This small double-lobe planetary nebula resides far above the galactic plane in the Orio-Persean Gap. Getting to the central star system is impossible without FSD injection, as the final jump requires a range of about 75Ly. The nebula itself is a fantastic cyan and aquamarine colour, and boasts a Wolf-Rayet C star at it's center. No planets, sadly. The region around the Bowtie nebula proved tricky to navigate, with most stars somewhere in the range of 50-70 Ly apart. If an explorer wasn't careful it would be entirely possible to spend one too many FSD Injections and get stuck up here. Eventually I made my way back to a region of slightly greater stellar density over the Perseus Arm, where I parked in deep space for the night.

Full Journey Album Here

Known by some as The Siren of the Spinward Stars, This nebula is packed with O-Class giant stars which makes it visible for at least 1000LY as an ever-growing bird or cross shaped cluster. This is where it gets the nickname, as it seems to attract explorers for many light-years around it. There's a lot to see within the nebula, and I unfortunately didn't end up seeing all of it, but I did make a stay over at Gorgon Research Facility and a pit-stop in S171 37, where I had a look at the planet known as "Dudael" or "Cauldron of God", a ludicrous record-breaker in a number of categories from gravity, to atmosphere, to size. It also boasts an incredible ring system.

This would be an interesting place to perhaps one day settle as an out-of-bubble home, and were it not for the lack of Shipyard and Outfitting at Gorgon Research Facility it would be perfect.

Full album of Journey Here

This waypoint centered on Cave Sector JH-V C2-8, in which, of particular interest were planet A1 and it's moon A1 A. These two rocks are metal-rich and make for great prospecting in the SRV. The moon was a great source for Zinc, Tin, and Mercury, while the planet was great for Arsenic, Cadmium, and Yttrium. The more interesting feature of the moon however was it's active volcanism. It took me nearly 4 hours of searching various canyons and craters, but thankfully the moon is only about 170km in radius, so there wasn't all that much to search. This is where the fighter came in handy as it's top speed far outstrips the Anaconda's and thus makes it a great Recon Vehicle. At coordinates (-68.3069,-85.2176) I finally discovered a site of this volcanism where there exists at the end of a long series of canyons, a field of silicate vapour fumaroles. To my knowledge these are uncharted as of yet.

Aside from the geysers, the system is also just a rather nice viewpoint for the cave nebula, and planet A1 and it's moon are both quite picturesque drifting as a close pair against the warm colours of the nebula as a backdrop. I spent a lot of time here and I enjoyed the whole experience.

Full album of the journey Here

A pretty blue and pink planetary nebula, the little dumbbell is home to a whole host of stars and planets. The central O-Class giant star is orbited by a handful of M and T class dwarf stars many of which have planets. The closest planet to the O-Class, is a large rocky body with nearly 3G surface gravity. This is a bit of a pain to land on. Shields are advised. Good site to get Vanadium and Manganese though if you're in need. If like me you intend on going much further however, Vanadium and Manganese are hardly rare commodities. The LDN is a refreshing site as far as planetary nebulae go, what with all these planets. Plenty of viable landing sites.

This nebula would be the first of many points of interest which I would take a wild detour to reach. The point of this trip was to see as much as I could and take as long as I wanted. Thus it wasn't too much to ask to go a few hundred Light-years off course.

Full Album of the Journey Here

Home to NSV 1056, a wolf-rayet star located at the center of the IC 289 Planetary nebula. A green-yellow and red-orange Planetary nebula. Best views are probably not from within the cloud itself but instead from the nearby sectored system ending in DL-Y D17, which has a tourist beacon around a neat double planet with a great view of IC 289. It's a shame that many planetary Nebulae, which by nature are host to only one star, have few to none in the way of landing viable planets. This one is no exception. Still an enjoyable site, and close enough to the civilized bubble that I would reccomend it, like LBN 623, as an early waypoint for new explorers.

Full Album of the Journey Here

A Unique violet and purple diffuse nebula located not far from the frontier systems of Sothis and Ceos. A very picturesque, cone shaped cloud with many good viewing points, including dozens of landable worlds. This nebula is one of the prettiest within a thousand light-years of the Bubble, and serves as a great starting point for anyone heading out to the black in a galactic southwest direction.

As it turns out, I visited this nebula 3 separate times in the last few days before setting out for real. First I got out there before realizing I hadn't re-engineered my FSD since the engineers were updated. So I returned to do that first. Then I set out again, realized I had forgot to get the components for Heatsink refills and as well I had forgotten to apply the paint jobs to my SRVs and Fighter (not that they'll impress anyone out there in the darkness but me). Finally I had everything in order and so I hopped out there and camped for the night.

If you're just getting your feet wet in the exploration trade, I highly suggest a visit here as a first outing. Quite close to civilized space, and a rewarding vista no matter what angle you see it from.

Full Journey Album Here

IT'S TIME FOR A ROADTRIP!

