tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25407233849540493482024-03-04T20:43:01.369-08:00Event Horizons - A Personal Journey Through The Milky WayTake part in a wondrous journey to the stars. It will take us far beyond known space, across the vast Milky Way, over there to that blue star on the right; and back again sometime...Andrew Gaspurrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04104128739678349957noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540723384954049348.post-83624599131589214302016-08-29T04:48:00.000-07:002016-08-29T04:48:24.467-07:00A Change Of Plans<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Dear readers,</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I decided to rewrite this blog and also give it a new event-based structure in order to make my experience and hence my blog entries more coherent with what's going on in the Elite.Dangerous galaxy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Please stay tuned and fly safe!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Andrew</span>Andrew Gaspurrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04104128739678349957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540723384954049348.post-85369449713944726142016-01-23T03:09:00.000-08:002016-02-08T03:11:21.391-08:00I am the Alpha and the Omega<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Where the Lagoon Nebula was already an eyecatcher, I was most eager to find out more about one of the jewels on my 'To Visit' list: The Omega Nebula, also named the Swan Nebula or just Messier 17. In fact, from the Lagoon you can already get your first glimpses of the Omega Nebula, a distant and darker hue of gas against the plane of the Milky Way. You will also see the bright, young stellar cluster of NGC 6618, which was born out of parts of the nebula in the not-so-distant past.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Q31Kwl8MVcDsVfmPZ67JgfN0I1CGZe4wVv-Bu_fE8VJYPbUl_culncVoP7lL-XHEljzO6RlY24byJdHW3A6BvFWtaPPc073w-fRNfI-0TaqxwKsMOssOvWQYH1pUH0RhASQ5t3YQwQI/s1600/omega_ngc6618_01.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Q31Kwl8MVcDsVfmPZ67JgfN0I1CGZe4wVv-Bu_fE8VJYPbUl_culncVoP7lL-XHEljzO6RlY24byJdHW3A6BvFWtaPPc073w-fRNfI-0TaqxwKsMOssOvWQYH1pUH0RhASQ5t3YQwQI/s400/omega_ngc6618_01.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The Omega Nebula is thought to hold some 800 times the
mass of Sol. That is no biggie for a nebula, mind you, but those parts
of the Omega Complex that we don't see hold some 30,000 solar masses
more. This makes the complex one of the most massive ones on our side of
the galaxy; and it also gives you an idea about the complexity of those interstellar gas clouds. In fact, the complex is nearly identical in its makeup when compared to the Orion Complex in our immediate neighbourhood. We just see it at a different angle from Sol.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGTEbsnz8scWNlQRJF7KalriLapHs65ghApemyuIc_0hIupW6XdLKCYEgRTdqBBcQ2jSmMCotVdzN_KpiNl7EyOAF9XGvNVXkjAZV15n3ElnKM5Xb3JYDGYsrmf8y2fe1saNaQvPkAxi8/s1600/ngc6618_01.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGTEbsnz8scWNlQRJF7KalriLapHs65ghApemyuIc_0hIupW6XdLKCYEgRTdqBBcQ2jSmMCotVdzN_KpiNl7EyOAF9XGvNVXkjAZV15n3ElnKM5Xb3JYDGYsrmf8y2fe1saNaQvPkAxi8/s400/ngc6618_01.jpg" width="400" /></a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The area around the nebula is a so-called H-II region, a region dominated by ionized atomic gas. This ionization comes from the nearby cluster of massive, young stars, namely NGC 6618. Their radiation is so intense that it tears atoms apart and makes the surrounding gas heat up and 'shine'. So when we see the Omega Nebula, we only see an illuminated hotspot within a much bigger cloud of gas and dust. Again, it gives you an idea about the size of these interstellar cloud monsters.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMATqmm58A4fe_mUE3W0DH1gUDpvtuIAgPBznY65IFR5z1xUYGnrHGB8Ys7rshVRdrbkjhCMyJso2bYJm82da_MvOhg6eKRCvxQLpHaEAsulaWR_8GI-3kVBy7cAe_A09jEEMW7EAmIlU/s1600/omega_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMATqmm58A4fe_mUE3W0DH1gUDpvtuIAgPBznY65IFR5z1xUYGnrHGB8Ys7rshVRdrbkjhCMyJso2bYJm82da_MvOhg6eKRCvxQLpHaEAsulaWR_8GI-3kVBy7cAe_A09jEEMW7EAmIlU/s400/omega_01.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">When talking about the young star cluster of NGC 6618 we are talking about a former part of the Omega Complex that somehow collapsed and gave birth to a multitude of protostars (both T Tauri and Herbig Ae/Be stars) and young main sequence stars, including a few O types. They should now be in the process of using up the remains of the cloud core's gases and eventually drift away. For the interested explorer, there are quite a few very interesting objects to be surveyed here. The most massive stars seem to have collapsed already so there are quite a few neutron stars and black holes hidden in the cluster. Especially the stars of the PW2010 survey seem to hold most of them and they are awesome to behold and sometimes quite hazardous to navigate.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_0BDdyYTZI5vPKJs5zKBExU0fjikLoGaGZnB-5L7N4RSCMgSS9SCAVZiCBUypVRv5mkEBxjOPRnbvdZm8srTz1bZF6UEEFKWtjpxSEW-gTbCFcwUKpdhLMcGqrNouTxNtA_yOkBALfiA/s1600/omega_lz_006.