SO finally , after trying once and heading back, I built a dedicated exploration ship and made a journey to the nearest edge of the galaxy.
Setting off in my trusty new Asp Explorer.
Thoroughly probed the farthest end of the "hot dog".
Wow, just look at all those jerks!
Quite a way out.
That's it. I can go no farther in this direction.
Ringed planet on the way back.
The galaxy gets blotchy part way back. Maybe that's that big annoying dead region you have to go around.
Binary water worlds, with a third one as part of another pair. That's kind of neat. I also found 4 Earth-likes (see Earth-like thread). I do like exploring once in a while, I just hope the recently announced upgrades make it more worthwhile. An anomaly scanner that tells you if there's anything interesting when you honk a system would be nice (nobody has time to just fly around and try to stumble on stuff in a galaxy this big).

Setting off in my trusty new Asp Explorer.

Thoroughly probed the farthest end of the "hot dog".

Wow, just look at all those jerks!

Quite a way out.

That's it. I can go no farther in this direction.

Ringed planet on the way back.

The galaxy gets blotchy part way back. Maybe that's that big annoying dead region you have to go around.

Binary water worlds, with a third one as part of another pair. That's kind of neat. I also found 4 Earth-likes (see Earth-like thread). I do like exploring once in a while, I just hope the recently announced upgrades make it more worthwhile. An anomaly scanner that tells you if there's anything interesting when you honk a system would be nice (nobody has time to just fly around and try to stumble on stuff in a galaxy this big).