It's been a while since I was out there exploring, and after getting back into Elite again, it was time to do a proper trip. To date I have made 3 significant personal expeditions beyond civilized space and the near-bubble region. For the record I'm not counting the countless trips to and from the Pleiades, or the 50-odd runs to the frontier systems delivering biowaste for profit. These trips were significant for me as establishing my interest in exploration, and also learning how to properly enjoy it.

COREWARD BOUND

The first of these major expeditions was way back in the early days, before I could even afford a decent ship. I decided I wanted to visit Sagittarius A... in an unmodified Diamondback Scout. To say it was a foolish plan would be a wild understatement. My heart was in the right place, but I'd never done any real exploring. The closest I'd come was a quick jaunt out to the Pipe Nebula to get my name on something. Point is, I wasn't prepared. I didn't have a map to locate points of interest along the way, I didn't have any plans to entertain myself for the 30+ kLys that it would take to get there, I had a measly 26Ly jump range. I spent something like three days, and reached a distance 2239Ly from Sol. I stopped, I turned around, and I went home. I learned one of the most important lessons in exploration that day. Journey, not Destination.

COLONIA B-LINE

The next time I would make a journey into the black, was much later. Jacques station had been found! And wouldn't you know, there was an exploration community goal there! So I kitted out my trusty Asp explorer, PFS Viatori, and set out for what would eventually come to be known as the Colonia system. This time I was a little better prepared for the journey. I had already done some engineering and managed to achieve a jump range of around 45-50Ly. I had a second monitor, on which I would binge Netflix to keep myself entertained. I had reworked my key bindings and developed a simple pattern to gather data: honk, scoop, charge, check, jump. I knew this was not the way to do exploration, but truth told, I wasn't really doing this for the exploration. At least, it wasn't the priority. I was doing it to say I had. To brag about it to my friends. And cause I like long roadtrips. So I made a bee-line and arrived at the Eol Prou nebula in about 22hrs of nearly non-stop hopping. Sold my data, and as tempting as it was, I resisted the urge to kamikaze on the side of the station and suck up the rebuy to get home. I set out and plotted a slightly less direct course home. This time I actually made a few pit stops at points of interest. This was thanks to my discovery of EDSM to help find things to see.

THE LOCAL TOUR

The third trip I made was much shorter than the previous, but it sought to alleviate the problem I had experienced with my exploits so far. I needed to go exploring without a singular final destination. I needed to plan a route that was lined with interesting things and I needed to stop and smell the roses a bit. So it was that a local nebula tour began. I made a wandering, zig-zagging loop around the Orion nebula group and the region to the galactic south of Sol. I saw the LBN 623 nebula which I have come to refer to fondly as the Violet Veil. I saw the California nebula, the first of many which it is nearly identical to. I saw the Pleiades for yet another time, the Witch head, T Tauri, Spirograph, M78, Running Man, Flame, Horsehead, and of course, the great Barnard's Loop. This third expedition was important as it was the most enjoyable I'd had. Lots of sights, no particular destination, lots of wandering to and fro. It would be a while before I wandered out to deep space again though, as long breaks from the game and occupations in the bubble kept me from going too far.

But finally, Beginning March 28th 2018,

WEST WINDS

Redesigned Engineers systems, an itching wanderlust, and a recent preoccupation with all things sci-fi drove me to plan this expedition. I want to make a significant journey. Enjoyable, mostly aimless, long, and profitable. I started by having a look at some maps, namely EDSM and this one, and began to plan something. Originally the idea was just to wander out to the Bubble nebula and back, but with all the activity in the Formidine Rift nearby it was too hard to avoid, so I extended the plan to include that as well. But then I figured, the rift is interesting not just as a site of mystery, but also as a large scale obstacle. It's barren, and empty; difficult to navigate. I should cross it. And then what? What's over there except uncharted territory? And then I got thinking about the unknown void out beyond. The outer rim. Sparse, dark, quiet, interesting. I modified the original plan. Bubble nebula would be the first major goal, but I wanted to set some personal records, to hell with the Colonia journey and it's 40-odd thousand Light-years. I'd follow the western Meridian all the way out as far as I could, hopefully reaching Manifest Destiny Beacon. From there I'd loop around the outer arm and cross back towards civilization via the Formidine rift. It's a long trip and it's gonna get pretty monotonous out there around the 15kLy mark, but with ample TV to entertain myself, and no particular final destination holding me down, I can take my time. Stop and dig at rocks for a bit. Scan a few entire systems just to claim them as mine. Hunt down some non-sequence stars. Do whatever I fancied. I've done the engineering and outfitted PFS Terminus (Anaconda) with all the necessities, and then some. For entertainment and recon purposes, I've included a fighter. Two SRV bays just in case. Twin AFMUs, loads of heatsinks and materials to make more, chaff for those pesky pirates on the return to home (LFT 90), and a few paintjobs to impress no-one but myself.

And so it begins. I'm off to see the sights, test my patience, and set some personal records. And hey, maybe I'll see someone else out there in the darkness.

CMDR Astrovenator o7