Exploration: Quest for the loneliest planet

[SvennoJ]

Mission statement: Find a single star system at the far edge of the galaxy, containing a single planet bearing life.
Hypothesis: An intelligent species on this planet will not progress past the geocentric model of the universe.
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Mission start: March 2nd 3201
Mission end: Januari 3rd 3202
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Sub goal: Measure the exact diameter of the Galaxy with CMDR Maia Posidana
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Current location: Following the distant worlds expedition.

Home base MAU [-20, 24, -120] Sagittarius A* 26,020ly Sol 124ly

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Complete route of my journey

The numbers indicate to where I got to each day.
Approximate distance traveled: 210.3k ly (as the photon flies)
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Day 1 Departure from Lambda Andromedae
Day 5 Sagittarius A*
Day 6 Deep Dive
Day 7 Stellar remnant
Day 8 Wolf-Rayet, Herbig AE, Carbon star hunting
Day 9 Disaster strikes
Day 10 Back in the saddle
Day 11 Black hole encounter
Day 12 Time to head up
Day 13 Heading outwards
Day 14 Back in the center plane
Day 15,16 Crossing to the outer arm
Day 17,20 The great brown ocean
Day 21 The edge
Day 22 Crawling along the edge in search of the loneliest planet
Day 23 Contact
Day 24 Furthest earth like from Sagittarius A*
Day 25 First transmissions
Day 26 Every explorer's worst nightmare
Day 27 A fruitful day
Day 28 Wear and tear
Day 29 Space madness
Day 30 Revised plans
Day 31 Highs and lows
Day 32 Resume course East North East
Day 33 Ammonia highway
Day 34 Confessions
Day 35 Back on the edge
Day 36 Crossing the canyon
Day 37 Heading counter clockwise
Day 38 There and back again
Day 39 Climbing up the mountain
Day 40 Shuffling along the edge
Day 41 Furthest Earth like planet from Sol
Day 42 Dreaming about intergalactic travel
Day 43,44 The crash after the high
Day 45 Fishing in ammonia back waters
Day 46 Key sector
Day 47 Preliminary diameter results
Day 48 Daydreaming
Day 49 Autopilot
Day 50 Spring cleaning
Day 51 South-East
Day 52 Quaternaries
Day 53 Nothing
Day 54 More Ammonia
Day 55 More Nothing
Day 56 Listless
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Day 297 Snafu
Day 302 The journey back home
Day 303 Back in touch
Day 304 Rendezvous point
Day 305 2000 ly/h
Day 306 ELW record broken
Day 307 Almost there
Day 308 Arrival back at Mau
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Ship: Anaconda fitted for 39.4ly to 41.17ly jump range
http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=606,,2-3I8S9Y8S2CD88I,53m0PK0PK0PK08c08c08c0720722jw2UI
Captain: CMDR Svenno
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While I did not find the exact planet I was looking for, I still consider the mission a success despite the 'slight' mishap on day 56.
So many wonders I have seen, so much data collected, it will be a long time to pour through all of it.
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Mission totals:
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Total distance: At least 210 thousand light years. A lower estimate, the cumulative distance between key way points along my route.
Total days spent exploring: 63
Systems visited: 7547
Earth like worlds found: 43
Ammonia worlds found: 50
Furthest distance from Sol: 65,368 light years (day 40) MYEIA THAA RI-B D13-1
Furthest distance from Sagittarius A*: 42,733 light years (day 21) CYIETCHOI ZJ-I D9-0
Lowest distance under Sagittarius A*: 2,846 light years (day 8) SLUEMOA OD-B E4
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Total profit: 140,321,536 credits
Promoted from Ranger to Elite explorer.

 

[Lodorenos]

Svenno! I'll pester you with some more questions related to weather out there when I see you in game. Epic journey so far, do you plan to make it back in the next two weeks in order to score top 5% in the community goal?

 

[SvennoJ]

The journey before the journey.

Spoiler

As many I started by quitting my boring desk job in Eravate and purchased a simple Sidewinder to try my luck at privateering.
Completing special delivery missions quickly traded me up to a Hauler. While wandering around I slowly upgraded my trusty Hauler to a fast and capable trade vessel with 22t cargo space and 16ly range.
Starting at 80K http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=60V,,2-3m3m3m2C2C2C3c,05U05U03w02M
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With this I wanted to visit the cradle of civilization, Earth. Yet lacking the required jump permit I tried to sneak in by super cruise travel from Alpha Centauri.
At 2001c it would take about 18 hours yet fellow travellers warned me of the special defenses against such practices.
Instead I wandered on and decided to settle in Mau to start trading in earnest.
There were plenty lucrative deals around Mau that quickly financed the purchase of a Cobra Mk III, almost tripling my cargo capacity to 60t.
Starting at 580k http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=602,,2-6u6u6u5K5K5K6k,07207207203w03w03w
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Not many trade runs later a T6 was already financed, more than doubling my cargo space again, to 112t
Starting at 1.3M http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=60W,,2-5K6u6u3m5K3m6k,08c08c07207205U03w03w
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Money came in fast now, yet I was getting restless, longing to know what was out there beyond the reach of civilization.
Thus I decided to refit my old friend the Hauler for long distance travel to see what's beyond the borders of known space.
First I travelled to Shinrarta Dezhra as I had heard they had a discount on the expensive scanners to aid me on my travels.
There I outfitted my Hauler to a very nice 28ly to 31ly jump range http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=60V,,2-3I3m3I2C2C2C3c,4zW05U2jw2UI
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I didn't have any specific goal in mind so I decided to go 1000ly straight up from my home system. However I didn't get very far.
Inexperience with fuel scooping, and curiosity about unidentified signal sources quickly got me into trouble.
Picking up some prototype tech also vastly reduced my jump range.
Later finding out prototype tech was illegal contraband instead of a worthy discovery only added insult to injury.
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So I went back to trading as I had my sights set on the Asp Explorer.
A steep entry fee of 7.5M only slightly increased my cargo capacity to 128t yet every bit helped to get another 8 million together to outfit my Asp for exploration.
At least the big jump range of the Asp and much lower impact of carrying cargo on that jump range made trading in rare commodities a good alternative to hauling Palladium and Performance enhancers in bulk.
This also allowed me to explore some forgotten systems in between outposts, earning me a little bit of extra exploration income on the side.
I finally got the 15.8M together and set out again on my journey straight up.
http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=60g,,2-6Q8S7_6u6u8S8I,0AA08c4zW05U7Q42jw2UI

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First time outside of known space.

Spoiler

Travelling and fuel scooping went much better this time and it didn't take too long before all radar contacts disappeared.
Finding my first earth like planet outside civilized space on Januari 10th was pretty exciting.

And who doesn't want to wake up like this in the morning

Without too much trouble I reached my 1000ly goal for a nice view above the galactic plane

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The way back was pretty uneventful but I had caught the bug, encouraged by my newly gained rank as trailblazer.
I decided to trim the fat a bit on my Asp and install a automatic maintenance unit to extend the time I could stay out.
http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=60g,,2-4s8S7_6u5K8S8I,0AA08c4zM0KU7Q42jw2UI

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First long range journey.

Spoiler

On Januari 12th, with a jump range of 34ly to 36.8ly, I set out for that prominent feature in the sky I had been looking at so long, Bernard's loop.
Starting with the Witch head nebula I went on to visit all the sights in and around Bernard's loop.

Spoiler

I went as far as Rosette, Jellyfish, Monkeyhead one way, and Heart and Soul and the bubble Nebula the other direction.
In between I reached my furthest distance from Sol at 8.7k ly.

Spoiler

On the way back I checked out the many black holes at NGC 7822, the Elephant, North America and Pelican Nebula and last but not least Veil Nebula West.

Spoiler

After travelling over 20k ly I arrived back home on Februari 8th, completing a 4 week journey.
The final approach was the most careful landing during my career as a pilot.
I hovered for a while, mere meters above the landing pad, before touching down and connecting back to civilization.

Spoiler

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

Svenno! I'll pester you with some more questions related to weather out there when I see you in game. Epic journey so far, do you plan to make it back in the next two weeks in order to score top 5% in the community goal?

Not a chance, it took me 3 weeks to get to the edge. And I haven't found that one EL like. I did find many others.

