Sagittarius A* - 9 explorers

CMDR Charybdis

CMDR Charybdis
To say that Sagittarius A* might have become a tourist spot is probably something of an understatement! Commanders from the G+ community have decided to make the trip out after two planned to start on the same day (but didn't know about each other), and two more decided to spontaneously join in. It has since grown to 9 pilots who are making the trip.

We're keeping a loose formation within the route with the intent to arrive at the destination in the same session. Some have started further behind than others, but work and life commitments mean this isn't a Buckyball race. We do keep going in TeamSpeak and make this a social trip as well.

As I already run a character blog about the Elite universe I've naturally started to write about the trip.

The call of the wild
Day 2: Onward
Day 3: Paw of the Cat
Day 4: The 3 ages of man
Day 5: Sun flare
Day 6: Not a drop
Day 7: A waterfall of stars
Day 8: Out of the blue
Day 9: Boxing clever
Day 10: Escaping the sea of rocks
Day 11: The double scoop
Day 12: Eaten by the Great Annihilator
Day 12: Slàinte mhath!
The Three Graces
Roll up, Roll up!
The Pillars of Creation
The littlest nebula
The escort home
Exploration promotion - data analysis

Although the writing will vary depending on the sources of inspiration that I find on the journey, I'll also post up pictures and videos along the way also. Here's an example on the approach to NGC 6357 and the pattern of stars that sit in front of the nebulae.

Day 4 said:
The bright points of hot class A and O stars come to the fore. A constellation obscured by distance and the bright background now takes prominence in the sky. Our ancestors created shapes in the stars and worshipped them, told stories of great acts of bravery that placed heroes and symbols in the sky to watch over them.

For a moment's indulgence between jumps I try and imagine a story behind this configuration of stars. A brave young man, spear held high, ready to slay an implacable foe.

Jump. Moving clear of the bright star and locating the constellation again, it has become a stalwart mature hunter carrying provisions home to family.

Jump. An old man hunched over and relying on a walking stick. Revered in wisdom and experience.

Shaking my head clears the picture from my mind as the journey of 60 light years has distorted the formation of the stars beyond recognition. The old superstitions surrounding the configuration of the stars are long gone. It is difficult to worship the stars when you wander among them, and much has fallen to the wayside because it could only be seen from the single viewpoint of Sol, our origin system.

An awe still remains though: of the true scale unknown and un-knowable. Fears and superstitions of another kind now live out here amongst the stars.
Click to expand...

I'll come back to this thread to update the blog entries. Enjoy!
 
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Himilco

Himilco
Outstanding voyage....and well documented.

Keep us updated with your progress...and be sure to beam back pics of any interesting finds.

Safe explorations, Commander.
 

CMDR Charybdis

CMDR Charybdis
Thanks guys - I had to go check the Gump reference as I've not seen the film and yes, it does feel like that.

I'll keep the updates coming...
 

Allitnil

Allitnil
Roughly when do you expect your group to reach Sag A*? Maybe some others of us could join you there and have a party!
 

CMDR Charybdis

CMDR Charybdis
I must admit that some of us are cautious after the "incident" out there, but all genuine explorers would be welcome :) ETA is hard to gauge at the moment but we're at least a week away because of work and other commitments. Today is currently "Day 6" though its not over yet and I'm usually posting one day behind.

We'd also like to try and get back into time for the exploration community goal, but that could be asking a bit much!

For all explorers out there: fly safe Commanders!
 

Allitnil

Allitnil
HypoThermia said:
I must admit that some of us are cautious after the "incident" out there, but all genuine explorers would be welcome :) ETA is hard to gauge at the moment but we're at least a week away because of work and other commitments. Today is currently "Day 6" though its not over yet and I'm usually posting one day behind.

We'd also like to try and get back into time for the exploration community goal, but that could be asking a bit much!

