We start our journey off at the only neutron star in the bubble, on the 12th of January, 19:00 GMT in the FleetComm Private Group.
Do you dare to use the opportunity and boost your first jump to 4x the usual range?
Boost at your own risk and know how to do it correctly! ;)
The Helix Nebula is a large planetary nebula located in the constellation Aquarius.
It was the destination of one of the early research voyages organized by the First Great Expedition - making it one of the first nebulae to be surveyed by group exploration.
Basecamp: 46 Upsilon Sagittarii 1, Stray Bird's Nest impact crater
Coordinates: 66°//111°
Gravity: 3.9g High g warning!**
EU: 14th of January, 20:00 GMT
US: 14th of January, 22:00 EST
The blue supergiant star is a part of the constellation Sagittarius and visible with the naked eye from Earth.
The first planet of the system is marked by a massive impact crater ("Stray Bird's Nest", named after the "Straybird", CMDR Corbin Moran's Asp who touched down there first) that has left the surface in that area extremely rugged. From within the crater is a very nice view of the primary star and the rings of the planet. Beware that this is a 3.9g world, so be VERY careful with your descent!
EU: 15th of January, 20:00 GMT
US: 15th of January, 22:00 EST
The bright O-type star HD 175876 has a companion neutron-star with a surprising feature: Extremely large rings. The effective radius of the rings are 12 light seconds, and it has a mass of 5.16 x 10^17 kg - slightly greater than Thebe, a small moon of Jupiter. As the neutron star has a radius on the order of 10km, this object has an exceptionally large ring size relative to the central body. These massive metal-rich rings would provide enough material for hundreds of years for any colony.
Basecamp: RED SPIDER SECTOR UJ-Q B5-0 B 2
Coordinates: 60.5°//119.7°
EU: 16th of January, 20:00 GMT
US: 16th of January, 22:00 EST
The Red Spider Nebula (also catalogued as NGC 6537) is a planetary nebula located some 4,000 light years away from Sol. The nebula has a prominent two-lobed shape, possibly due to a binary companion or magnetic fields and has an ‘S’-shaped symmetry of the lobes – the lobes opposite each other appear similar.
Landing site: NGC 6530 WFI 16706 A 1 A, Tinné's Endeavour
Coordinates: -12.71°//70.28°
Gravity: 0.16g**
EU: 17th of January, 20:00 GMT
US: 17th of January, 22:00 EST
Thor's Eye is the name given to this system containing a massive O-class star and a black hole. Some cartographers consider it to have been misnamed - the Norse God who lost an eye was Odin (not Thor, unless you go by Marvel).
Thor's Eye is a common waypoint for travelers heading to the Lagoon Nebula, which is just 250 Ly toward the galactic north. Thor's Eye is situated in the middle of the open cluster NGC 6530, composed mainly of class-A and class-B stars and various stellar remnants (neutron stars and black holes). A blue-white supergiant can also be found nearby (HD 164865).
EU: 19th of January, 20:00 GMT
US: 19th of January, 22:00 EST
The Omega Nebula is a blue, red and purple nebula located in the constellation Sagittarius at a distance of app. 5.500 LY from Earth. It is a low-density cloud of partially ionized gas which spans some 15 light-years in diameter and has a mass of an estimated 800 solar masses.
The Omega Nebula has been used as a waypoint for several major expeditions, including the Sagittarius-Carina Mission and the Distant Worlds Expedition.
Landing Site: Eagle Sector IR-W d1-117 2 A, Eagle's Landing
EU: 21st of January, 20:00 GMT
US: 21st of January, 22:00 EST
One of the Colonia Connection Highway outposts, constructed in October 3302.
Small-medium sized nebula situated within the Sagittarius arm, approx. 7,000 LYs from Sol. The Eagle Nebula contains scores of tightly packed young F5 class stars, making it a hotbed of scientific research for short-range exploration vessels.
EU: 23rd of January, 20:00 GMT
US: 23rd of January, 22:00 EST
Established in Sept of 3303, this outpost is run by the Patrons of the Conflux. It features all services except for a shipyard. The system also has a planetary outpost, Eudoxus Hithe.
