I journeyed to a system within the California nebula itself.
Here I docked at Mic Turner Base, an Alliance surface port. I checked for any useful modules since it was a high tech system but there was nothing useful to me.
On the same planet I encountered my first thargoid barnacles and barbs.

California Nebula
Colours: 7, the oranges are nicer on this one
Size: 7
Prominence: 9, can be seen from quite a bit away
Accessibility: 2
Station bonus: 5
Total: 30/32, that's the new top ranking

I eventually departed the nebula and began heading towards an inhabited system that was on the way back.

I noticed that one of the system I was passing through was in NGC 1514 sector. I looked it up and found that it was a planetary nebula I had entirely missed. I diverted my course to explore it.

Due to its distinct blue colour it was quite prominent for a planetary nebula.

I soon arrived to the nice blue skies of NGC 1514.
I docked at the USS Lombardi, a Victory class carrier owned by CMDR Skiptomyluke.
I checked out the short "Little Blue" tourist beacon.

NGC 1514
Colours: 10, love the blue
Size: 1
Prominence: 4
Accessibility: 2
Total: 17/32

I decided to leave my journey back towards the bubble (stopping by the cluster of blue and white stars near Mirphak and 39 Delta Persei) until the next day.

NGC 1333
Colours: 3, not particularly interesting
Size: 4, rather small
Prominence: 5, not very prominent
Accessibility: 1
Station Bonus: 5
Total: 18

I might consider changing the accessibility rating from a 0,1 or 2 to a 0,2 or 5. Also might reduce the station bonus to 3 or something, seems to boost some mediocre nebulae a bit too high. Also might try to balance out size/prominence and colours because currently a nebula can reach the top of the ratings just by being large.

With that out of the way I selected a nearby system to get right on the edge of the nebula.

I marked the inhabited systems in the California Nebula. I also calculated the total population to be 559,245 people, most of which were in a system with 500,000 people. Outside the nebula there is NGC 1333 and two other remote inhabited systems with a population totalling to 776,838, mostly in a system with a population of 751,838. In total this region has 1,336,083 people living in it. This region is mostly extraction, agriculture and high tech with one refinery system with a population (500,000) that makes up almost half of the total population.

With my analysis of the population complete I finally plotted my course to a detention centre system 142Ly away just below the nebula. 10 jumps would get me there.

The system had a prison ship known as "The Quarry" orbiting a HMCW. Since the system is an extraction system I assume that the prisoners here would be brought down to the planets surface to mine.
I docked at a carrier named "Deep Space Nein" owned by CMDR Khadrim. I refueled and repaired some minor structural damage I had obtained somewhere between now and my last advanced maintenance check.

I plotted a course to a nearby Alliance system on the edge of the nebula.
The system was swarmed by thargoids.

I experienced some login failure issues so I left this session here, on the edge of the nebula.

I have decided that I probably won't be joining the MitS expedition. I have checked to see if any other Xbox users are going and am waiting a response from any other legacy players.

I attempted to plot a route to NGC 1333, just below the California Nebula but route plotting failed.
I tried to plot a route to 38 Omicron Persei near the Perseus Dark Region but that also failed.
I was able to plot to a random F class star in Col 69, 331Ly away, 24 jumps. From there I would continue my route plotting, I am unsure of what prevented plotting this time.

My very first jump brought me back into the Inner Orion Spur.
And then the next brought me back into Sanguineous Rim.

I identified a line of bright stars that I had been seeing as NGC 1647. It was a telescope error type thing composed of F, B and A type stars. The entire NGC 1647 region was apparently permit locked which is presumably what caused my route plotting errors. My research revealed that NGC 1647 is an open cluster in real life (explaining the quantity of stars but not why they are in a line pointed towards earth). In elite dangerous the sector it was in is rather small so the permit lock must be to stop players from getting to the cluster itself. Another strange locked sector.

After this I was back into Inner Orion Spur. Apparently for good.

Looking ahead I found the real culprit of my dodgy route planning, Col 70 strikes again. I seriously thought I had escaped Col 70 back at Barnard's Loop but here it was interfering again. I would have to go around by Oochorrs sector to evade it.

I replotted my route to a system in Oochorrs sector, 255Ly away, 22 jumps.

After getting there it was 464Ly to NGC 1333, 38 jumps.

I entered a class G system with a large star so I FSS scanned the system and found an ELW. I mapped the ELW and a few other planets such as a metal rich body and multiple HMCWs.

