Oh no, Friday the 13th, too bad I have already most of my mishaps before today.

Finally reached Waypoint 9 this morning. All around the Waypoint are clusters of Neutron Stars, sadly they were all discovered but that did not stop me from visiting quite a few to see if I could find any undiscovered.

People have been quite through in their mapping/scanning of the local area.

The Galactic Core, dead ahead

This may be the last time in a while I will see the inky black of Space. I am heading towards Sag "A" (100 jumps away) which means Stars, Stars, Stars..

52 Jumps left to before hitting Waypoint 10. Neutron Stars and White Dwarves are no longer exciting when I discover a new one, as it seems almost every third or fourth jump its either or.

Tomorrow, I plan to make Waypoint 10 which leaves one more waypoint before the Sag "A" run.

I hoping to get to Beagle Point or close to it before the month is out.

CMDR MAD DOG MacD

started off in the morning with 51 jumps to go until Waypoint 9.

7 jumps in, I managed to check a few more (and add) items off my list.

In those small 7 jumps I discovered;

• Two undiscovered White Dwarf Stars
• One undiscovered Neutron Star
• One undiscovered Ammonia World

My checklist is getting smaller and smaller. What is left:

• Undiscovered Black Hole
• Undiscovered Ringed-Earthlike
• The ever elusive undiscovered Wolf-Rayet Star

Many more to come..

Many more to come as well..

A few more jumps I discovered;

• The elusive Black Hole. It was tiny. Getting a good picture was impossible
• Five more White Dwarf Stars
• Three more Neutron Stars

By far, this detour has been the most productive of the whole trip so far. Now only if could find a Wolf-Rayet and Ringed Earthlike I would be happy.

16 Jumps left until Waypoint 9. Ship hull is at 89% and a few modules are there as well, was a little careless flying close to a White Dwarf.

CMDR MAD DOG MacD

The detour once again proved that the early bird gets the worm. Same person that discovered the last White Dwarf also discovered this one. I am going to suspect that this person was going around discovering rare Star Types, which sounds like a good idea for later. I guess we all have our interests.

I replotted my course back to Waypoint 9; 98 Jumps, wow, that is quite a haul but it will put me back on course.

This detour proved most worthwhile. Not only did I find another ringed Ammonia world:

Ringed worlds in general draw me in every time, no matter the type... But I finally managed to find what I was looking for (at least one thing to remove off the Checklist):

My first Earthlike!

28 Jumps in, I managed to find another Earthlike. Glad that my curiosity takes the better of me at times.

This detour has been remarkable, more Ammonia Worlds, more Earthlikes and another part of the Galaxy, The Empyrean Straits.

Found this curious little ringed Ice Planet:

Rings so small it warranted investigation

I have never seen such small rings around such a small planet. Was worth the trek. I believe this journal entry makes up for Day Ten when it jump, honk, scoop, repeat...

CMDR MAD DOG MacD

No photos this round. I am 83 Jumps out to my next waypoint but decided to take a little detour to check something out.

The systems, while unremarkable, have been large. One system had 72 bodies to scan. Imagine if I had a Surface Scanner as well and was mapping in conjunction of just doing a system scan?

The detour is to a hopefully undiscovered White Dwarf. As I said, it is about the exploration and I want to check a few things off my personal list.

Oh, I have been tracking Star Classes for Ammonia Worlds, I will put in an update shortly.

CMDR MAD DOG MacD

Turned out that the White Dwarf Star was already discovered, but the trip there was worth it in untold amount of unexplored systems (most had a minimum of 10 bodies).

This will only fuel my desire more to check all the boxes in my exploration list during this endeavor.

I have replotted and now heading towards Waypoint 8. Star density is obviously ever increasing and so are the discoveries.

Waypoint 8, The Greae Phio Stellar Forge was reached this evening. On the way I managed to find these;

Reminds me of Orange Juice, the color was a shock to the eyes

Same system but a very dark green and much more ominous.

Both had Crystalline Structures contained within. While they are garden variety it was an interesting system to explore. Tomorrow starting to plot a course for Waypoint 9.