 

[SvennoJ]

Back home. The road to the Anaconda.

Spoiler

I had visited about 1400 systems and got well rewarded for my efforts.
21 million credits for the valuable data I had collected including many first discoveries.
And I got awarded the rank of Ranger.
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It took a while to get accustomed to civilization again and it wasn't long until I started wondering what else is out there to find in the far reaches.
I decided on a new mission. First I wanted a ship I can live in indefinately without the need to go home.
My trusty Asp was very capable but I had worn it out pretty badly and was suffering from cabin fever a couple times during the journey.
This new expedition needed a grand ship with plenty facilities that can serve as a home. The Anaconda.
With the proceeds of my previous journey I purchased a T7 transport and set to work.
http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=60X,,2-4s7_7_6u4s5K8I,0AA0AA08c08c0727RA03w03w
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216t cargo space brought in the money fast, yet it was still a long way to an Anaconda.
I figured an Imperial clipper would speed things up, yet I was only a petty officer, not worthy of such a ship.
With the money I earned so far I retooled my Asp for combat as the imperial navy was adament I needed to kill for them to earn that ship.
It turned out combat was not for me.
I can still hear the screams over the comms as I blasted defectors and pirates out of the sky.
This led to a brief period of substance abuse as I was dealing with the resulting nightmares.
Luckily drowning myself in the daily trade grind while keeping my focus on the ultimate goal got my head straight again.
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Instead of a Clipper I saved up for the T9 transporter.
She was a lot of work to fly.
Turns like a whale, easily overheats, appaling jump range, 250k to fill up the tank, yet 500t cargo space meant 780k profit for each load of Palladium.
http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=60Y,,2-9iBa9i8SA06u9s,0DI0Bk0AA7Sk07207205U05U03w
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Money was coming in now at almost 5 million per hour.
As soon as insurance etc was covered I traded in the beast for an Anaconda.
Finally the ship that would become my home, just a bit more trading to pay for the fittings.
The Anaconda dropped my cargo space to 452t, yet because of the much bigger jump range and improved maneuverability profit went up to 6 million per hour.
http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=606,,2-4sA09i8SA0D88I,0Bk0AA0AA0AA08c08c08c0720727RA03w

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Final preparations

Spoiler

Februari 25th. First test runs coinciding with the Lambda Andromedae exploration goal.
Early design schematics: http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=606,H...S9Y8S3mD88I,52C0PK0PK0PK08c08c08c0bg7RA2jw2UI
It took some time to get used to sitting at the back of the ship without any downwards view.

But all that lovely space on the bridge makes up for it.

There I was testing the mining laser and refinery, both eventually left behind to save weight.
I also had to develop a new fool proof protocol for entering systems, as the limited manoeverability compared to the Asp makes jumping into systems at speed too risky.
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After submitting 302 reports at Nourse orbital to broaden the frontier I felt it was time to leave civilization behind.
I stripped my Anaconda of all unnecessary weight, including shields, and started my ongoing expedition on March 2nd, 3201.
Last look at civilization

 

[SvennoJ]

Day 1 Straight to Sagittarius A*
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Wasting no time, I set my ship to head straight out without any delays.
I've had plenty of practice with efficient jumping and fuel scooping before so reaching near 2000 light years per hour was doable.
Sightseeing and exploration will come later. Just half an hour later civilized space was behind me without encountering any trouble.
After 4 hours of travel it was time to start looking for a place to stay the night and do a full systems check before venturing further.
BYEIA EUQ SO-Z D13-217 [806, -6, 6543] SagA 19,373ly Sol 6,592ly


Approximate distance travelled: 6.6k ly

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

Day 2
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I decided to keep going straight north, about 700ly starboard from the center line, staying dead center in the galactic plane.
This day I found 2 more earth likes.
PLAA AIN MQ-G C10-29 [749, 4, 9632] SagA 16,284ly Sol 9,661ly

PLAA AIN QY-H C23-81 [746, -4, 10204] SagA 15,712ly Sol 10,231ly

Approximate distance travelled: 10.3k ly

 

[Freddie Mc]

often I peer over and take a look at your current position. "The guys nuts"

 

[SvennoJ]

Day 3
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Straight as she goes, it's been smooth sailing so far.
Although this high speed travel has some risks.
Twice already I have come too close while hastily fuel scooping and once I flew too fast at a planet for a quick photo op.
Well at least the emergency stop is functioning correctly, only minor damage.
Everything is fully repaired except the hull and power plant are down to 97%.
A reminder to take things a little bit slower, long voyage still ahead.
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The planet I flew into

More stars keep becoming visible in the sky

No EL planet to camp at tonight. This toasty planet will have to do.