I encountered a system with two type G stars and a white-yellow T-Tauri. I thought that if one star was a T-Tauri they all were.

Throughout the last 15 or 20 jumps of my journey I had been utilising a tactic where I would fly right by the exclusion zone of a star to scoop as much fuel as possible while flying past. While this was very effective and ensured that I never had to stop for fuel as it was constantly being replenished when I was just two jumps away from NGC 1333 I almost crashed into the EZ of a star I was scooping from.

The system of 2MASS JO3291977+3124572 had: a very long name, 2 class B stars, a class G, multiple brown dwarves, class V and IV gas giants, ringed HMCWs, high metal content worlds and an asteroid base with a surprisingly high amount of traffic.

I docked in Ring Mine here, an asteroid base owned by Deep Space Mining. I sold all my cartographic data for approximately 6mil credits.

It was 8 jumps to today's first target, just above Horsehead.

While flying past a star and fuel scooping on the move I noticed that my scoop maxed out at 376/s.

I soon reached my first target and plotted a course to the next, just two jumps away.

I was now at Messier 78 Sector RD-T c3-8, the closest unlocked system to the nebula (as far as I can tell).

Horsehead Nebula
Colours: 6, nice orange and fairly unique dark areas mixed in
Size: 7
Prominence: 6, blends into Barnard's Loop from some angles but the dark areas help it stand out
Accessibility: -1, I'm giving it a negative because of the permit lock zone making getting here difficult
Total: 18/32

From here I plotted a route to HD 37397, another 2 jump trip.

It was a nice class B binary system with a black hole in the middle. There was two fleet carrier but both had all services disabled. The first one I stopped at denied my landing request but I was able to land at the "R.S.V Jeanne D'Arc".

I approached the black hole which was incredibly close to one of the stars. I couldn't see it very well so I assumed it must be very small but if I got closer I would be able to see its gravitational lensing on the star. I soon got within several hundred kms and slowed to minimal speed. I dropped into the exclusion zone before I realised what was happening. I slowed to all stop and looked around, I could see the very severe gravitational lensing behind me. As I left the EZ I built up lots of heat while charging my fsd, I escaped unharmed though.

I now had a choice. There is an expedition to visit the stars in the Orion constellation that will depart from the bubble on April 5th named Man in the Sky (MitS). I could either join the expedition or continue with the nebula tour by heading towards the California Nebula. Although I could easily do the MitS trip myself it might be a good opportunity to meet some of my fellow explorers in the community. Another problem was that I played on the legacy version of the galaxy while most of the others seemed to be on the live version, the fleet carrier accompanying the expedition would not be available for me.

I decided to leave my decision for another day and instead head out towards what appeared to be another telescope error. I was aiming for HD 245203, a B class star that glowed on the map (usually an indicator of something interesting). It was 24 jumps away.

In HD 245203 there was a class B star, two brown dwarves, two class K stars and and helium rich gas giant.

I hopped over to Lam01 Orionis just 14Ly away. This one had an O class main star orbited by a black hole, a metal rich body, 2 class M stars (one with a HMCW), a class K star with a HMCW, a class B and G orbiting together and a class A orbited by a class T.

I then headed towards HIP 26294. This would bring me into the Sanguineous Rim region. It the codex apparently doesn't consider this part of Sanguineous Rim as the codex entry for B class star didn't appear, probably because it's right on the border.

I went to TYC 705-795-1 further in Sanguineous Rim. I added the M and L class star entries on the way over and the B class star once I got there.

I decided that this was enough for today and left the decisions and planning for next session.

In this session I continue my goal of navigating around the Horsehead permit lock region.

I soon arrived in HD 41253 which signals my turn downwards towards the Orion Dark Region.

The system itself was quite interesting due to its two class B stars, two class M dwarves, 4 brown dwarves and class IV and V gas giants.

I was coming in to land on a planet orbiting very close to the massive main star when my connection unexpectedly cut out causing my controller to vibrate and bringing up an error screen. I had a momentary jolt of panic, thinking that I had misjudged the distance and somehow crashed but soon I realised it was just an error and reconnected to the game just fine.
I had to go back to the planet and attempt another landing however I was a bit frustrated when the connection error occured again shortly after entering orbital cruise.
Third time's the charm, this time I successfully landed and got great views of the star.

I eventually decided to move on to my next target, the Orion Dark Region. 9 jumps away.

The dark region was a dark, dusty patch, not much to see.

