After completing Distant Worlds 2, the Perseus Reach expedition will be my second one with another visit to Semotus Beacon. The main purpose of this journey is to map the Perseus Reach arm. Only small ships are allowed to join, so this time I had to leave my "Prometheus" explorer Anaconda back home and use the Limo-Nade; my fully engineered little explorer Dolphin.
The "Limo-Nade" is ready for her long journey into the black.
A few days after my departure I was returning back to the "Restless Vikings Hideout"; an old POI of mine close to the Bubble nebula, containing a pair of very close binary ELW's.
I also reached the 1000 000LY's mark of total travel distance on my way out here.
Black hole close to a nebula providing some nice photographic opportunities :)
Meetup in the basecamp at waypoint 3 in the Via Maris region.
Leaving waypoint 4 in a spectacular massjump.
41 days has passed since the expedition left the bubble and today, after a 16000LY's detour from the Outer Arm I docked at Jaques Station in Colonia. Stayed here for 10 days before heading back out to rendez vous with the rest of the expedition.
A very special and rare occasion was taking place at WP7 where we met up with the guys from the Orion Expedition. They had almost completed the expedition and was doing the last stretch of their journey to the finishmark at SagA*. We celebrated the event by joining together in a colorful massjump before saying goodbye and flying our separate ways. AWESOME!!
New milestone achieved! Opened a bottle of Lavian Brandy today to celebrate my 20 000th jump in Elite :)
Nice looking ringed Metalrich discovery with an extremely thin ring.
Safely arrived at Thomaski Point Memorial and just landed on a calm and empty basecamp at WP11.
After arriving WP12 at the Grand Rings I took a detour to revisit to my "Solitude Worlds" POI
MISSION COMPLETED: On the 13th of june we passed the "finish line" for the expedition and landed at our very last waypoint on planet B 9 F at Salome's Reach & Semotus Beacon, 65,647.34 LYs from Sol. IT's been an awesome journey!!
A SAFE HARBOUR FAR AWAY FROM HOME:
After a month of exploring my way back home along the western edge I docked with the "DSSA Solsen's Alastor" fleet carrier for a few days. It was great to see some signs of civilisation again after several months in the black.
RIMOR CAPTIONEM:
Arrived at this distant black hole at the far edge of the galaxy a week later. "Rimor Captionem" was one of my high priority destinations on this expedition and was definetely not disappointing. The view of the galaxy through this BH is simply stunning!!
ERIKSON'S STAR:
I have wanted to visit "Erikson's Star" for a long time now, so this was also a high priority location as it is currently the most distant westerly system in the galaxy, 42213LY from Sol. It took a lot of manual route planning to reach, requiring almost 30 boost jumps, but the pitch black view of space at the edge of the galaxy was certainly worth the struggle.
ANOTHER SAFE HAVEN OUT IN THE BLACK:
Traveling 42 000LY's along the edge of the galaxy and almost four weeks after departing from the Solsen's Alastor it was nice to safely dock with another fleet carrier; the "DSSA Chrysaetos Refuge" stationed in the Aquila's Halo region.
ANDROMEDA CALLING:
Continuing my journey along the edge I finally reached the "DSSA Andromeda Calling" fleet carrier in the Errant Marches region after a 27000LY stretch. From here I will make the challenging trip to visit the Star One historical location.
AS CLOSE AS IT GETS!
After 30 boost jumps with a lot of manual route plotting I have finally reached the distant system of Star One. I've wanted to visit this place for a long time as this is the closest (known) system to the Andromeda galaxy, located at the outermost edge of the Errant Marches region. The trip out here is well known to be a challenging one, but my little 57LY Dolphin did the journey without any kind of trouble. But beware! If you're planning a visit here, remember to fill up with jumponium materials. You're gonna need it!
MANIFEST DESTINY:
After returning from Star One and docking for the second time with the Andromeda Calling FC I went to visit another POI. The Manifest Destiny is located almost 3000LY's south from the carrier and is known to be the furthest reachable system bordering the Western meridian line from Sol. Which means another round with lots of boost jumping. Landed to collect some more jumponium.
DOCKING WITH THE DSSA MAERZENBECHER FC:
Two weeks after leaving the Manifest Destiny POI I have arrived and docked with yet another fleet carrier; the DSSA "Maerzenbecher". This beautiful view of the very close ELW is the greatest view I have seen so far from any carrier.
EXPLORER'S END:
On the far edge of the Formidine Rift lies "Explorer's End"; a strange system with a Herbig star with an extreme close Blue Giant and two orbiting black holes.
BACK IN THE RIFT:
On my way to the Zurara I visited a POI called "Sochi", which has a planet orbiting just 1.5LS from its star. Landed on B 1 and the surface temperature was rising fast, but luckily not within dangerous levels at the time so I could deploy the buggy and drive around for a while scanning the Silicate Vapour Geysers there.
About 500LY further east I found the Zurara and docked with the DSSA "KTL Frontier Sanctuary" that is currently stationed there.
ALTERA'S EYE:
Stopping for a visit at another POI on my bucketlist only 6197LY from home, Altera's Eye certainly wasn't disappointing. This black hole surrounded by a colorful planetary nebula is a real treat. Landed at the tourism POI on planet 9 A in the nearest system to get the best view of the nebula.
HOME SWEET HOME!
After 260 days out in the black traveling 298 000LY around the galaxy I could finally request a docking clearance from Jameson Memorial, my home station. Leaving Altera's Eye a few days ago I suddenly got a bit homesick and plotted a direct neutron route home for the remaining 6000LY's, just to speed up things a bit.
Feels good to be back! It's time for a few drinks and meet up with some friends at the Jameson bar.
ROUTE & WAYPOINTS
EXPEDITION SUMMARY
