Almost back to the bubble. I don't think I'm going to quite make the launch of the Small Worlds Expedition 3, but I won't be too far off. I'm currently checking out the Formidine Rift Abandoned Settlements.

The Alpha site is on Eafots EU-R c4-1 C 2 at -34.20/-77.66.

It would be quite spooky, except for some reason NPC ships keep on spawning above the base?

The Beta site is on Eafots LZ-H b10-0 D 1 at -23.08/-174.89.

The Gamma site is on Eafots RA-G b11-0 3 at -17.8739/-76.052.

The Delta site is on Eafots GL-Y e2 6 at 21.2752/19.066.

Anyway, I've got the rest of tonight and tomorrow night to get back to the bubble!

Tonight I got as far as Phrio Phoe MP-E d12-11. This is the Beta listening post constructed by the Children of Raxxla. I landed on A 5 b for the night (5.5937/37.7132).

The large dot on the horizon to the left of the galaxy is the Bubble Nebula. I'm not going to have time to go out there for a look this trip, it's going to have to be some other time.

The Zurara megaship is from the abandoned Dynasty Expedition.

It's a long way out. I've still got some way to get to the Formidine Rift and the abandoned settlements there.

Just left Star One after making my way out from Colonia.

After several nights doing 5,000Ly a night, the last leg of just a few hundred light years took quite a while, as pretty much each jump needed to be individually plotted using jump boosts. Good thing I maxed out my jump boost materials before heading out here - it really takes out the stress of exploring and travelling in these sparse areas.

Some time ago I read a commander talking about how they were searching for an example of each type of stellar body (star) and getting their commander name on it as first discoverer.

I thought that was a pretty cool idea and so started working on it myself.

There are quite a few types of stellar bodies, 43 based on what EDSM shows:

• O : Plae Aob AA-A h42 B
• B : Dryooe Prou KR-W e1-1799 A
• B super giant : Eol Prou ZE-A f7
• A : Eol Prou PD-J d9-2357
• A super giant : Schienau AA-A h5 A
• F : Dryooe Prou UE-H d10-1242
• F super giant : Eol Prou EF-A e455
• G : Eol Prou PD-J d9-880
• G super giant Dumboea YZ-Y e2287
• K : Eol Prou VZ-V c16-129
• K giant : Kyloall CL-Y d327 A
• M : Eol Prou DJ-A b43-7 A
• M giant : Bla Bloae UT-F b44-0
• M super giant : Eol Prou DL-Y e1892
• L : Eol Prou DJ-A b43-7 C
• T : Dryooe Prou QM-X a72-0
• Y : Segnao JA-B a40-2
• T Tauri : Grea Bloae WL-Y c3-4 A
• Herbig Ae/Be : Eol Prou HB-X e1-933 A
• Wolf-Rayet
• Wolf-Rayet N : Schienau AA-A h88 A
• Wolf-Rayet NC : Plae Aob AA-A h7 A
• Wolf-Rayet C : Ooscs Freau AA-A h20 B
• Wolf-Rayet O : Plae Aob AA-A h4 A
• C
• CN : Ooscs Freau FL-V d3-241
• CJ : Ooscs Freau JR-T d4-1516
• MS : Ooscs Freau JR-T d4-728 A
• S : Ooscs Freau FL-V d3-421
• D :
• DA : Tepou UG-B d14-177
• DAB : Myumboo VL-J d10-221 A
• DAZ : Eol Prou IW-W d1-40
• DAV : Ooscs Freau FL-V d3-70 A
• DB : Cyaulie FB-X d1-0
• DBZ : Eol Prou IW-W d1-121 A
• DBV : Ooscs Freau CL-V d3-155
• DQ
• DC : Dryooe Prou KB-X d1-1175
• DCV : Dryipoo AF-A d4
• Neutron : Agnairt DQ-P d5-1698
• Black Hole : Dryooe Prou GG-Y f974
• Supermassive black hole

Included on that list are Wolf-Rayet, C and DQ types, which only appear to exist close to the bubble. There is also the one-and-only unique Supermassive Black Hole, Sagittarius A*.

Tonight I finished the list, apart from the four types just mentioned. The last one was a M super giant, which required quite a bit of searching to locate.

My next plan is a quick trip out to the western edge of the galaxy, to Star One in particular, then returning to the bubble via the Formidine Rift. I'm hoping to do all that in about two weeks so I can join the Small Worlds 3 expedition.

I recently acquired my Trilaterator badge for entering 10,000 EDSM distances.

When EDSM was new, I entered a bit over 5,000 distances, mostly during the Distant Worlds 3302 expedition. I started locating every system, but after a few days I was falling further and further behind the convoy and gave up, except for whichever system I ending up logging off in.

Late last year I started on my second big exploration trip. I kept on looking at my travel map, seeing my new green lines, then looking at my old red lines. When I got to the Semotus Beacon I had already decided to try entering distances from there to a couple of sections of my outbound Distant Worlds trip.

I entered about 1,000 distances there, then I moved to a location much closer to the centre of the galaxy, but a lot 'higher' and repeated the exercise. This time I only needed to enter about 750 distances. Then I dived down 'lower' and did the same, this time I only needed to enter about 300 distances. Other commanders were entering distances too, which greatly sped up locating my systems.

To get to 10,000 distances, and my badge, I repeated the process at two locations, up 'high' and down 'low' nearish to Colonia. This time I entered about 1,500 distances each. Already, other commanders are entering distances and the red outbound Distant Worlds line is slowly becoming green.

Over the coming months I'm planning to do the same thing with my Distant Worlds return trip. I expect there are several thousand systems to be located. It may take a while.

I'm still in the Oegaipr sector, prospecting on Oegaipr JS-B d13-0 C 1. While driving around I found a most unusual sight - an Adder just parked on the surface.

It's a long way out for such a small ship. Particularly as it took me a boosted 97.80Ly jump to get here! Having said that, I was able to knock up a decent exploration configuration in Coriolis that has an unladen range of 50.97Ly, enough for the sort of boosted jump required to get here.

I decided today was a good day to try to see how high I could get in the galaxy where I am. I've been exploring around 15,000Ly beyond Colonia. Today I started in the Plae Aob sector. This sector has a lot of undiscovered Wolf-Rayet stars, in case you're looking for the EDSM badge.

I decided to start going up and worked my way through the Myneagaa sector, into the Phoo Brau sector, and then into the Oegaipr sector. I seem to be the first EDSM contributor into the Oegaipr sector.

My first system in the sector was Oegaipr RO-Z d13-0. After using 8 premium and 2 standard FSD boosts, I was starting to worry about my remaining boosts.

As luck would have it, Oegaipr RO-Z d13-0 is a "green" system - it has all the materials required for all the FSD boost recipes. Even better, all the materials are located on the planet closest to the arrival star (an F-type) and its moon! The parent body has a nice ring, but watch out for the 2.22 gravity.

In fact, all 25 of the known surface materials are present in this system.

I'm making my way back towards Colonia. The Thueche Brahe Nebula (Thueche LS-A d1-54) is my first nebula after leaving the Beagle Point area, and one of the few nebulas in the 'north-west' quadrant of the galaxy.

The glow from the clouds lights up the surface of the planet.

This is bodies 10 and 11 in the Eowrailt SM-W d1-0 system. It's not everyday you find a pair of Earth-Likes orbiting a common barycenter.