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_0BDdyYTZI5vPKJs5zKBExU0fjikLoGaGZnB-5L7N4RSCMgSS9SCAVZiCBUypVRv5mkEBxjOPRnbvdZm8srTz1bZF6UEEFKWtjpxSEW-gTbCFcwUKpdhLMcGqrNouTxNtA_yOkBALfiA/s400/omega_lz_006.jpg" width="400" /> </a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Scanning down all of the NGC's stars would obviously take a huge amount of time and would warrant an entire expedition in its own right, so I made a mental note on coming back at a later time. It's not like those stars are going anywhere soon, their expansion rate is estimated to be merely 12km per second.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>Andrew Gaspurrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04104128739678349957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540723384954049348.post-6269692790758970572016-01-20T03:14:00.000-08:002016-02-06T13:18:11.116-08:00To The Lagoon<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I always keep a short list of deep sky objects I intend to visit in the near future. The Lagoon Nebula has always been on it and I was really looking forward to travelling there after my visit to both the Bug and Red Spider Nebulae.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-DaFviZOJIa_c23VattqAItETQY4SQNHUXqUHOCFf9l7OT7EoD_1ourWEXc_awr6gqFIMgpaVwZEgEsPUmPmJQHCZBXOMkVCv7N8ws3phtn0AQcj-hxl1kYaf4lnAq_75qfhRTPcU5kw/s1600/lagoon_02.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-DaFviZOJIa_c23VattqAItETQY4SQNHUXqUHOCFf9l7OT7EoD_1ourWEXc_awr6gqFIMgpaVwZEgEsPUmPmJQHCZBXOMkVCv7N8ws3phtn0AQcj-hxl1kYaf4lnAq_75qfhRTPcU5kw/s400/lagoon_02.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Approaching the Lagoon Nebula from the galactic south, there are some objects that are worth visiting, namely the Open Clusters of NGC 6531 (aka Messier 21) and NGC 6530. Both clusters are relatively young and dense but still undergo expansion and the surroundings still have enough interstellar medium to continue star formation for quite some time. In fact, the not so distant Bug and Spider bear witness of how active the region still is. One red giant collapse here, one supernova there and you’ll have enough shockwaves ploughing through the interstellar medium and igniting hot dust cloud cores for the next generation of stars.<br /><br />Speaking of stars: Of the brighter stars in those clusters there is one that has acted as a veritable beacon system in the past, a cornerstone of coreward expeditions and a magnet to cosmic explorers, tourists and – lately – pirates: The bright supergiant of <b><span style="color: orange;">Thor’s Eye</span></b>. It has been labelled ‘Eye of the Beholder’, ‘Lagoon’s Jewel’ and also the ‘Maw of the Abyss’. Melodramatic for sure and everybody who has visited this system sure has different feelings about it!<br /><br />I am somewhat biased towards the Eye. It is a type O star of more than 16 solar radii alright, but it does not have any celestials except a gas giant and a black hole. Yes, okay, a black hole but with FSD technology and ultra-resolution imaging systems it’s not that these are elusive stellar rarities anymore. Maybe I am a bit callous here but I can’t understand the hype about the system. However, word spread fast that the members of the <a href="https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=198085" target="_blank">Distant Worlds Expedition</a> would pay this system both homage and a visit.<br /><br />It was here that a wing of several pirates from god-knows-where waylaid unsuspecting explorers of the Distant Worlds Expedition not long ago. Casualties were light but rumours of these attacks spread faster than the speed of light in the scientific community, leading to an increase in the local travel advisory rating (which is generally a bad thing for unarmed exploration vessels).</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">However, there is another star system I would like to point out and that is <b><span style="color: orange;">LKHA 115</span></b>. It is also embedded in the NGC 6530 cluster, but it has a total of three black holes, two of which are in close orbit around each other. The total mass of those three is a bit lower than that of the single one of Thor's Eye, granted, but the system is much more dynamical. If you have a graviton suite hooked up with your discovery scanner you might be able to pick up some gravitational waves from the two orbiting black holes. Good luck!<br /><br />Now, the Lagoon Nebula, also known as Messier 8, is a very interesting region, because it is embedded in a much larger cloud of gas and dust in which, until recently, star formation took place. The result of this star formation is the Open Cluster NGC 6530, which lies directly at the Lagoon’s doorstep. It may have worked like this: Parts of the original bigger dust cloud must have collapsed, forming the young NGC 6530 cluster with its bright, hot stars. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2lereMLG3Upom6sf8aPgJa6QMMj-erZBqp11K9jdhmWdSgUF36vUAq9BDiwL1mZIFDVK7JzFvnrFIGKzmszqd3FRbc-cPziPy29NO0Qs5UQmWmOvu5TFHF7hw2ZljxQ4HyKv9ihOfd4g/s1600/lagoon_012.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2lereMLG3Upom6sf8aPgJa6QMMj-erZBqp11K9jdhmWdSgUF36vUAq9BDiwL1mZIFDVK7JzFvnrFIGKzmszqd3FRbc-cPziPy29NO0Qs5UQmWmOvu5TFHF7hw2ZljxQ4HyKv9ihOfd4g/s400/lagoon_012.