My targets for next session would be:
Messier 78 Sector TO-R c4-3 overlooking Horsehead,
Messier 78 Sector RD-T c3-8 which appeared to be the closest unlocked system,
And HD 37397 a B class star with a good view into the nebula.

Begin Part 2 of 2.
This entry is a continuation of part 23.

From where I was in the centre of the unfortunately obscured Flame Nebula I would go to Trapezium Sector WY-A c4 in the middle of Barnard's Loop.

From there navigation to the Horsehead would be difficult due to Col 70 sector and Horsehead Dark Region both being entirely permit locked. To circumvent this I would go above Barnard's Loop to HD 41253 in Col 69 sector (nice) and from there back down towards the Orion Dark Region and Messier 78 sector. As far I can tell Messier 78 Sector RD-T c3-9 is the closest unlocked system to Horsehead.

I got a pretty good view of Horsehead from Barnard's Loop but while I'm out here I may as well get as close as possible even if it meant going to long way around

Barnard's Loop
Colours: 5, all the same colour but a nice vibrant red
Size: 10
Prominence: 11, bonus point got being so iconic and visible from the bubble
Accessibility: 2
Total: 28/32, one of the top of all time due to its size and prominence.

My pilgrimage to Barnard's Loop was complete, truly one of the great pilgrimages elite dangerous explorers must take and with it being so close to the bubble and with a variety of inhabited systems along the way I recommend it to anyone, explorer or not.

I soon realised that Horsehead Dark Region and Col 70 extended further over Barnard's Loop than I originally anticipated and that to get over them I would have to backtrack towards Orion then up to Messier 78 and from there I could get to Col 69 then on to HD 41253 and beyond. It was a long route around but I was up to it.

When I got up close Messier 78 appeared as large in the sky as Barnard's Loop, an amazing sight. From where I was at in Trapezium Sector CB-W v2-3 I could also see the Orion and Running Man Nebulae.

Messier 78
Colours: 6
Size: 4
Prominence: 5
Accessibility: 1, the system I was in is debatably on the edge of the nebula
Total: 16/32

From here using a combination of manual and automatic route plotting I made a route to bring me into Col 69.

Along the route I was surprised by a close orbiting Class F and double Class G triple star system. I stopped for a few pictures on a HMCW where I could see two of the stars.

I plotted the final part of my route to HD 41253 above Barnard's Loop where I would begin my descent towards Horsehead. I decided to leave that until the next day. From Horsehead I could head towards NGC 1333 and the California Nebula then back to the bubble.

Orion Nebula
Colours: 8, an interesting mix of orange and darker colours
Size: 6
Prominence: 4, unfortunately dwarfed by Barnard's Loop
Accessibility: 2
Station Bonus: 5
Total: 25/32

I decided to take a quick hop over to V2007 Orionis to get a better look at the Running Man Nebula.

In the Orion Nebula Tourist Centre I had obtained a new 6E fuel scoop. I swapped out my previous cargo rack for a 3E one since I don't carry cargo. The new scoop was twice as fast which combined with my previous power plant upgrade (and subsequent better heat efficiency) back in Witches Head meant my scooping capacity was now quadrupled from when I started this journey back in Feustel Gateway.

Running Man Nebula
Colours: 6
Size: 5
Prominence: 4
Accessibility: 2
Total: 17/32

I plotted a course to Orion Sector VT-A c9 as it would provide a good view of the entire Flame Nebula and allow access to a variety of systems within the nebula.

It appears that being this close to all these nebulae was having an effect on load times as I had been spending longer in hyperspace since I began my approach to Orion Nebula.

I tried out my new fuel scoop and got up to 330/s at only 64% heat, amazing.

From my destination the flame nebula wasn't even visible, Barnard's Loop was just too large. I got closer to the nebula.

I was now right outside the nebula but all it looked like was a dark patch on the centre of Barnard's Loop. Even from within I could barely see the orange parts.

Flame Nebula
Colours: 3, oranges mix into Barnard's Loop leaving just the dark patch
Size: 5
Prominence: 2, almost entirely obscured by Barnard's Loop
Accessibility: 2
Total: 12/32, very poor for a full size nebula

I have decided to split this entry in two due to the large amount of content.
End part 1 of 2.

I departed from Spirograph and within only a few jumps (across some uninteresting systems I didn't bother stopping at) I was in the NGC 1999 nebula.

