The Unexplorable Witch Head Nebula (And Area Beyond)

DanHyder

D
I understand I am likely a bit late to the party on this, and that this may not apply to those of you who have ungodly jump ranges that could seemingly get you to Sag A* in a few dozen hops, but for me and the other budget explorers, it appears WHN and the area beyond is off limits to us.

Background: decided the Bubble was exceedingly boring, and decided that I should sate my thirst for the stars as a Space Aesthetic and go out in my new Conda for some pictures for the kids. Opened the map, saw Witch Head, thought "Oh jeez, this looks close" and made to what I shall forever call the Great Wall of Permits. Out towards this way, it seems every Col Sector system requires an unknown permit, and me (as a budget explorer) found that these systems surrounded the stars of the WHN structure, and nowhere does there seem to be a jump spot from the safely passable Synuefe Sector Systems to the stars of WHN.
Zoomed out a little further and found that this Great Wall of Permits extended as far as I cared to look before becoming discouraged, making a trek to the beautiful Barnard's Loop and accompanying Horse Head, Flame, Running Man and Orion Nebulae just as inaccessible.

This post is part warning to budget explorers, part whinging, part question on if there's anything I can do while I'm already out here. I've already looked for White Dwarf/Neutron stars to give me a boost into Witch Head, but there doesn't seem to be any inside the Nebula and I'm not too fond of the thought of suicide.
 
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DanHyder

D
Raino said:
there is a science center close by the nebula, at HIP 23759
Click to expand...
Yeah, but it seems to be as inaccessible as the rest of Witch Head, since it's practically inside the Nebula proper and surrounded by COL 70 Sector systems which all require unknown permits :/
 

DanHyder

D
Update: after doing some checking, it seems that COL 70-131 Sector systems in this area of the spiral arm are permit locked, as well as Horse Head Dark Region systems. This combination seems to make the entire system of Nebulae impossible to access
 

DanHyder

D

Zenith

Zenith
You can reach the WHN, but instead of being at it in a straight line, come at it through a wide curve.
You could aim at Hind Mine in T Tauri, then towards WHN.
From WHN, you can thread a path through the permits to the inside of the nebula complex by making a straight line from WHN to Spirograph Nebula, then aiming towards EZ Orionis. That should get you within Barnard's Loop and close to the Orion Nebula.
 

DanHyder

D
Zenith said:
You can reach the WHN, but instead of being at it in a straight line, come at it through a wide curve.
You could aim at Hind Mine in T Tauri, then towards WHN.
From WHN, you can thread a path through the permits to the inside of the nebula complex by making a straight line from WHN to Spirograph Nebula, then aiming towards EZ Orionis. That should get you within Barnard's Loop and close to the Orion Nebula.
Click to expand...

I'll have to test this when I get back on tomorrow. You sir may have been an absolute help if this works for me, thank you very much for the info
 

Dr. Nagi

Dr. Nagi
Well Rigel worked fine for me, going there directly from the bubble (Deciat for example) should be possible, I did that 3 months ago in an ASPX, could plot without any problems.
 

Dr. Nagi

Dr. Nagi
I just looked at my flight map from EDSM, noticed that I forgot to upload the logs from my outbound flight, so please ignore that straight line. But you can see how I went there, I was trying to find an entrance into that region when I got a tip to go to Rigel.

EDhKr18.png
 

varonica

varonica
Been there in a T6E with under 30ly jump range, basically you have to go around, that's the easiest way to explain it. You can't plot a direct course, do it in sections.
 

Jackie Silver

Jackie Silver
I did a similar plot for navigating around there recently on this post.

It may help to think of the permit zones as big spheres that you can't enter, with a series of smaller spheres inside them that you can - e.g. Col 70 Sector is locked, but Col 69, Trapezium, NGC 1999, Flame, Horsehead and Witch Head are not, and you can make your way through them.

If you have a medium-high jump range (if memory serves me right, around 40 ly is needed), it is possible to directly cross from outside to Witch Head at a point where Col 70 is at its thinnest.
 

Thatchinho

Thatchinho
DanHyder said:
I understand I am likely a bit late to the party on this, and that this may not apply to those of you who have ungodly jump ranges that could seemingly get you to Sag A* in a few dozen hops, but for me and the other budget explorers, it appears WHN and the area beyond is off limits to us.

Background: decided the Bubble was exceedingly boring, and decided that I should sate my thirst for the stars as a Space Aesthetic and go out in my new Conda for some pictures for the kids. Opened the map, saw Witch Head, thought "Oh jeez, this looks close" and made to what I shall forever call the Great Wall of Permits. Out towards this way, it seems every Col Sector system requires an unknown permit, and me (as a budget explorer) found that these systems surrounded the stars of the WHN structure, and nowhere does there seem to be a jump spot from the safely passable Synuefe Sector Systems to the stars of WHN.
Zoomed out a little further and found that this Great Wall of Permits extended as far as I cared to look before becoming discouraged, making a trek to the beautiful Barnard's Loop and accompanying Horse Head, Flame, Running Man and Orion Nebulae just as inaccessible.

This post is part warning to budget explorers, part whinging, part question on if there's anything I can do while I'm already out here. I've already looked for White Dwarf/Neutron stars to give me a boost into Witch Head, but there doesn't seem to be any inside the Nebula and I'm not too fond of the thought of suicide.
Click to expand...

What's your jump range? And do you have jumponium (FSD boost materials)?

I've spent a lot of time inside and looking round the edges of Col 70. Parts of the Col 70 wall are only 1 system thick in the Witchhead - Synuefe border so there may be a way across.
 

Dan Bender

Dan Bender
Witch head is inside Col 70?! I must have gotten lucky then a year ago; I didn’t run into any plotting ptoblems until I got into Bernard’s Loop area. I went to Betelguise from the bubble and then pretty much straight for the “left” side of Witch Head from there.
 

DanHyder

D
In answer to the question, my conda's jump range at the moment is rather.... lacking. 17.5ly. I hadn't known about the Great Wall of COL, so I didn't think there would be an issue if I came out here.

As for FSD Injections, I don't have any Vanadium, so that's a no-go. Didn't bring an SRV with me, so it's not very likely I'll be able to get any while I'm out here.

If 40ly range is required, guess it's time to head back home. I'll make a pit stop by Betelguese so I've at least seen something. Thanks for all the help, guys.
 

Sapyx

Sapyx
Jackie Silver said:
It may help to think of the permit zones as big spheres that you can't enter, with a series of smaller spheres inside them that you can - e.g. Col 70 Sector is locked, but Col 69, Trapezium, NGC 1999, Flame, Horsehead and Witch Head are not, and you can make your way through them.
Click to expand...

I tend to think of the Col 70 / Orion region as a giant old-fashioned glass flytrap. Getting in might be difficult, but getting out is even harder. Without something like Jackie's map, a ship in Witchhead space is like a fly in one of those traps, just buzzing around aimlessly looking for the exit.
 

Dr. Nagi

Dr. Nagi
DanHyder said:
In answer to the question, my conda's jump range at the moment is rather.... lacking. 17.5ly.
Click to expand...

What, 17.5 in an Anaconda? Did you outfit that thing for war??
You seriously should head back and change your outfitting if you want to go exploring.
 
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