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The solar winds of these new-born stars ‘burned away’ the remnants of the surrounding dust cloud of the complex. What is left is the star cluster on one side and the nebula we see today as the Lagoon Nebula on the other side. So the nebula is basically that part of the original cloud that did not collapse and commence star formation. That is why the Lagoon and NGC 6530 lie so close together: They are made of the same matter from the same cosmic cloud and thus the ‘Lagoon Complex’ bears great similarity to older star forming regions like the Orion Complex or the Carina Complex. The ‘Lagoon’ is just younger, an astronomical infant, so to say.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdZbrVyITT3PrVmoE2aBP6wzqrY87XhadCrVN1g6XoXB3LVzWDf2hQBE2ayfg_IlOc6Qarso6zbee8IRKz19DLNK6hSxz7mX-7DUF_gfeopiQLoGcCiJ2L46EOq1Kp3qT5phyphenhyphenmwd2SkZo/s1600/lagoon_03.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdZbrVyITT3PrVmoE2aBP6wzqrY87XhadCrVN1g6XoXB3LVzWDf2hQBE2ayfg_IlOc6Qarso6zbee8IRKz19DLNK6hSxz7mX-7DUF_gfeopiQLoGcCiJ2L46EOq1Kp3qT5phyphenhyphenmwd2SkZo/s400/lagoon_03.jpg" width="400" /> </a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZsvf5XdqGDWfiNzVTHPNoCrF-B6AJ3JhFGl8XQ_HMdAioJoC5vyR1yRa_NGztkHXPOMr88V9jTSWAzKK62XB8iXNZup-8Mh9htR155P0t0BtzxfbDI1zzTJST894JqKfrkkRxAp_9qSc/s1600/lagoon_lz_03.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZsvf5XdqGDWfiNzVTHPNoCrF-B6AJ3JhFGl8XQ_HMdAioJoC5vyR1yRa_NGztkHXPOMr88V9jTSWAzKK62XB8iXNZup-8Mh9htR155P0t0BtzxfbDI1zzTJST894JqKfrkkRxAp_9qSc/s400/lagoon_lz_03.jpg" width="400" /></a> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Leaving the Lagoon behind, the Distant Worlds flotilla soon set course for the next important waypoint, the Omega Nebula. As it happens, the Omega Nebula is also on my short list of 'things to visit' so I can't await arriving there and have a decent meet-up with some of my exploration pals.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Time to move on...</span></span></div>
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Andrew Gaspurrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04104128739678349957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540723384954049348.post-41920981525622775842016-01-17T09:15:00.000-08:002016-01-27T09:16:30.372-08:00Bugs and Spiders<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">So the exploration flotilla left
Shapley 1 yesterday and began its trek towards the next waypoint, the
mighty Lagoon Nebula, also known as Messier 8. What lay before us were
some 1,000 light years and the approach towards the Sagittarius Gap. I
could have taken the direct road, speeding towards the Lagoon, but I
decided to take a detour and poke around some of the deep sky objects
that lay, well, not exactly along the way, but in the exploration
corridor the fleet was going to take anyway. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">I
always wanted to see and travel to the Northern Jewel Box (NGC 6231). It is
dubbed the V945 Scorpii Cluster by explorers and it is magnificent to behold even
from afar. The cluster is very young and is thought to have formed
directly from material from the Lagoon. However, there was enough time
in the cluster for the first stars to collapse already, leaving behind
the occasional black hole or neutron star.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXpec1d78lVIM2aOEP724S3KhQ0531408bvwBdcuzAX73K5YwPWZbAr78KbFnlsmzd9YKTmCn1GPNMizDXQfGHZ6yntaRaD6j2dV-Me3x9uITpU5DIlPAfXGoRuJJGM8g5GAqdyNGd7MI/s1600/bug_nebula_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXpec1d78lVIM2aOEP724S3KhQ0531408bvwBdcuzAX73K5YwPWZbAr78KbFnlsmzd9YKTmCn1GPNMizDXQfGHZ6yntaRaD6j2dV-Me3x9uITpU5DIlPAfXGoRuJJGM8g5GAqdyNGd7MI/s320/bug_nebula_01.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaa6v8ghJbmsuVIqmDRoZ1xW1So6-DxM1VN9YEd1wvpdUfMcSeixlxaUXSsu0Z18DSQ5huWHHo-dZt8CcWYJTFzNgOTVN2epEKCSv2059a2EnYa_x5CdWCxE5HYUhIZsrESnbhyphenhyphenK_F9W4/s1600/ngc_6231_07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaa6v8ghJbmsuVIqmDRoZ1xW1So6-DxM1VN9YEd1wvpdUfMcSeixlxaUXSsu0Z18DSQ5huWHHo-dZt8CcWYJTFzNgOTVN2epEKCSv2059a2EnYa_x5CdWCxE5HYUhIZsrESnbhyphenhyphenK_F9W4/s200/ngc_6231_07.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3o3WgZT0L-LErHIey3DXfaOGFWiCocQORYtZF0R26nsv_rSzI6qobVI2r1AkqV4G-5b1o0wRrLHVn73bHlo54n6_eZUaSddbEAoeN3-vJnn9JmcHQQBI6T3ZOrtqd2_XJ8pg-shH-bNA/s1600/ngc_6231_08.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3o3WgZT0L-LErHIey3DXfaOGFWiCocQORYtZF0R26nsv_rSzI6qobVI2r1AkqV4G-5b1o0wRrLHVn73bHlo54n6_eZUaSddbEAoeN3-vJnn9JmcHQQBI6T3ZOrtqd2_XJ8pg-shH-bNA/s200/ngc_6231_08.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">En
route to the cluster also lies a very interesting structure: The
bipolar planetary nebula of NGC 6302, dubbed the Bug Nebula. You should
definitely pay it a visit. The nebula allegedly formed after a very
large star collapsed into a Wolf-Rayet object. The former star really must have been
at the upper level to still produce a nebula ‘peacefully’ instead of
having gone nova and blowing stuff apart much more violently. The star’s
magnetic field acted as a containment for the ejected material and that
– simply speaking – is why we see the nebula in its bipolar ‘hourglass’
