DW2 – 3305

Reporting from Clooku EW-Y c3-197

Distance from Sol – 13126.83lys

Distance to Beagle Point – 53518.2lys

Distance travelled – 53261.0lys

Jumps – 943

What a week it has been for a feast of beautiful nebula and planets. Having previously decided to slow down when plotting routes between each way point so not to miss anything. I Missed the group launch in a navigation loop of shame of epic proportion and thanks can only go to the Commanders who too pity on me and invited me to their wing I plotted a course to the Fish Eyed Nebula.



Fish Eye Nebula

Flyiedgai ST-R e4-8



This small blue nebula is the apparent remnant of supernova; all bodies inside the nebula are only 256 million years old. The nebula contains a neutron star, two main-sequence stars, and a host of smaller bodies. A water world, with life, can be found in orbit between the two stars and is unusual given the young age of the system. The nebula contains excellent views of the rich field of nebula as one approaches the coreward side of the Scutum-Sagittarii Conflux (source).

This felt like going back on myself a little but I was determined not to miss anything this week and have to backtrack which adds significant periods of jumping. The journey here was uneventful cruising through 41 systems with a handful of terraformable HMC planets. I stopped off at Flyiedgai JS-J d9-4 to take the above picture which also captures a distant image of the Flyiedgai Nebula which would be my next destination.

In the Fish eye Nebula

Flyiedgai Nebula

Flyiedgai UL-C d13-41



Medium sized pink and red nebula situated within the central Norma Arm, approx. 11,200 LYs from Sol.

Reference: Link

As the Flyiedgai Nebula grew slowly bigger in my field of view and with only 10 jumps I was quickly there, the pink and red held a stark contrast with the galactic plane. The picture was taken from Flyiedgai RF-E d12-11 when I discovered my first terraforming candidate of the week which was a lovely ringed water world orbiting a F-type Star.



Ellaisms Remnant

Ellaisms QX-U e2-43



A typical double-lobed blue planetary nebula surrounding a neutron star, the result of a supernova approx. 296 million years ago. Life has managed to survive through this cataclysm; the fourth planet is a life-filled water world.

I decided at this point to head for the Ellaisms Remnant a mere 23 jumps away though slightly away from the Rusty Net Nebula and the new discoveries started coming quite quickly where I netted a few Water worlds and an Ammonia World on route though sadly only a couple were candidates for terraforming. Once I arrived at the Ellaisms Remnant and spent an evening resting in the blue hue of the neutron star I plotted a course for Rusty Net.



Rusty Net

Skaude AL-X e1-28



A visually striking planetary nebula along the Colonia Connection Highway. The neutron star at its center provides a welcome boost to long-distance travel, but taking a pause from your journey to admire the view is well worth it. The deep-red stellar remnant, aptly named “The Rusty Net,” has caught within it a G-class secondary with two life-bearing water worlds and two rocky terraformables. From within the planetary nebula the nearby Skaudai emission nebula is clearly visible, lighting the way to Sacagawea spaceport and on to the Festival Grounds.

This provided me with a truly WOW! moment I just hadn’t appreciated before the beauty some of the nebula provide in game and I have promised myself to visit more on route to Beagle point but also to plot a course via more on the return. They break up the backdrop of space and offer a small relief from the feeling of emptiness. Having feasted on the view I set a course to the Hammer Nebula. This wasn’t as inspiring as the last but I was delighted on my first jump away from Rusty Net to find a unexplored system with 5 terraformable HMC planets orbiting a K-Type star.



Hammer Nebula

Preae Ain VU-V c3-23



The Hammer Nebula, one of two nebula in the Preae Ain area, sits about 1000 Ly above the beaten path between The Bubble and Jaques’ Station. Compared with its neighbour, The Chisel Nebula, Hammer shares a similar T-shaped pattern of purples, blues, and blacks. Unlike the smaller nebula above it, The Hammer Nebula is close to 115 LY across and contains a plethora of stars, most main sequence and capable of refuelling.



The glowing purples and blues of the nebula serve as a stark contrast to the darker gases that give the nebula its hammer like appearance.



Approaching the nebula reveals it’s true colours, a flash of brilliant blue and orange hues unseen in the distance, and thousands of stars many of which appear to hold gas and ammonia giants in their orbits.



Skaude (Collection of Wonders)

Skaude AA-A h294



This incredible system (also known as ‘Collection of Wonders’) contains two black holes, a ringed M-class star, a ringed white dwarf, and a ringed neutron star. The M-class star is one of the largest known stellar bodies containing a ring system. A tourist beacon is set up near the M-class star.

Reference : Link

It was about this time I noted the chatter in the Squadron chat regarding the closing of the league tables for this seasons competition, I hadn’t even realised we were competing and noted that Fleetcom were just slight behind our brothers, sisters and small furry things from Alpha Centauri. Not wanting to let the side down and in the spirit of fair competition I plotted a course for the Collection of Wonders. As I leapt into the system and found myself face to face with a Black Hole (Note to self: I must read more about these PoI’s before hand) it was a plethora of interesting sights. A ringed M-class star, 2 black holes, a ringed white dwarf and a ringed neutron star. I will be back here at some point when I finish of my collection of beacons to visit which I had started before DW2 I’m still getting through Series 1 which if you explore the blog a little more you can see where I have got to.

Ringed M-Class

The Squadron chatter was becoming more intense now regarding the impending closure of the Season 1 competition so knowing I had a good amount of exploration data to hand in I plotted a course for Sacaqawea Space Port. A mere 8 jumps and I was down making sure I took the time on arriving at Skaudai IM-E b57-3 to take a lovely picture of the Skaudai Nebula.