SagA 11,464ly Sol 14,465ly Travelled: 14.5k ly
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That's it so far, I need some more super cruise time to decipher more of my notes.
But first some super snooze time.

 

[SvennoJ]

often I peer over and take a look at your current position. "The guys nuts"

I got inspired by people like Maia Posidana
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=109837
Maybe we'll cross paths some day, or keep measuring the diameter of the galaxy as we circle around on opposites sides. Current 72k ly apart.

 

[Freddie Mc]

I definitely think a stint in the sandbox is something most should try. It may not have much difficulty but in other ways it's taxing. im glad I've met some other fellow wanderers to share information and tales while out here. Great thread.

 

[SvennoJ]

I definitely think a stint in the sandbox is something most should try. It may not have much difficulty but in other ways it's taxing. im glad I've met some other fellow wanderers to share information and tales while out here. Great thread.

Yep thanks to your initiative I now see a sea of green back towards Sol, and a few venturing out far into the unknown as well.
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=129539
During prime time the Sol to Sagittarius A super highway lights up the sky each time I open up the galaxy map

 

[Freddie Mc]

There seems to be 3 classes of explorers on my list. 1. The sag A as the crow fly types. 2. The long haul or specific area goal types. 3 The make stuff up and end up in weird places types.
I think I was a 2 aiming to partake in 1 but I'm now a 3.

 

[Lodorenos]

There seems to be 3 classes of explorers on my list. 1. The sag A as the crow fly types. 2. The long haul or specific area goal types. 3 The make stuff up and end up in weird places types.
I think I was a 2 aiming to partake in 1 but I'm now a 3.

As soon as I can afford an Anaconda and there is a way of deep space hull repairing, I won't return for months. Perhaps a Turner Class ship? http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Turner_Class

Or maybe Jaques will get off his lazy bum and take his damned vessel into deep space where it belongs, allowing us to use it for repairs.

 

[Freddie Mc]

I'm pretty happy with my asp. I think I'll keep the "Tame Impala" for good now I've clocked up so many miles. 30kyl and I'm still at 96%.
One thing I will change next trip is a cargo rack to tweak range, max jump uses alot of gas.
My only other wish is a nice fsl boost module in line with other module tweaks.

 

[Flector]

Good work Cmdr SvennoJ!
Those are some very nice pictures.

In my eagerness to do as much exploration as possible I sometimes forget to just enjoy how beautiful it is out there.

 

[SvennoJ]

Day 4
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Here I'm on the stretch between 3 and 4 on the map, making quick progress.
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I'm closing in on the core fast. The sky is lighting up all around me.
The sights around here are simply amazing, completely different from my previous long distance trip South of Sol.
There is a glow in the sky. Setting the next waypoint on the galaxy map overwhelms me whith the sheer amount of places to go.
It's slowly starting to dawn on me how many 400 billion stars really are. The good thing is that it allows my ship can plan optimal routes,
straight lines with 39+ ly jumps all the way. A mere 26 jumps per 1000ly stretch.
Which star to go to, so many choices.

Such beautiful sights out here, it's hard to pick a favourite.

I love zooming by planets while tracking them through the long windows.

