, where the moon 6 a has 3 biosignals and 2 geological in a methane atmosphere with the volcanism type methane magma. Under this world's eerie green skies, the only life form I sampled was Fumerola Carbosis - Cobalt, though I scanned a single specimen of Bacterium Scopulum - Red from the Hermes as I came in to land in a pair of overlapping craters.
Growing on the gas vents themeselves, Fumerola Carbosis - Cobalt can be found by looking for volcanic vents that do not have materials.
Although I was not mapping high value worlds, I did stop in Phraifoa LL-Y d13, where planet A 7 is an Earth-like World and A 11 an Ammonia World, to get screenshots of these life-bearing worlds. Planet A 10 is a water world and the other worlds are high metal content but none of them are terraformable. The Ammonia World is a classic bronze world resembling an Earth-like World with oceans and continents whilst the Earth-like World is dominated by oceans, with perhaps at much as 90% ocean coverage. It is warm, at 301 K surface temperature, but not hostile with a moderately thin atmosphere of 0.67 bars and 0.71g surface gravity.
The Ammonia World Phraifoa LL-Y d13 A 11 is the outermost planet of the primary A9 VB star.
The Earth-like World Phraifoa LL-Y d13 A 7 in the crescent phase, even at this angle showing a surface dominated by oceans.
The time in the cockpit was paying off and at 15:43:39 on 6th June 3308 the Hermes arrived in Yepoi KB-O d6-1, for which I already had scan data. Examining my route, two jumps later was a system with three water worlds and two terraformable high metal content worlds, which I had mentioned in my first post, though not by name at the time: Yepoi HG-O d6-0. This system had First Discovery tags but no First Mapped or First Footfall and I was showing as having mapped the high value worlds. I decided to land on the innermost moon of the gas giant planet 9 to gain a First Footfall to mark the circumnavigation and try and get a screenshot with my CMDR, the Spin Cycle and the Hermes together.
On Yepoi HG-O d6-0 9 a, a family gathering before departing for Colonia.
I have some distance still to travel but I shall make all possible speed for the port from which I set out, completing the circumnavigation, and then sell the data, mostly at locations in the Bubble before taking part in the Se7en Sisters Speedway, currently scheduled to run 11th - 19th June.
In my next post I shall try to collect a few stats but I did not take screenshots promptly when setting out, however I have one from about a week after, I think after I had left Aquila's Halo. That indicates I visited 5567 new systems during my circumnavigation, covering over 404 KLY and spending about 2.5 weeks' time in the cockpit.