Skaudai Nebula



Sacaqawea Space Port – Skaudai CH-B d14-34, planet 1 A



Located inside the Skaudai Nebula, this is one of the Colonia Connection Highway outposts, constructed in October 3302. The port is named after ‘Sacagawea’ of old Earth. She was a Lemhi Shoshone woman who helped the Lewis and Clark Expedition achieve each of its chartered mission objectives exploring the Louisiana Purchase. With the expedition, between 1804 and 1806 (old Earth years), Sacaqawea traveled thousands of miles from North Dakota to the Pacific Ocean, established cultural contacts with the Native American populations, and researched natural history.

Reference : Link

So I arrived safe at the planetary station and turned over over 100 million credits worth of data and did my bit. We were close to winning the exploration season but I wasn’t going to wait around here for the outcome though now in retrospect I should have waited as Fleetcom successfully won. I’m told we receive a Gold Bobble-head but that adornment for my cockpit dashboard will have to wait. I now only had a few PoI’s to visit before I would be getting close to WP4 so I headed back to visit the Guardian Ruins where I narrowly missed landing on a Commanders Ananconda called Rosalie. Hands up I may have scratched his/her paint so leaving a note on his windshield windscreen spacescreen cockpit I quickly headed towards the Spear Thistle Nebula before insurance details could be exchanged.



This system contains the first Guardian ruins discovered in the Scutum-Sagittarii Conflux.

Guardian history tells of “Exiles”, who were banished when religious orders took over their society. The unexpected discovery of the ruins in the Skaudai sector has lead to speculation among xenohistorians as to wether these out of the way locations could be the final resting place of these exiles (source).



The system itself contains three ancient sites, all of them located on the same moon and two of them next to each other.



Site 68:

Type: Beta 1

Orbital Body: AB 7 A

Coordinates: -37.81 / 10.48

Site 69:

Type: Gamma 1

Orbital Body: AB 7 A

Coordinates: -49.67 / -69.62

Site 92:

Type: Gamma 2

Orbital Body: AB 7 A

Coordinates: -37.82 / 10.50



In January 3303, the engineer Ram Tah started his efforts to decrypt the meaning of the ancient obelisks, assisted by massive support of independent pilots. Using new technology developed by Ram Tah that allowed the decoding of alien datapatterns embedded within the obelisks, more and more information regarding the site and its constructors (an alien race referred to as ´The Guardians´) has been assembled and presented to the galactic community.

Links:

List of known Guardian sites: (go here to explore the 100+ sites)

Canonn research on the alien ruins: (go here for data and theory crafting)



On arriving this was a pretty Nebula and the black hole it surrounds is worth the visit, with its low mass you can get some lovely pictures for the family album. On the way out here I had discovered a number of water worlds but with only a few places to visit now I pressed onto the Octopus Nebula.



Spear Thistle Nebula

G Eodgorph PI-T e3-21



This whispy, purple planetary nebula is centered on a black hole. The low mass of the black hole makes it possible to experience lensing effects while travelling under normal propulsion. Combined with the bluish-purple background and the view towards the nearby Octopus nebula this makes for quite a scenery. This was featured in the holovid Stellar Ballet by CMDRs Skoomer and Zach.

The system also contains three icy bodies and a white star. It was originally scouted for the Sagittarius-Carina Mission.

Reference: Link

This was a lovely sight and definitely worth a visit if you are on the way to Colonia or the bubble, I was starting to see more commanders now in systems and it was nice to stop and chat in the local comms. Hearing others adventures and at times witty banter is reassuring. Having 10000+ Commanders all on the same journey makes such a difference.

Octopus Nebula

Prua Phoe TK-M d8-361



This Red and White nebula is best characterized by its tendril like hydrogen clouds, which wrap themselves like tentacles around a large white core. It’s location between Colonia and The Bubble makes for a great roadside pit stop as the main sequence stars here are plentiful.

I then decided to stop by the Causality of Lotus, I had been here before the changes in 2.3 but sadly I didn’t take a picture. I have used the one below from EDSM, discovered by Cmdr Mist0 during the Autumn Odyssey expedition in 3304 I took a picture all the same.



Xeehia GT-G d11-8 (Causality of Lotus)



Discovered during the Autumn Odyssey, this system posses a glowing magenta giant which has a strange behaviour, when you look directly at it, certainly because of the near neutron star, its colors change to appear almost plain pink (source).

Update Feb. 3305

Please note that the 3.3 update has now ‘normalized’ the colors of planet 1, and the bright pink hue no longer exists.

Used to look like this!

It was really time now to head for the final rendezvous in Clooku EW-Y C3-197 so heading towards the Llyn Tegid Nebula an easy 30 jumps I comfortably touched down between a couple commanders keeping a watchful eye over the planetary water geysers.



Llyn Tegid Nebula

Clooku WO-Z e3682



A wondrous blue planetary nebula that is illuminated by a neutron star and a class F Star in combination. Named after Llyn Tegid, the original Welsh name for Lake Bala in Wales. A place rich in local folklore and legend, including the tales of the Goddess Ceridwen. Here she is said to have attempted to brew a liquid form of pure inspiration and knowledge, known as the Awen. But by accident the Awen was transferred to a boy who worked for Ceridwen, who became the legendary poet Taliesin.



Basecamp: “Shepard Shallows”

Clooku EW-Y C3-197

Planet/Moon : 5 G A

Base Camp Surface Coordinates : 56.305 / 111.854 (GeoSite #16)

Radius (KM) : 511

Surface Gravity : 0.03

Geological Activity : Water Geysers

So safe on the ground we wait for the next instructions of where to head, I imagine we are now heading to the core to prepare for building a new station after the last CG at WP2. This is an exciting prospect and will offer a safe port of call for all explorers and travellers alike.

See you on the ground and fly safe commanders.

Cmdr Chuffa

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