For all explorers out there: fly safe Commanders!
Click to expand...
Unless you are wedded to the idea of playing in open, it would be a good idea to create your own group. That way you could announce your expected arrival time and invite genuine explorers to join you if they happen to be in the area at the right time. If you restrict invites to those who are known here and therefore have a reputation to lose then the risk is very low. It probably is even in open now since the cowardly demise of the individual who preyed on Sag A* visitors before has effectively killed any possible sense of honour or role playing from doing what he did.
 

ollieclark

ollieclark
Aha! I've found the thread about me. :)

I was one of the original 2 explorers who started the trip.

I logged on on Tuesday evening, thought "Huh, what am I going to do tonight?" and decided to go to Sagittarius A*. The other original explorer happened to be in Shinrarta Dezhra at the same time I was finalising the outfitting of my Asp also about to head off to Sagittarius A* so we decided to go together. A couple of other Commanders (including the OP) joined us within 100ly of us setting off. Another 5 joined up over the next few days.

I'm currently just under 13kly from Sag A*, anchored off an Earth like world. It's nice to stop almost but not quite close enough to a breathable atmosphere to save yourself if anything goes wrong. :)

I've already done more distance on this trip than all my other exploration put together. Amazing how quick you get when you've got a target a long way away!

My (not as good as HypoThermia's) blog is at http://ollieclark.com/cmdrol/

Oh and if anyone runs out of fuel, I've got 16 fuel transfer droids and a 64t fuel tank on board ready for rescue.
 

Murishani

Murishani
9 explorers all the way to the core?
Good lord that sounds like trying to herd cats.
Best of luck to you all, I'll be monitoring the story!
 

CMDR Charybdis

CMDR Charybdis
It does feel like herding cats - but I do have to say that nobody is being pressured to make the time or distance. The achievement is enough :)

Another blog entry from Sunday's exploration.

Day 6: Not a drop
Space rats. Running dry. A cruel joke.
 
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ollieclark

ollieclark
Making good progress - I'm 10.5kly from the core now. I'm going to take it slowly tonight, see some sights, scan some planets and let the others catch up a bit.

Day 6
Day 7
 

CMDR Charybdis

CMDR Charybdis
At the moment we have 7 commanders that are around 10,000Ly from the destination, to within +-1000Ly.

One started late and is travelling slowly, and another hasn't checked in for a while... we're getting a tad concerned.
 

CMDR Charybdis

CMDR Charybdis
Day 9: Boxing clever
A curious thing. The glass ceiling. An honest mistake.

More from the journey to the centre of the galaxy. The density of stars is now almost overwhelming. Except when it isn't.

There's a tidy rhythm to exploration now and discoveries are flowing at a pleasing rate.
 
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Bikky

Bikky
Murishani said:
9 explorers all the way to the core?
Good lord that sounds like trying to herd cats.
Best of luck to you all, I'll be monitoring the story!
Click to expand...

Lol, Cat's would be easy..... "here kitty, have some kibble"

ollieclark said:
Aha! I've found the thread about me. :)

I was one of the original 2 explorers who started the trip.
.
Click to expand...

And I'm the other.

I logged in that same Tuesday night, dumped the T9, picked my taxi (hauler), and headed "home" to re-fit the ASP for my 2nd attempt at Sag A* (First attempt I overheated and blew up at 2000ly due to incompetence)

As I was puling into Shinrata Ol was getting ready to leave, so we winged it to start with.

Now our journey consists of whoever makes the next 1000ly waypoint, set's the following one. Occasionally we're detouring off and picking some hurbigs/neturons etc. but it's keeping us in a rough group, maybe 2000ly between us.

Most of us aren't explorers per se, not when 90% of money has come from trade/combat (Currently Dangerous), funding 3 fighter ships from cobra to python, the t9 for funding this habbit, and the asp (ex combat ship) for an explorer.

However, in respect to that "incident" i've come kitted up with shield gen and weapons too. They'll only get used if someone starts first. I'm passive aggressive, I prefer the peaceful approach, until you open fire first :p
 

CMDR Charybdis

CMDR Charybdis
Thanks Andrew! Each blog depends on the pictures that I've taken during the previous days travel/exploration. One day I had a heavy run of water worlds and nothing else, so a counter point of a system failure in water reclaimation seemed appropriate. The futuristic equivalent of a sailor not being able to drink sea water.

Which reminds me... I need to get that fixed...
 
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