NGC 1999 Nebula
Colours: 4
Size: 1
Prominence: 2
Accessibility: 2
Total: 9/32

The colours were about the same as Sadr. I prefer the blues and greens to the reds but maybe that's just because I'm colourblind and all the reds looks kinda brown to me.

I stopped at the "Fiery Sky" tourist beacon and went for a little excursion in my SRV. The terrain was quite rough and the gravity low so my SRV got a bit battered but it was all fine in the end.

I swiftly continued on towards the Orion Nebula and after another relatively short time I arrived. Barnard's Loop and the Orion Nebula merged together to take up a large portion of the skybox as I entered the area that appears to be a telescope error that caused a massive line of red dwarf stars to pierce through the nebula and point back to earth.

I docked at the Orion Nebula Tourist Centre and decided to leave any rating or route plotting until next time.

Before I do anything else I will rate the Witches Head Nebula so I don't forget:

Witches Head Nebula
Colours: 6, same type of nebula as Iris
Size: 6
Prominence: 7
Accessibility: 2
Station Bonus: 5 Total: 26/32

One of the highest rankings, if not the highest.
After this I marked the locations of the Spirograph and NGC 1999 planetary nebulae, my next targets.

It was 223Ly to BD+12 1172, an O class system at the centre of the Spirograph. 21 jumps.

I departed from Onoros where I had previously bought a heatsink launcher, just in case.

I decided to take a quick diversion to look at a planet near it's A class star. It was one of my fastest planetary landings ever except for the last part where the landing gear just wouldn't register that I was on the ground.

BD+12 1172 was an amazing system with its Class O main star, class M dwarf, multiple brown dwarves, class III gas giants, ringed HMCWs and three notable stellar phenomena (my first accidentally encountered NSPs). There was also a Nautilus class carrier named "V.P.I Circus Maximus" owned by CMDR Tomuc of the Sodalitas Universal squadron. While it didn't have any services enabled it was still nice to dock and set my respawn point here.

The first NSP was a group of flavium metallic crystals in the ring system of a HMCW, it was very beautiful with the blue white star, HMCW, crystals, ring and cyan background of the nebula.
Thw second NSP was in the rings of a class III gas giant and had rubeum metallic crystals and plenty of solid mineral spheres.
I was quite surprised to find a Sanchez class science vessel at the third NSP. Further scanning revealed it to have a designation of CEC-1018, it apparently remained in this system at all times, jumping around between different points as evidenced by the flight plan. The NSP itself had lattice mineral spheres and rubeum metallic crystals.

I decided to take a break here and I would return to go on towards NGC 1999 later.

Before I go, a rating of the Spirograph Nebula:
Colours: 10, I love the cyan
Size: 1
Prominence: 2
Accessibility: 2
Cool features bonus: 5, for the NSPs and other cool features
Total: 15/32, this is one of my personal favourites but due to it being a planetary nebula it ranked low in size and prominence giving it a lower overall score.

As I was plotting my route to Witches Head from T Tauri I noticed a shiny blue star on the map. Upon investigation I found that it was an O class star named Mintaka. Since it was close to my route I decided to stop by.

307Ly, 19 jumps to Mintaka.

I soon got distracted some bio signals and stopped, just more bark mounds although I did get some nice images from the twilight zone of this tidally locked planet.

I noticed that there was a lot of bio signals out here, even more common that geo signals. This was strange because I only encountered a handful of bio signals while on my route prior to this.

While fuel scooping I watched the rooks (a species of crow and the namesake of my ship) outside my window swoop, dive and even roll through the air.

Mintaka had a spectacular blue giant star that bathed everything in a blue light. It also had a black hole, class V gas giant and a few brown dwarves. There was a HMCW orbiting the black hole, a tourist beacon, a ringed landable HMCW and two other HMCWs.

The tourist beacon "Blue Light" was on the planets surface so I decided not to stop by as I'd rather not spend the time on a high G planetary landing.

After briefly stopping off at the black hole I changed my mind and decided to land at the tourist beacon. The tourist beacon was hovering over the dark side so I went around to front after scanning it and cautiously landed there. I got some very nice views of the ring and the star.

I decided to take a quick break here before heading on towards witches head.

After my break I selected an orange giant star named HR 1874 nearby to go to. This would be my third giant encountered this session (including a red giant that was along my route and Mintaka A).

Ronemar, an inhabited system that seemed to provide a good view of witches head nebula, was 241Ly away, 20 jumps.

Aftet getting there I took in the views then ended today's session. Next time I will rate the nebula and then proceed on towards the Running Man Nebula.