shape. Like I said, go there and write a postcard to your loved ones. </span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6ynmaBHyzP8D5Q1zrLPD9u5b1ovTxMIpYlR03f41MGyAoczH9zAEmu0KxYJk1NKF8buxwUx62rcYl2YDab9X5L7nSHJBq_Yq1qdasVizzO2HmA9wO9W3TC3S6lw5iX10_QLEll_Uh-jE/s1600/bug_nebula_03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6ynmaBHyzP8D5Q1zrLPD9u5b1ovTxMIpYlR03f41MGyAoczH9zAEmu0KxYJk1NKF8buxwUx62rcYl2YDab9X5L7nSHJBq_Yq1qdasVizzO2HmA9wO9W3TC3S6lw5iX10_QLEll_Uh-jE/s320/bug_nebula_03.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">I</span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">f
afterwards you are still not fed up with nebulae (before heading to the
Lagoon Nebula) there is still the Red Spider Nebula (NGC 6537). It is
some thousand light years away from NGC 6530 and the Bug Nebula, but
hey, no rush! The Spider is a worthy sight. Contrary to the Bug Nebula
the Spider does not seem to have a central star. In ancient astronomy
texts there are references to a White Dwarf but so far all astrometric
methods of locating it in terms of navigational data have failed. Maybe
the dust disc in the centre is just too dense for astrometric
pinpointing. What it has in common with the Bug Nebula (and in fact with
many planetary nebulae) is its bipolar structure. The central star blew
off much of its outer shells and the magnetic fields or maybe the
gravitational influence of a massive binary star have forced the stellar
ejecta into its peculiar form. Nice to behold and absolutely
interesting for studying plasma physics.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">These
are just three of the more prominent examples of the in-betweens when
travelling from Shapley 1 coreward. It is an area of space dominated by
active molecular regions that still hold enough gas and dust to produce
many stars. In fact, the whole area is classified as a H-II region and
those nebulae in it are just the colourful and most visible hot spots of
it, much like the Orion or Carina Molecular Complex. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Space repeats
itself, but now it’s time for the Lagoon and its beauty. </span></span></div>
Andrew Gaspurrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04104128739678349957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540723384954049348.post-3564935282986751272016-01-16T02:15:00.000-08:002016-01-17T02:16:21.506-08:00A Tribute To Harlow<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Yes, we know today that the Milky Way is a big place full of lights and wonders and that we start each and every exploration trip from a pretty normal, if not outright boring place in the galactic disc. But that was not always so. Back in the 20<sup>th</sup> century the scientific community based their world models around only one galaxy in the entire universe and the firm belief that Sol was located in the very center. So far, so good, 'barbaric times' you might want to put forward as an argument. Looking back now, 1,300 years later, we allow ourselves to be that arrogant, but we omit the fact that science never was and will be a static thing. It belongs to the Frontier and the new Horizons we open up with each passing day and light year.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWvlWv2Saep75fOh8m-QEFmsO-7vVBpvjo8C_fMwVy2GPAcuhgdsY_INtGaDqAas-yKT2rVpJHR6G9SgBq-p1IACvAEOGPx88gz-fxPGBfDD3kRMytTHdiXJfMiNZT76uh_yR8eXMJboA/s1600/shapley1_05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWvlWv2Saep75fOh8m-QEFmsO-7vVBpvjo8C_fMwVy2GPAcuhgdsY_INtGaDqAas-yKT2rVpJHR6G9SgBq-p1IACvAEOGPx88gz-fxPGBfDD3kRMytTHdiXJfMiNZT76uh_yR8eXMJboA/s320/shapley1_05.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">It is because of this that the first 'real' waypoint couldn't have been selected at a more ideal point. The Distant Worlds flotilla assembled at the planetary nebula named Shapley 1 (dubbed the Fine Ring Nebula, because from Sol we see a nearly perfect disc/ring). And it was <i>that guy</i> Harlow Shapley back in circa 1930 AD who through tireless observation and calculation deducted that the Milky Way had to be much bigger than it was thought back in the day, and he also found out that Sol was located at a dull spot near the fringe and not, as scientists believed, in the very center. Needless to say, he had a hard time and a <a href="http://apod.nasa.gov/diamond_jubilee/debate_1920.html" target="_blank">Great Debate</a> then about the fuss he created. Essentially, Shapley hadn't scratched at a pillar of the astronomical 'world' model, no, he just kicked it over.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMHoGnWzq9VkSNNmIwh1i8UoEsKJnElpO-H2ZpG75lSsPftU8RFR79Csnv6t_k9sCHMhChp7OCifwY-7_tS2_2Vr_rOJPNWwhlDWy6oy0_Rh1KVnW0crxuRI2K-8TEflrn_YUWEy4FDAk/s1600/shapley1_lens2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMHoGnWzq9VkSNNmIwh1i8UoEsKJnElpO-H2ZpG75lSsPftU8RFR79Csnv6t_k9sCHMhChp7OCifwY-7_tS2_2Vr_rOJPNWwhlDWy6oy0_Rh1KVnW0crxuRI2K-8TEflrn_YUWEy4FDAk/s320/shapley1_lens2.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Now, you might say 'Why is Shapley 1 so ideal as a first waypoint?' and I would answer 'Because from here we venture forth to show that the galaxy is a richer and bigger place.' Once again, we are at a threshold to commit ourselves to opening our eyes to the universe and to bring home a new idea of its vastness and beauty. