Ozric
Volunteer Moderator
This is going to be a fairly long story, but I hope you find it worth it. Last Saturday while getting ready to head off to the Premier Event I noticed that Gamma dropped, I had a quick sneaky look and I had started as a Federal Trader in my Cobra in some system over 150Ly from Eranin and Sol, I spun the camera around and saw the Nebulae, I was only around 330Ly from the nearest one and it was the Pleiades (one of my favourite objects in the night sky). That was it, decision made. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and doing some trading/missions to get some capital behind me to upgrade my FSD would have been a very good idea, but no, I just sold my cargo, stripped my weapons (though they would have come in handy a few times), brought a fuel scoop and set off. I was so anxious to set off I can't even remember what system I started in, but I did start writing down my route after 10 jumps or so.
And so away I went in my Cobra with a massive 11Ly jump range
if I kept the fuel tank around 1/3 full anyway. 67 jumps from when I started noting my route and 6 days later and I have reached the cluster. Was it worth it, oh my yes! Now before I start with the pictures I must apologise for the shocking state of my Cobra's windscreen as we get there, the lack of stations for the last 250Ly or so was disgraceful All of the pictures can be clicked for the fullscreen versions.
As I was getting closer, having scanned about 50 systems, I could finally start to notice the Cluster standing out more in the sky and at one point somewhere deep in the Aries Dark Sector I got a lovely image of both the Orion and Pleiades Nebulae
Also I found a planet there that had had a very turbulent youth and been right in the firing line
After what seemed like a very long and fairly lonely journey, although chatting with in game friends kept me going, I was finally within one jump of the first of the stars and my what a system it was, 11 planets including 1 Earth Like Planet. We could even set up home there one day! The view of the Pleiades from there is amazing. The Pleiades cluster is made up of 9 stars. The Seven Sisters: Alcyone, Asterope, Celaeno, Electra, Maia, Merope and Taygeta; along with their parents Atlas and Pleione.
And so I headed in. The first thing that struck me was the reason why you can see these stars so clearly from Earth and I was glad I packed 2 pairs of sunglasses I tried to keep the stars the same size in the pictures so you can tell from the distance how large they are in relation to each other and although the pictures may not look the best I think it helps to impress upon you just how bright the stars were. Not all of the systems had a lot to take photos of and so sometimes you'll just have the star itself. And so to Asterope.
The first system was fairly empty, but it was a nice build up as I headed out to Celaeno next.
There was a planet that was nearby the star and I can honestly say it was very striking when I first caught a glimpse of it on my approach, I'd not seen a planet like this.
I had to dive in for a closer look, the level of detail on the Lava planets especially is amazing.
After that amazing view it was time to head to the next on my list Merope.
Next up was Pleione.
There was a planet here with a very dense ring structure
And something which I had never seen before, which was a Brown Dwarf star with a set of rings around it Quite striking
Then it was onto Atlas.
Now I had noticed the nebula had started to have a much greater presence as I had been flying around it and it appeared as though my next destination was in the centre of the nebula and so I wondered what delights awaited me there. I was not disappointed. On to Maia.
Just as I was turning the ship around to get the main star at the right distance I had noticed a few stars, which at first glance appeared to be in the same system. Once I had the picture I looked at the System Map
I've never seen that many stars in one system and I think there's more planets orbiting the main star. I only fully explored the bottom 4 objects, but what's that to the left of them, yes it's a Black Hole. I spent far too long last night trying to find that pesky Black Hole, but alas I have still not found it Though I am determined I will before I make the return journey. However I did get a shot of how dense the nebula gets, while trying to hunt it down. You can see 3 of the Brown Dwarf stars here too.
Giving up my search I headed off to find the final 3 sisters, these were a few jumps away and the first one I came to was also the largest of all of them, Alcyone.
On next to Electra.
And then finally we have Taygeta and as soon as I jumped in I realised I'd save the most impressive one till last. Did everything just taste purple for a second?
This is the most impressive star that I have seen in the game so far.
And it was by no means the only impressive thing in the system, any excuse for another lava planet
And my parting shot (till I find that Black Hole) is this one. Looking back across a ringed Brown Dwarf star at the system, with the main star glowing like a beacon and 3 other Brown Dwarf stars glinting in the distance.
And so there you go, over 330Ly and 6 days I have made an epic (but tiny in the grand scheme of things) journey to a prominent feature in our night sky. I want to thank you for reading this (if indeed anyone does) and I want to thank Frontier Developments, once again, for making this fantastic game. When most people look up into the night sky the first thing they look for is the Plough, or Orion (in the winter), but I always look straight for the Pleiades Cluster, every time, and thanks to you guys and girls I have just managed to fly there in the game and visit those stars.
Thank you.
And so away I went in my Cobra with a massive 11Ly jump range
if I kept the fuel tank around 1/3 full anyway. 67 jumps from when I started noting my route and 6 days later and I have reached the cluster. Was it worth it, oh my yes! Now before I start with the pictures I must apologise for the shocking state of my Cobra's windscreen as we get there, the lack of stations for the last 250Ly or so was disgraceful All of the pictures can be clicked for the fullscreen versions.As I was getting closer, having scanned about 50 systems, I could finally start to notice the Cluster standing out more in the sky and at one point somewhere deep in the Aries Dark Sector I got a lovely image of both the Orion and Pleiades Nebulae
I tried to keep the stars the same size in the pictures so you can tell from the distance how large they are in relation to each other and although the pictures may not look the best I think it helps to impress upon you just how bright the stars were. Not all of the systems had a lot to take photos of and so sometimes you'll just have the star itself. And so to Asterope.
Quite striking
Though I am determined I will before I make the return journey. However I did get a shot of how dense the nebula gets, while trying to hunt it down. You can see 3 of the Brown Dwarf stars here too.
And so there you go, over 330Ly and 6 days I have made an epic (but tiny in the grand scheme of things) journey to a prominent feature in our night sky. I want to thank you for reading this (if indeed anyone does
) and I want to thank Frontier Developments, once again, for making this fantastic game. When most people look up into the night sky the first thing they look for is the Plough, or Orion (in the winter), but I always look straight for the Pleiades Cluster, every time, and thanks to you guys and girls I have just managed to fly there in the game and visit those stars.Thank you.
Last edited:
