Visited Systems: 41

Highlights: None

For this leg I decided to do something a little bit different. Instead of trying to jam in several POIs I only picked one, namely Cat's Perch, a nebula certainly in its own right but also special because it is located 3.000 lys above the galactic plane. I could not absolve the roughly fifty jumps needed to get there in one day, but I should reach it tomorrow. Getting there is certainly not a problem, enough stars for my ships jump range. I may try from there to go up yet a bit further, but only as long it is possible with regular jumps. I am not well stocked for FSD injections nor do I have experience in White Dwarf or Neutron Star boosts. And I certainly don't want to get stuck up there.

Visited Systems: 61

Highlights: Clockwork Rings, Ebony & Ivory, Bled & Bohinj, Jade Ghost, Polo Harbour / Venetian Nebula

It has been a busy and exciting day, although rather long. It started of with the Clockwork Rings (Byaa Ain QA-J c11-144). Two ringed planets orbiting each other with a distance of less than one lightseconds create a setting that has to be experienced. Endless photographic opportunities, especially when landed on one of the bodies, still do not justice to the physical presence of the rings when approaching the two planets with your ship. Pure awesomeness.

On to Ebony and Ivory (Byaa Airm JM-W f1-744) about 2,000 ly above the galactic plane. As the name suggests this system hosts a Black Hole at the arrival point circled by a White Dwarf two lightseconds away. To spice things up the arrival can put you into a jet of the neutron star 62 ls off. So be ready with that heatsink, just in case (I was lucky and had no such incident).

Descending back to the plane my next targets were a pair of nebulas only 135 lys apart. The first one was The Bohinj Nebula (Byoi Ain GR-N e6-1614), containing a neutron star at the center and three companions farther out. The second one, easy to spot on the sky already, was The Bled Nebula (Byoi Ain GR-N e6-1971), lit up by a sole neutron star. Both share a beautiful deep blue colour, as usual best looked at from a close neighbouring system which are aplenty (between 0.6 and 3 lys).

On the final stretch towards Polo Harbour I passed by the Jade Ghost Stellar Remnant (Byoi Ain WE-R e4-913). The blue-green complexion from a few lightyears away changes into a pure all encompassing green when arriving at the center black hole. The lensing effect works really well on the now closeby Venetian Nebula (Boewnst KS-S c20-959) framed by the surrounding jade background sky.

From there it is only a very short distance to the Venetian Nebula itself, which hosts Polo Harbour, a planetary outpost, right in the central star system. It was getting late by the time my ship was safe in the hangar, but still I went through my well established routine and ordered the necessary repairs, so my ship would be ready the next morning.

Visited Systems: 39

Highlights: Death Spiral

The day started off with a bang. The Death Spiral (Blaa Phoe NC-D d12-230) is as impressive as it sounds. The combination of a gas giant orbiting a white dwarf so close the distance is given as zero lightseconds plus a red dwarf only 5 ls away is mind blowing. How the gas giant still exists is a mystery, but there they are for all visitors to marvel at.

The rest of the day was filled with the often rather mundane exploration routine. After I had taken the customary photographs I started my journey upwards to my next goal, about 45 jumps away. 5 jumps before arriving the day was at its end and I stopped for the night.

Visited Systems: 47

Highlights: Michell's Legacy

The sole highlight today was Michell's Legacy (Boewnst AA-A h33). Except there is literally not much to see since the system is famous for its large number of black holes, six in number. You can fly to the smaller ones and go for the usual lensing effect. I've tried to approach the one at the arrival point, but that one is the biggest of the six with 55 solar masses, which means its Exclusion Zone is about 200+ km, too far for any decent lensing. I did try to get closer but to no avail and when I headed back out towards the Escape Vector I had to deploy a heatsink in a hurry to avoid heat damage (my Krait Phantom isn't the coolest space ship either). The remaining black holes vary between four and eleven solar masses, but the whole system gave me the creeps and instead of checking them out I punched my next target into the navigation computer.

By the time I got close it was late night and thus decided again to stop shortly before it and rather enjoy the whole thing with fresh energy the next morning. After all you don't want to visit a "Death Spiral" tired from travelling.

Visited Systems: 35

Highlights: Theia Xander, Caravanserai

Not much to report today. I finished my way back up to the Galactic Plane. One stop at Theia Xander (Stuelou DN-H d11-1001), with a ringed Earth-Like World having an atmosphere practically identical to the Earth. Then without further ado to Caravanserai (Gandharvi), where I took a much needed break for the night.

Visited Systems: 30

Highlights: The Crux, Gloria Atlantica

Like the Flares The Crux (Nuekuae AA-A h52) offers a black hole and three neutron stars (and a ringed Brown Dwarf for that matter). However the three neutron stars are very close together, two of them parallel, almost touching and the third one very close by but its cones oriented perpendicular to the other two. Thus from a certain viewing angle the form a visual cross, hence the name. How such a system formed can only be guessed, but physics must have gone wild over the millions of years in this area.

The second entry on the list was Gloria Atlantica (Gru Hypoea CM-B d14-27), a beautiful ringe Earth-like World with a neutron star at the arrival point. Since this system is about 1.500 ly below the Galactic Plane where also the next station is located it will be quite a "climb back up" to Gandharvi which host the Caravanserei, a fully developed Ocellus Starport, something rather the exception on the Colonia Highway.

Visited Systems: 36

Highlights: Gagarin Gate, Vostok-1 Nebula, Jo Ella's Flares

I reached Gagarin Gate today. As it seems to be tradition by now another station located in or very near a nebula. This time the station is at the very heart of the Vostok-1 Nebula (Gru Hypue KS-T d3-31) in the system of the nebula's central star.

Soon I moved on, my next POI rather close in "Gru Hypue AA-A g4" or better known as Jo Ella's Flares. The system has only four bodies, but all of the very special variety, i.e. three pulsars and one black hole. The black hole is actually the arrival drop point and it orbits around closely a neutron star with the other two farther off. You would think this is hard to top, yet the first agenda item for tomorrow would just do that, especially from a visual point of view.

Visited Systems: 34

Highlights: Ewoks Rest

The lonely highlight today was Ewoks Rest (Clookia NK-M d8-431). It is apparently a reference to an ancient Science Fiction film, though I am unaware of the details. In any case, from an astronomical point of view the only thing unusual about this system is that it holds two bodies, one earth-like world and and ammonia world which are not revolving around a star, but rather are circling another planet respectively, which makes the moons rather than planets in their own right.

The rest of the journey was uneventful and I stopped about 10 jumps before Gagarin Gate, my next stop-over on the journey to Colonia.

Visited Systems: 37

Highlights: Twirling Death Stellar Remnant, Dragon Tail's Nebula

From Emain Macha I headed to a POI called Twirling Death Stellar Remnant (Bleae Aescs AV-Y d2449). But even then I had already following target the Dragon Tail's Nebula (Crookaae DL-Y g18) in sight, and also its counterpart, the Dragon's Mouth Nebula (which I passed over). But back to the "Twirling" System. A very fast pulsating neutron star has a close (4 ls) companion star, a red dwarf, an another red dwarf not much farther out (30 ls).

The highlight of the Dragon's Tail Nebula is the black hole right in the center, its sole inhabitant. With no star close by the lighting was a bit surreal, almost creepy. After the usual lensing pictures I decided to carry on.

All in all my progress is slower now. I invest more time in scanning and evaluating the results, always on the lookout for some interesting feature of the system I am in. Most noteworthy in this leg, apart from the POIs, were a few Water Worlds along with two Earth-like Worlds.

Visited Systems: 56

Highlights: Sacaqawea Space Port, Skaudai Nebula, Cúpla Iontach, Hammer Nebula, Emain Macha

Early in the morning I saw the planetary outpost below down me, Sacaqawea Space Port in the Skaudai CH-B d14-34 system. The landing was straight forward, but when I handed in the exploration data I was surprised by a message from the Pilot Federation. "... promoting you to rank Elite for your outstanding exploration work". Or something like that. Hadn't really expected that, but it was a nice sign of appreciation, so no complaints from me about it. I also got a haircut. Still I did not linger around, got the usual repairs done and off I went again.

First stop was the Skaudai Nebula (Skaudai AL-O e6-27), but I already took some really nice pictures when approaching the area. The next object was also famous for its looks, namely Cúpla Iontach (Skaudai KI-C b58-1), a gas giant with some very distinctive rings. Unfortunately the lighting was not perfect and they looked not quite as impressive as some of the pictures I had seen of it. Still a beautiful sight.

After that another nebula, this one 115 ly across, therefore the experience that most nebulae look better from distance applied even more. Especially if one looks for the name giving shape (Hammer Nebula in Preae Ain VU-V c3-23), which is painted by the darker central portion of it.

The final stop of the day was Emain Macha (Blua Hypue QI-Z d1-4516), a system proving that the galaxy does not run out of ideas with respect to unusual systems. Two ringed Earth-like Worlds in a binary orbit, both orbiting the central star, which happens to be nothing less than a neutron star. No wonder a tourist beacon is set up here. Fortunately this time only other sightseeing ships were around and none of the pirate sort. But to be on the safe side I went on to the next system before I stopped for the night.