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMZ02EXCTbQet2pB688VXkkNQb_e_od7-NHpiidMSxBEDEJ1B5wzuclrvLwOhFkmH5LBP5Yb5nKQqEeKbRcDVFtnjcq4HgZEwoiAR4C2OriFfUGXhjSQn358me0W6wExpvHjzVwK3UfRk/s1600/shapley1_01.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMZ02EXCTbQet2pB688VXkkNQb_e_od7-NHpiidMSxBEDEJ1B5wzuclrvLwOhFkmH5LBP5Yb5nKQqEeKbRcDVFtnjcq4HgZEwoiAR4C2OriFfUGXhjSQn358me0W6wExpvHjzVwK3UfRk/s320/shapley1_01.jpg" width="320" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9L2vSGPKFeALxvtNNaK6yiriKDDJw2ze_qKD-a4xM0oFqLW644_w5En7ekZC5hb6tsgQULQAayIXGdA10EN8dvSgeVtLpHyK1AtSu4mdx-qdYbvn2ok33CdCzw8W730ZSKpY1E_ukCXo/s1600/shapley1_33.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9L2vSGPKFeALxvtNNaK6yiriKDDJw2ze_qKD-a4xM0oFqLW644_w5En7ekZC5hb6tsgQULQAayIXGdA10EN8dvSgeVtLpHyK1AtSu4mdx-qdYbvn2ok33CdCzw8W730ZSKpY1E_ukCXo/s320/shapley1_33.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I cannot think of a better and more symbolic place to start this endeavour...</span></div>
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Andrew Gaspurrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04104128739678349957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540723384954049348.post-64843112391755994502016-01-14T15:05:00.002-08:002016-01-16T03:17:38.935-08:00Beyond The Abyss<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">It has been two months to the day that I made port for rest and recreation in Alioth. It's been busy and costly, since I eagerly wanted to upgrad my fuel scoop to a state-of-the-art one after all the time-consuming tanking back in the black. It's not that Stellar Cartographics makes you a rich person, you know. I mean, they can if you manage to give them tons of data from like thousands of celestials, it's just that you shouldn't be tempted to calculate an hourly wage on it. Anyway, the Intrepid is in good shape again (and so am I) and I was browsing through the long term Mission Board when I ran into Commander Kamzel again. You know <i>that</i> guy from the <a href="https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=116450" target="_blank">Galaxy Mapping Project</a> I hooked up with on my Perseus Arm trip. He told me of another project he was setting up and on top of his former one so quite naturally I was interested in what he had to say and show. The result was an exchange of communication over the InterCom and, well, the idea of the project won me over. So I called the docks and ordered some other upgrades for my Asp and just hoped the workers wouldn't go on strike or the station into a lockdown (you know, all those maintenance shutdowns these days...).</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCZ8WKGbUgGitnjcecAUDhhahX_MlUoIY8uHAsoTMlQ0ECe07WFKzqmAYDg6mfkz6VyFhAlpwwqTiLO7zMKlF6YvmVp09_Lp9gUzgFUGSdNxjNNmFvT3ajCnOmHG3UV1yBbVCV8b5YKKQ/s1600/pallaeni_station.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCZ8WKGbUgGitnjcecAUDhhahX_MlUoIY8uHAsoTMlQ0ECe07WFKzqmAYDg6mfkz6VyFhAlpwwqTiLO7zMKlF6YvmVp09_Lp9gUzgFUGSdNxjNNmFvT3ajCnOmHG3UV1yBbVCV8b5YKKQ/s400/pallaeni_station.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">And now, exactly two months later, I find myself on some small fringe world named Pallaeni; and what awaits is nothing less than the biggest concerted exploration endeavor this galaxy has ever seen (apart from the era of generation ships maybe). The big impact crater on Pallaeni's pole is bustling with activity, the comings and goings of many ships from throughout known - and unknown - space. What unifies us is the gigantic <a href="https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=198085" target="_blank">Distant Worlds Project</a>, launched in 11/3301 AD shortly before my return from the Perseus Arm. It's an undertaking by multiple private and corporate consortiums, including the omnipresent Pilots Federation with the aim to provide a safe and mapped corridor of travel to the galactic core and beyond.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBtz-IMNrSZ1bFf0Qg9VZsqGmxhExyBplitTNf1AbL6lS8tAteQC7BV8-HHX5IovL0rP0OXkAPPWwdZmGzX-mhH6_84THZAQP8fzguIADi-WfY3WUjZkUX0JCd39RbX9Cvk1f9LtYluFo/s1600/pallaeni_03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBtz-IMNrSZ1bFf0Qg9VZsqGmxhExyBplitTNf1AbL6lS8tAteQC7BV8-HHX5IovL0rP0OXkAPPWwdZmGzX-mhH6_84THZAQP8fzguIADi-WfY3WUjZkUX0JCd39RbX9Cvk1f9LtYluFo/s200/pallaeni_03.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOHxj-uUBD0VZoVxgMr_35_tU3rRkhUI-yV1_DWb8BkTQIL0cKdShmuDpkUipqVVHFPGAMjsa2FNnkxxO5VkFGJ_hw_rGbnwUYXl5V-mdJhmdZvrZOjVMufbuGrUTykCNAqO6CwzVNiUc/s1600/pallaeni_04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOHxj-uUBD0VZoVxgMr_35_tU3rRkhUI-yV1_DWb8BkTQIL0cKdShmuDpkUipqVVHFPGAMjsa2FNnkxxO5VkFGJ_hw_rGbnwUYXl5V-mdJhmdZvrZOjVMufbuGrUTykCNAqO6CwzVNiUc/s200/pallaeni_04.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRvkc_yLdDhRoVTZfwdfVllMz_ntH902QuL-qXwh6AzhIGzasgDu8tMjgKqdTOLdFyQh9TmRTpoO7Sf8J03qomnl68FZbvSpDvVIuPSP7Aot0p8ODkNJi8FdS2e3MryIY9Pghgd6zy2fQ/s1600/pallaeni_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRvkc_yLdDhRoVTZfwdfVllMz_ntH902QuL-qXwh6AzhIGzasgDu8tMjgKqdTOLdFyQh9TmRTpoO7Sf8J03qomnl68FZbvSpDvVIuPSP7Aot0p8ODkNJi8FdS2e3MryIY9Pghgd6zy2fQ/s200/pallaeni_01.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSZzBpnHpjuO1vSZfFjYnbIqvN34CUUvQ05eIacsZg1moetu7tAWKXnvV3IPbFgaqMlYiUU1WKp5X20M_HHQpGbnkAdXJwolVvCIfK4QXyIjrjczUPIjbdeQWjNs6S8VZKjnymB_e1VxI/s1600/pallaeni_05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSZzBpnHpjuO1vSZfFjYnbIqvN34CUUvQ05eIacsZg1moetu7tAWKXnvV3IPbFgaqMlYiUU1WKp5X20M_HHQpGbnkAdXJwolVvCIfK4QXyIjrjczUPIjbdeQWjNs6S8VZKjnymB_e1VxI/s200/pallaeni_05.