Waypoint 10: Dynasty Expedition Conflux Rally Point and Abandoned Settlements
Landing site: Pru Aescs HW-S b31-2 CD 1
Coordinates: -7.3°//-35.92°
EU: 24th of January, 20:00 GMT
US: 24th of January, 22:00 EST
This particular settlement was found by CMDR TheTick on the 13th of January, 3303
In late 3302, Alessia Verdi, a commander associated with the enigmatic CMDR Salomé, set up an exploration community goal on behalf of the Children of Raxxla. The goal was to retrieve and analyze as much survey data as possible from three specific regions. Those regions being the Formidine Rift, The Scutum-Sagittarii Conflux, and Hawking's Gap (Lin-Shu Hollow).
On analysis of the data, CoR Intel discovered the location of several navigational beacons in each region, that in turn provided the planetary location of several settlements.
These settlements turned out to be staging posts for a mysterious 'Dynasty Expedition' that had traversed the location three decades earlier and had set up bases there.
Landing site: Skaudai AM-B d14-138 AB 7 A
Coordinates: -37.81°//10.43°
EU: 26th of January, 20:00 GMT
US: 26th of January, 22:00 EST
This system contains the first Guardian ruins discovered in the Scutum-Sagittarii Conflux.
Guardian history tells of "Exiles", who were banished when religious orders took over their society. The unexpected discovery of the ruins in the Skaudai sector has lead to speculation among xenohistorians as to whether these out of the way locations could be the final resting place of these exiles.
EU: 28th of January, 20:00 GMT
US: 28th of January, 22:00 EST
A tight binary pair of pulsars with a third pulsar also, in a tight orbit with jets point perpendicularly to the binary pair. When viewed from a particular angle it looks like a cross, hence the name "The Crux." The main body of the system is a black hole of 30 stellar masses. Also of note in the system is a ringed Brown Dwarf.
EU: 29th of January, 20:00 GMT
US: 29th of January, 22:00 EST
This system contains a Class V gas giant that orbits its white dwarf primary in only 15 minutes, and passes through the jet of the WD! Its orbital distance from the WD is 0.4 ls, so close that it cannot actually be reached using supercruise (the WD drops the ship out of SC about 2 ls out). There is also a nearby M V companion star a few ls away. As an aside, there is an unusually high number of Carbon Star systems around this location too.
The planet is so close to the WD that (a) it is within the WD's Roche Limit and should have been torn apart to form a ring system and (b) orbits faster than the WD's rotation period (which itself is only 16 minutes) and therefore is spiralling in to the WD anyway due to tidal forces. The system is also 7.8 billion years old - how the gas giant continues to survive, how it got into its current orbit around the WD, and how the WD and its planet both got so close to the M V star after the end of the WD's former red giant phase are all deep mysteries!
Boewnst KS-S c20-959 (Polo Harbour / The Venetian Nebula)
Waypoint 14: The Venetian Nebula
Landing site: Boewnst KS-S c20-959 A 2 A, Polo Harbour
EU: 31st of January, 20:00 GMT
US: 31st of January, 22:00 EST
The Venetian Nebula is a very colorful nebula, reminiscent of the Lagoon Nebula with its appearance. Due to its location on the edges of the galactic core, it is densely packed with thousands of star systems making the views from within the nebulae itself some of the most spectacular explorers can experience.
EU: 2nd of February, 20:00 GMT
US: 2nd of February, 22:00 EST
A spectacular Ringed Earth-like world with exactly 1G. When this spectacle was discovered by the Chapterhouse Mission to Jaques and news broke back on Kamadhenu a local sect of sadhus interpreted this as fulfillment of a prophecy; They saw the ringed ELW as "Kashyapa" - the legendary consort of Mother Kamadhenu, a fabled paradise - and are now fixated on one day establishing a religious retreat in this system.
In October of 3303, this location was colonized by Chapterhouse Curate. The Vihara Gate starport and Martyrs' Rest outpost are available for travelers, explorers, and pilgrims.
Colonia (Jaques Station / Animula Spires / The Mosta-Murdoch Raceway)
Waypoint 16: The Dove Enigma, Colonia
EU: 4th of February, 20:30 GMT
US: 4th of February, 22:00 EST
This is the last waypoint, our destination: The Megaship Dove Enigma that Frontier Developments placed here to support CMDR DoveEnigma13 in his battle with cancer.
Enjoy the beautiful area of space around Colonia and a drink in Jaques' Bar with the friends you've made during this expedition. o7