CMDR MAD DOG MacD

I found today:

• An undiscovered Neutron Star
• 3 Ammonia Worlds (one with rings)

Been tracking the Star Classes for Ammonia Worlds, so far: G, G, F and A are the classes for found Ammonia Worlds. The Class A had this beauty:

Ringed Ammonia World. Took a few pictures, this was the one I liked the most

Today has been an epic session. I started towards my journey to Waypoint 8. On the way, I decided to avoid the beaten path and did 40 Jumps to a new location and then replotted my course towards the waypoint.

Off the Beaten Path. So many Stars!

That picture was taken almost after I slipped into the Norma Arm.

Looking forward to another banner day for discoveries tomorrow. I am sure while this may not be the exact path towards the Waypoints, the whole object is to discover and I am truly checking that box.

CMDR MAD DOG MacD

There has never been a better time to be out exploring.

With Terrorists on the rampage and the Federation and Empire sabre rattling, us Explorers have a security blanket of darkness and distance wrapped around us from the events going on in the Bubble.

No regrets about it either. Glad I am out here rather dealing with the BS that seems to be going on. Way too much drama for my liking. Besides I like it out here.

It is quiet. It is serene and most importantly, the only drama that happens, is what you create for yourself.

The Hollow Veil, Waypoint 7

Finally made it to The Hollow Veil Nebula. Rather than stick around, I replotted my next route (131 Jumps away), turned Messier in the direction and jumped off heading towards Waypoint 8.

Not bad for a weeks work.

Eeny meany miny mo, which Nebula shall I go?

Waypoint 7 is in sight. Still 59 Jumps to get there.

Found an interesting Binary Water World pair (actually the system had three Water Worlds total) so I decided to check it out. They were not as close as I thought to get a neat picture. Next time...

60 Jumps left to reach Waypoint 6. While enroute, discovered my first undiscovered Ammonia World, can mark one objective off the list. G Class Star is the Star Type where I found the AW.

Now all that is left is:

• Wolf-Rayet
• Earth Like
• Ringed Earth Like (3 years on PS4, never found one, but I have shorter jump range now and all the time in the world)

Arrived at Waypoint 5, which was the NGC 6357 Nebula.

One of my favorite Star Classes, O-Type

Checking a few things out in the neighborhood, one was a quick visit to two systems holding O-Type Stars. It was worth the small deviation (2 Jumps, each Jump containing this star class)

I replotted my next course (144 Jumps away) and ventured out. During the journey I officially entered the Norma Expanse and said goodbye to the Inner Orion Spur for a while.

CMDR MAD DOG MacD

9 Jumps away, and Waypoint 5 looms directly ahead

I have added quite a few systems under my belt, bringing my exploration total just about 45Mil and not even at 10K Ly yet.

Looking forward to the Galactic Core.

Each jump, the Galactic Core looms even closer. I am 70 Jumps away from Waypoint 5

Getting closer, the last time I was out this way, it was a speed run to Colonia on the Neutron Highway with my Anaconda

One thing I have noticed, that massive jump range is not exactly the best for Deep Space exploring.

I have hit batches of unexplored, profitable systems and then boom, I find an explored one, a batch again and the same person again after a couple of jumps. You are literally flying over items that if you had the lower jump range, you would have discovered.

I learned this lesson on Distant Worlds 2. My Anaconda has a range of 77.7Ly, and my friend had a much lower range in his Asp. His discoveries were way more remarkable than mine, also, a lot more.

This is a lesson I now have learned. All my exploration ships will have a maximum of 35Ly Jump range. This way, I will not be missing systems.

CMDR MAD DOG MacD

Waypoint 4, Eagle Nebula.

Took a 10 minute break in the Eagle Nebula, replotted my next course to waypoint 5 and did my cursory check for WR stars. I will find one. That is one of my sub-goals of this expedition, next to a Ringed Earthlike.

The stars are sure thin up here.

Very few stars and one heck of a view...

Sadly, the Wolf Rayet was indeed discovered. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I replotted my route to get back on track. 36 Jumps to Waypoint 4. It was worth it though, I have been discovering systems like crazy, which means I will leave my mark regardless.

CMDR MAD DOG MacD