The 4th earth like planet I found. Imagine looking up at the stars at night on that one.
DRYAU AOWSY GK-I C9-1056 [685, -9, 18546] SagA 7,384ly Sol 18,559ly

And my first Ammonia world find this trip
DRYAU AOWSY CG-N C20-781 [661, 5, 19037] SagA 6,892ly Sol 19,048ly

A stark reminder of the possible dangers out here. I barely missed ending up between these 2 stars.
30 degrees more to the left on jump in could have meant and early retreat.
SHROGEA MH-U C16-2621 [663, -12, 21436] SagA 4,509ly / Sol 21,446ly

At this pace I should be able to reach Sagittarius A on Day 5.
However the planner has already been starting to struggle with routing, taking 10 minutes to plan a route.
The price I pay for staying dead center in the galaxtic plane.
Approximate distance travelled 21.5k ly

 

[Renegade Roach]

As soon as I can afford an Anaconda and there is a way of deep space hull repairing, I won't return for months. Perhaps a Turner Class ship? http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Turner_Class

Or maybe Jaques will get off his lazy bum and take his damned vessel into deep space where it belongs, allowing us to use it for repairs.

Yeah, I rather thought that was the point of the whole Jaques station thing. Instead his 'epic journey' seems to have taken him no further than civilised space. Bit of a fail all round.

 

[SvennoJ]

Day 5 Sagittarius A*
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The amount of stars around here is simply staggering.
I've now turned the ship straight towards Sagittarius A*, saying goodbye to my 700ly parallel course.
My route planner became completely useless from 3k ly out. The robust Soviet era navigation equipment I opted to take along will last forever,
but it's not fast and simply can't cope with the density of the starfield out here. Picking jump targets is easy here anyway, always something in the correct range.
Now I can really put the limits of my jump drive to the test. 39.8ly, 40.2ly, 40.6ly, 40.9ly, jumping on a low fuel is becoming an addiction.
At least here there's always a star with fuel around, most of the time less than a light year away apart.
I did it, 41.15 light years in a single jump, arriving with just a sixth of a tank left for super cruise.


This day got even better with no less than 3 earth like worlds and an Ammonia world freshly discovered.
Fith Earth like world this trip with an ammonia atmosphere water world next door and another terraformable water world at a binary companion star.
SHROGEA PJ-G C24-2638 [636, 17, 21758] SagA 4,187 ly Sol 21,767 ly

This one looked so inviting I was about to go for a landing.

However after calculating the risks and massive resources it would take, I decided againts it.
My journey is still beginning and I'll need all I have further out. It's a bit ironic. Advances in frame shift drives allow us to effortlessly travel between planets and star systems,
however landing and flying through atmospheres still carries the same risks and massive resources it took a thousand years ago.
The latest news before I left hinted at some promising breakthroughs in this field. Perhaps by the time I get back new options will have opened up.
Until then I'll keep mapping out new planets to colonize hoping one day it should be possible to go down to the surface without the need to send massive orbital cranes ahead.

Another nice place to live. This one has a comfy water world just 2 doors down.
DUMBOOE FZ-S C3-2354 [568, 0, 22141] SagA 3,798 ly Sol 22,148 ly


The second Ammonia world of my tour. I had not seen one with soo many clouds before.
DUMBOOE WO-Z C13-716 [501, -8, 22606] SagA 3,328 ly Sol 22,612 ly


This earth like planet is tidally locked. Looks inviting on one side, the back side is a frozen wasteland.
DUMBOOE BD-Z C27-116 [398, -10, 23200] SagA 2,726 ly Sol 23,203 ly


The excitement level is rising, only a thousand more light years to go.
MYRIELK GR-N C6-870 [128, -22, 24850] SagA 1,055 ly Sol 24,850 ly


I was so fixated on getting to Sagittarius A* I passed by the Great anihilator without even noticing.
After 5 days of travel, on March 6th 3301, less than half an hour before midnight, I reached my first goal.
The center of our galaxy, an awesome sight to behold, and a great place to start my exploration tour in earnest.
Sagittarius A* [25, -21, 25900] SagA 0 ly Sol 25,900 ly

Aproximate distance travelled: 26k ly

 

[SvennoJ]

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Day 6 Deep dive
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What better way to come off the highs of visiting Sagittarius A than to seek out the lowest reachable point of the galaxy.
Pointing the ship straight down I made a quick exit from the overcrowded center. It wasn't long until the stars started thinning out.