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Needless to say, I was intrigued from the very first start and after some thoughts, preps and goodbyes I parked my good old Asp among all those pioneer in that crater. I had the option of an Anaconda-class retrofitted exploration cruiser, but it would not have felt right to leave my 'Intrepid' behind, that space lady that served me so well all those months out in the black.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The route is set and divided in a multitude of waypoints and basecamps. The first one is the planetary nebula Shapley 1, named after ancient days astronomer Harlow Shapley, the guy who found out that the Milky Way was way bigger than it was thought and that Earth lay in a pretty boring spot of it and not in the center. He sure had a hard time then making his point.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The route from Pallaeni towards Shapley 1 was of course dotted with the homing beacons of many ships. All from explorers who agreed to share instant location data with each other. I think this alone speaks for mutual trust and the will to fly and work together. When compared to all the bickering and political schemes going on in the Bubble I sometimes wonder if it's out here in the unknown that people can together find what you might call galactic peace. We just have to tread carefully in uncharted space because you never know what waits there.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Part of the fun of it, really... </span><br />
Andrew Gaspurrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04104128739678349957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540723384954049348.post-11833569847106397242015-11-15T02:54:00.000-08:002015-11-28T02:56:36.726-08:00Port Of Call<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">My fellow adventurers,</span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br />
on November 14th, 3301 AD the <a href="http://e-horizons.blogspot.de/p/the-ags-intrepid.html" target="_blank">AGS Intrepid</a>
finally called port at Irkutsk Capitol in the Alliance system of
Alioth. After having been out in the Orion Spur and Perseus Arm for five
and a half months the first session in the station was spent in the 'Dubai Lounge & Bar'. The second was spent waiting patiently in a
queue at the Stellar Cartographics Exploration Data ATM.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwJGhwBfJS2RhFdtcudtaid_erHJenmHWCF76x6YLHtYkQW2yAFjrciFomV_XggCEF_OMVSIiIQPppFxVdQsr0_m-6WhzqdMFTwf7IlAvEFvnSxJjioOowUzaTK9pkaD8xeCIjP8K7uFw/s1600/intrepid_02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwJGhwBfJS2RhFdtcudtaid_erHJenmHWCF76x6YLHtYkQW2yAFjrciFomV_XggCEF_OMVSIiIQPppFxVdQsr0_m-6WhzqdMFTwf7IlAvEFvnSxJjioOowUzaTK9pkaD8xeCIjP8K7uFw/s400/intrepid_02.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The Pilgrim's Path Mission
was declared a success, its prime mission statement of traversing the
Orion Spur Shallows well beyond NGC 3199 was fulfilled. Along the way,
many known and previously unknown stellar phenomena could be visited and
explored in various degrees. These were (in order of visitation date):</span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br />
- HIP 63835 (The 'Explorer's Graveyard')<br />
- The Coalsack Dark Nebula<br />
- Open Cluster NGC 3532<br />
- Open Cluster NGC 3114<br />
- Open Cluster Collinder (Col) 240<br />
- Open Cluster NGC 3590<br />
- The Statue of Liberty Nebula (NGC 3576)<br />
- Open Cluster Collinder (Col) 228<br />
- Open Cluster NGC 3324 & the Eta Carinae Solar System<br />
- Open Cluster NGC 3293<br />
- The Eta Carina Nebula (NGC 3372)<br />
- Open Clusters Trumpler (Tr) 14 & 16<br />
- The Seven Sapphires Cluster (Smojo Sector)<br />
- NGC 3199 Wolf-Rayet Nebula<br />
- Traversing the Far Orion Spur Shallows<br />
- The Vela Ultima Molecular Complex (Hyuedau/Preou Thua Sectors)<br />
- The Hyon Cluster (Hyuedau Sector)<br />
- The Gloomgown Association (Phreia Phoe/Gludgou Sectors)<br />
- The Skull and Crossbones Nebula (NGC 2467)<br />
- Open Clusters Haffner (Haf) 18 & 19<br />
- The Hyperion Cluster (Hypio Phoea Sector)<br />
- Open Cluster NGC 2384<br />
- Open Cluster NGC 2367<br />
- Open Cluster NGC 2374<br />
- Thor's Helmet (NGC 2359)<br />
- Open Cluster Collinder (Col) 132<br />
- VY Canis Maioris Solar System<br />
- Vela Dark Region</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #e69138;">Some statistics:</span></b><br />
Departure date: May 30th, 3301 AD<br />
Return date: November 14th, 3301 AD<br />
Hull Status on return: 67%<br />
Systems visited: 2,917<br />
Distance travelled: ~73,000 LY<br />
Rank achievement: Pioneer<br />
Highest payout: 480,011 Credits<br />
