I delayed my departure from the Crab Nebula for a couple of days to enjoy this furthest point in my journey. I did a few errands for some of the folks living at Station X, and I even did a few local tours for some folks passing through who wanted a better look at the M1.

Three days after I arrived at the Crab Nebula, I arrived at the next waypoint - The Jellyfish Nebula is very beautiful; now I understand the fuss. I stopped at the Beta Site at Jellyfish Sector Fb-X C1-5 just long enough to restock, refuel, and repair, and then took off for the very long, 99-jump trip to Waypoint 8, Flaming Star Sector LX-T B3-0.

At 23:41 hours today, I arrived at Crab Sector DL-Y d9, Waypoint 6 of the expedition, 3 days ahead of schedule (and the main contingent). It was a strange, long trip, scanning only the main arrival point star in detail and the rest of the system via Advanced Stellar Scanner. Honk, scan, scoop, and move on... all to get the furthest I've been from home. And totally worth it.

Unlike the last few approaches, I didn't get a good view of M1 until I was just two jumps away. It was visible in the distance, of course, but the "good views" didn't come into frame until about 3 jumps out. And each jump made the view an order of magnitude more exciting. I took a few great photos when I got to the system and to Station X.

Like I said, this is the furthest point out I've ever visited, and finally earned me a "Travel 1,000 Light Years from the Start" badge, too. The next leg takes us back towards The Bubble, but in a slightly different direction, leading to the Jellyfish Nebula. I'm really excited about this one - it looks beautiful in stellar cartography and stellar photography. And since I know nothing about this particular nebula, I had to do a little research.

The Jellyfish Nebula is a Galactic supernova remnant in the constellation Gemini, roughly 5,000 light years from Earth. And even though I'm not familiar with it, it is one of the best-studied cases of supernova remnants interacting with surrounding molecular clouds.

See you guys in 2,233 light years!

After a few long hops and a few longer full-system explorations - including a few "new discoveries" - I made it to Waypoint 5 of The Outer Rim Station Tour! I'm ahead of schedule, ahead of the group, and moving on. I've outfitted my first AFMU in the anticipation of going even further out with less support. Had to re-rig my power distribution, but it needed a rework anyway.

Tomorrow, I begin the trek to the Crab Nebula! The longest single leg or trip I've ever plotted and flown at 85 jumps, and a little over 2,880 ly. Excited to be heading to such a great celestial object - M1 in the Messier Catalog!!!

Made it to Waypoint 4 with no issues!

I'm gonna start the trek to Waypoint 5 a bit earlier than planned so I can do a LOT of detailed scanning, mapping, stellar cartography, and photography on the way. Scouting ahead, as it were. The rest of the team will be coming this way on the 11th, and I plan to be waiting for them at Rosette Sector CQ-Y D59. Look for the white python, my friends!

I'm here at Waypoint 3 - Thor's Helmet. It is really beautiful out here. Something about hopping nebula to nebula... the scenery is so magnificent!

Tomorrow, I plan to execute the 9 jump, 299 light-year journey for this leg of the expedition. I'm a bit nervous - not due to the distance, though this will be the farthest I've traveled from home, but due to the fact the our destination - Seagull Sector DL-Y D3 - is currently under a pirate warning. Furthermore, the main faction and all other factions in the region are ALL PIRATES!

This should be... interesting.

This week, I started my first expedition. This run, The Outer Rim Station Tour, takes me out further than I've been before. As a new commander, I'm trying out new things, now that I have a few credits to do so. I find that, for now, I prefer small ship combat to medium or large ship, though I imagine that will change once credits are not longer an issue. It may be that for bounty hunting, I go small, and for Thargoids, I go big. We'll see. Mining is... somewhat anti-climatic, it seems. I grabbed a dolphin and an Imperial Courier to try out passenger missions. They were ok, but I can tell I would enjoy them much more in a larger ship (Orca or Beluga). I'm good at trade missions and trade-based community goals and actually enjoy them a good bit.

But exploring... exploring is fun, and risky, and rewarding. I enjoy this the most, so far. Not a great deal of money to make, and a huge time sink, but I really do enjoy it. I started in a Diamondback Explorer, moved up to a Type-6, then an ASP Explorer. I'm doing this mission on my Python, rigged and stripped for long-range expeditions. So far, it's been a blast. Learning a lot about being out here on my own. Soon I'll catch up with the group and run a few legs with the other commanders, which will also be a new experience.

Our expedition started out at 98 K tauri and took me to the Witch Head nebula first. I've never encountered anything like it! The station is INSIDE an asteroid! Not uncommon, from what I've heard, especially in the Outer Rim. First time seeing it, and first time landing on one. Next, I trekked on to Waypoint 2: PMD2009 48 in the Orion Nebula. This was especially exciting for me, as I've seen this nebula numerous times - in astrophotography, in star charts, and in my telescope from home. Being here in person is remarkable.

Next up, Thor's Helmet. This one I know nothing about, but it's got "Thor" in the name, so I expect it to be cool, right?