It took a bit of back and forth to find the lowest point, strange to be almost out of the galaxy so quickly.
A water world hanging underneath the Galaxy, 2,642 light years below Sagittarius A.
SLUEMOA BC-B D1-15 [43, -2663, 25908] SagA 2,642 ly Sol 26,045 ly

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A big ball of water at the bottom of the well
SLUEMOA BM-C D13 [36, -2819, 25833] SagA 2,799 ly Sol 25,986 ly


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The lowest point, no more stars visible beneath me. 2,846 light years below Sagittarius A*
SLUEMOA OD-B E4 [56, -2867, 25835] SagA 2,847 ly Sol 25,993 ly

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An Icy planet rising out of the galaxy
PHROI PRA BE-T D3-5 [-303, -2499, 26168] SagA 2,516 ly Sol 26,289 ly

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Things were going well, yet little did I know, just 3 days from later, careless excitement would lead to disaster.
Approximate distance travelled: 29.5k ly

 

[SvennoJ]

Day 7 Set course North west
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It's time to start the long journey to the outer rim.
Turning 45 degrees left will get me to the starting point of a 90 degree sweep of the far edge of the Galaxy.
Realizing it's almost twice as far to the edge as it was to the center I start cutting corners on fuel scooping again.
I try out a new technique, jumping while fuel scooping to save some extra time.

However a couple close calls plus 2 emergency stops tell me to take it a little more easy. A lesson that costs me another 2% of my hull.
A good thing, as jumping into a nasty binary system while already at critical heat could prove fatal.
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A little later I run into my first Wolf-Rayet star, a giant at 76 Solar masses.
I'm humbled by the sheer size of the coronal mass ejections as the Wolf-Rayet star is venting material into space.
EOK BLOOE AA-A H17 [-1415, -1736, 27260] SagA 2,620 ly / Sol 27,567 ly

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I continue climbing up to level off about 1500 light years under the galactic plane. This seems like a good height for speedy travel.
Time to get up and stretch my legs a bit, I love that roomy bridge.

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I spot the remnants of supernova in the distance, I turn to investigate
EOK NLOOE EL-X E1-677 [-1641, -1656, 27473] SagA 2,814 ly Sol 27,576 ly

A metal rich planet survived the blast, circling the black hole and binary Class A companion star.

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One is left to wonder how life survived on this planet, just 9.4 ly from the super nova while circling a 12.4 million year young Neutron star with its parent class M star.
Perhaps being tidally locked saved the planet, having it's back turned to the blast or shielded by its parent star.
EOK BLOOE GB-V D3-1212 [-1637, -1653, 27481] SagA 2,815 ly Sol 27,579 ly


Approximate distance travelled: 31.5k ly

 

[SvennoJ]

Day 8 Wolf-Rayet and Carbon stars
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Heading North west at 1500ly below I soon ran into a massive field of exotic stars.
There were so many neutron stars I decided to limit myselft to Wolf-rayet, Carbon and Herbig AE stars as to still make some progress forwards.
First I encountered this Herbig Ae/Be star system with 8 T Tauri stars and a collection of icy planets with Helium and Methane atmospheres.
EOK BLOOE EL-X E1-1108 [-1661, -1646, 27501] SagA 2,837ly Sol 27,600ly

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Followed by the strangest sight. A giant brown dwarf, 69 solar masses, 5.2 solar radii.
I never expected to see a Wolf-Rayet star of this nature, and haven't found one since.
EOK BLOOE AA-A H25 [-1755, -1754, 28073] SagA 3,301ly Sol 28,182ly

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A Class III gas giant circling a 14.2 million year old C-N star, 0.9 Solar masses yet 29.1 Solar radii.
EOK BLOOE GT-F D12-1635 [-1964, -1449, 28179] SagA 3,345ly Sol 28,284ly

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It's amazing how fast life can appear in a new system.
This ammonia world is orbitting a Herbig AB star less than a million years old.
WRUPAEA OI-B E3073 [-2226, -1442, 28378] SagA 3,637ly Sol 28,502ly

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It's surreal floating above a massive carbon star that seems to be evaporating into space

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This EL planet looks like a good place to call it a day. Circling the Class K star of a binary system with a Class A star.
WRUPAEA BC-B D1-2729 [-2469, -1379, 28469] SagA 3,829ly Sol 28,609ly

Approximate distance travelled: 33.1k ly