Coffee consumed: 6.48 Metric Tons</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #e69138;">Next steps:</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">'After the trip is before the trip' as they say. The AGS Intrepid is being overhauled at the moment and I am turning my eyes on a ship that can withstand the rigors of space even better while also providing ample space (and protection) for deep space equipment and maybe the capacity to drop a ground vehicle. Yes, I am planning to go out there again but what I have in mind is a light exploration cruiser. The Alliance uses some to great effect. The 'Long Arm Program' is headed by several Anaconda-class vessels, and even some T-9 Heavy's, kitted especially to serve in deep and unknown space.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I guess I have to stock up my wallet for this a bit, though. Those biggies do not come cheap and that goes especially for an explorer trying to squeeze out every bit of range. Let's see how this turns out.</span><br /> </span>Andrew Gaspurrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04104128739678349957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540723384954049348.post-60410052180456774832015-11-12T04:46:00.000-08:002015-12-01T05:36:36.706-08:00The Lighthouse<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">'The circle is now complete!' I recall this quote from some entertainment Holovid, can’t remember which, but it was definitely Sci-Fi. Well, I guess the same applies to me and the Pilgrim’s Path. The Perseus Arm is rich in exploratory marvels. It still holds enough gas and dust to give birth to all the different types of stars an explorer could hope to see and, well, explore. That's the cycle of stellar life and death as I have mentioned before. Out there in the deep Perseus Arm you </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">come across a stretch of
space that is so rich in the younger, hotter types of stars and you
struggle to find a suitable name for it; at least one that supercedes
such flashy sector names like Gludgou or Ouchorrs. </span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">And speaking about circles, my voyage also finally comes around full circle: Yesterday evening I once again crossed that invisible line I once defined as the border between contemporary and 'creative' astronomy. 'NGC-Land', here I come. Finding names and imprinting them forever on some galaxy map is a thing of the past now. With full speed ahead I am nearing what in ancient times was called the Known World. For explorers it’s what you might call a return home. For seafarers of old, your homely shores await: Your astrometric computer stops struggling with Gludgou’s, Flyiah Eohn’s, Hyuedau’s or Smojo’s. Where stellar cartography seemingly ended at NGC 3199 way up 'north', it begins anew here and now where The Perseus Arm kisses the Orion Spur. Sorry for that bit of poetry, I couldn’t resist. But the scenery is this: Open clusters, nebulae and dust clouds have their respective catalogue entries listed, you see NGC’s, Col’s and IC’s again. Civilisation, you have me back! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You also realize this when after months out in the deep, deep void you see a familiar shape unfold before the galactic horizon. Switch to infrared and you see mighty Barnard’s Loop. Switch to UV and you see bright young stars greeting you. 'Hey Barny', you think, 'I last saw you five months ago. How you’re doing old pal?' </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> I like to draw parallels to navigation and astronomy in ancient times. I have quite a few Holo Novels at home and even a few real paperback books. 'Barny’s Loop' is what must have been the beam of a lighthouse in familiar waters: Once you see it you know home is near. It’s a magnet, really. Inevitably it draws you nearer and nearer and in your guts (I already mentioned every explorer has his personal 'guts') you have this warm feeling that it’s a good thing. A welcoming light. Home, at least for a few days, before The Sea calls you again. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It reminds me of some lines from <a href="http://www.hwlongfellow.org/poems_poem.php?pid=116" target="_blank">an archaic poem</a>, yet they are still true in the days of the Frame Shift Drive.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br />'They come forth from the darkness, and their sails<br /> Gleam for a moment only in the blaze,<br />And eager faces, as the light unveils,<br /> Gaze at the tower, and vanish while they gaze.'</span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br />And thus I give myself to my ship and my guts, and my nav courses bring me nearer and nearer home. And the lighthouse comes closer with every step.</span>Andrew Gaspurrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04104128739678349957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540723384954049348.post-44104707544725911082015-10-29T04:38:00.000-07:002015-10-31T05:38:00.803-07:00A Sail On The Horizon<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">I
had just settled for the night. It's hard to remind oneself that in this forever blackness of space the Human mind is still dependent on cycles of day and night. </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">There are those people that keep asking what
the must-haves for an exploration vessel are. Some say heat sinks are a
must-have, some say auto-maintenance units. I highly recommend buying
an alarm clock in one of those 'Shepard’s Famous Shops' in any space
