Having finished all of the upgrading I wanted to do for my Exploration Anaconda Toward Eternity, as well as stocking up on supplies in the holds for synthesis purposes, FSD injections, and hopefully never to be used, Life Support refills, I wanted to take my ship out on a longer expedition, as well as visit one of my bucket-list items. VY Canis Majoris - It's one thing to read about it, or see vids taken by others, but it's another thing altogether to be there. Or so the thinking goes.

Having 73.99 light years' worth of range to jump with, the Galaxy seems just a tiny bit smaller now. On the way there, I popped in at the famous binary W Ursae Majoris and it wasn't much to write home about. Upon arriving at VY Canis Majoris, the red supergiant did indeed fill my view, but something was off. I could talk myself into feeling it was that much larger than any other star I've come across, but it was a bit... Disappointing? It wasn't until I glanced at the Nav Panel that the reality finally clicked in. The jump-in dropped me out at over 5,000 light-seconds away.

Took a remote shot to commemorate the moment.

. Truthfully, I felt a bit let down; out here in the black, the human brain simply doesn't have the usual scale cues, and with numbers that come with the extremes found in the cosmos, the meat inside our bony skulls tends to just zone out. For its own protection, some suggest. Either way, I found several water-worlds on my circuitous way back along the "cellar" of the galaxy before striking back home to Sol. 5.5 million in exploration scanning is a pretty nice way to close out the evening.

In the pell-mell rush to get back to Sol, I hadn't had a moment to drop a few words until now.

With the news that the Distant Worlds Second expedition was coming soon, and looking for other crew to join them on their odyssey to Beagle Point, and how the planned route would pass "near" (in galactic terms) one of my own exploration targets, I decided it was past due to acquire my own exploration ship, an Anaconda. Named the Toward Eternity (any readers familiar with the Emily Dickinson might recognize that phrase) - I spent the next few cycles stripping out parts and installing the essentials for long, long, distance exploration. As I visited the Engineers along the way, I watched the jump range capability soar to ever dizzying heights. My Asp Explorer Shadow out of Time, fitted with a new Guardian FSD booster, was topping out at just under 62 light years. When the Toward Eternity was finished with my plans, it reaches out 72.54 light years, despite carrying SRVs, hull & module reinforcements, shields, and all the other gear one needs to be self-sufficient way out in the deepest black.

As I'm not quite yet done finishing the last retoolings of engineering, I had to restock up on materials, and so I decided to make my way over to Dav's Hope and see what I could rummage up in that desolate place.

You'd think the old mine would have been picked clean ages ago, but I'd swear the restless dead keep watch: I was able to restock my holds with more than enough extra to trade for the remainder.

The Toward Eternity is amazing, though I'm still learning the feel of the beast. Still in that honeymoon phase of gawking at how large the ship is, seeing the starlight play across the hull, or gaping at how far the jumps are taking me. What was once a dozen, several dozen jumps, are now just merely a hop and a skip away. But I mustn't let my guard down regarding the distance; 65,000 light years still laughs at even the most extreme configurations (I hear 80+ is possible) and being over-confident of one's range can easily see a new addition to the dead hulks drifting between the stars.

Took this drone-shot at Dav's Hope; you can barely see me in the SRV beneath Toward Eternity, which itself is taller than the gate-arch of Dav's Hope.

On the way back from Maia - had to introduce myself to Professor Palin - couldn't resist the iconic "pose in front of a blood-red star" glory shot.