station, one that shows you it’s three o’clock in the afternoon or two o'clock in the morning. Time for a nap. It helps not getting mad.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">I was still within the boundaries of the Vela,
the constellation of the Sail. The Orion Spur Shallows lay behind me (for which I was very thankful) and I was eager to find out what was out here. The galactic south - I had found out on many occasions - always held some wonders in store. In ancient times there was just the big Argo Navis constellation in this part of the Milky Way. It was also one of the most important ones, because all ocean-sailing navigation techniques depended on some of the Navis' brightest stars. But when cataloguing the heavens
became more and more sophisticated astronomers of old split the ancient Navis into
the three constellations we know today:Carina (The Keel), Puppis (The Stern Deck) and Vela (The Sail). </span></span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">So I was dreaming of credits and sails when the autolab raised an alarm and
woke me up again. I had left the ship 'on auto' and prepared some
simple analyses and statistical comparisons before I wanted to set off again.
There were also some issues with copying the newly acquired exploration
data so I took an extra day just to be sure. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">After completing all its
analyses the autolab confirmed what I already had in my guts. Experienced explorers always have something in their guts. They just need scientific methods to tell them what it is. Here there was an
increase of interstellar medium density by 1,736% with an increase alone
in metals by 6,104%. Most of the time, you have 0.1 to 10 atoms of 'stuff' per </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">cm³ in interstellar space. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And metals? </span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Well, 'metals' in astronomy just means anything but
hydrogen and helium and a significant increase in metals shows you that you have
entered a region where many stars exploded in the past, blowing their
heavy elements in jets and clouds into space. Parts of the region were so dense that not even thermic infrared radiation could penetrate the dust layers. Everything lying within these dark molecular structures was subject to speculation. There are theories, however, that propose a stellar nursery of sorts. Where the material density within the cloud increases beyond a certain threshold these dust 'cores' begin to collapse under their own gravity, forming protostars eventually. These protostars (T Tauri stars mostly) then accrete the rest of the dust cloud making it more and more translucent. I ran an infrared imagery and was relieved to see this theory underlined by a group of T Tauri stars within and on the border of the dust cloud. </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">It
was worth being disturbed in one’s sleep. Additional astrometric checks and the
first incoming results from spectroscopic scans were encouraging. There
were some rather dense groups of young and hot stars within what must
once have been a planetary nebula, now nearly extinct. All in all the Molecular Cloud was estimated to be at least 800 LY across and some 150 LY deep. Quite a thing. So I created a data set and named it the '<a href="https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=116450&p=2869483&viewfull=1#post2869483" target="_blank">Vela Ultima Cloud Complex</a>'. There was plenty of time to study it a bit further...</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">... but first there was a nap to take. My alarm clock showed 04:37 a.m.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">So I programmed the autolab on coffee at 09:30 and unfolded the bunk again.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Time to 'nap on'.</span></span></div>
Andrew Gaspurrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04104128739678349957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540723384954049348.post-15225522320751298112015-09-30T04:27:00.001-07:002016-02-08T03:21:42.359-08:00Patience, Young Padawan!<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">During my days at the Tau Ceti Naval
Academy our instructors would often interrupt their lessons with the
one and only question: 'What are the true virtues of a Space Pilot?'
Hell, some even woke us up in the middle of the night (which were
short anyway!) and asked us that. Although the answer was what must
have been one of the Navy's best guarded secrets we always thought of
things like bravery, loyalty, integrity or truthfulness. We were so
young...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Now, right here in my 'AGS Intrepid'
some 20,000 light years away from Tau Ceti I finally found the answer
in a lockbox that was securely stowed away in some corner of my mind
for all these years. The true virtue of any Space Pilot is patience.
It's that simple. You see, space generally is not the flashy funky
place full of speedy spacecraft, burning thrusters and glittering
lasers and all that 'Space PR' stuff. No, most of the time it's
empty, it's without sound and it's soul-crushingly boring. There can be some rare exceptions to this...</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrCHf2jAJm551eDCoZexHINUNwmWWnODo6mCLuelFwBTTltkNKWB2f-6YzMA3VQuohO8aohZFTIClerOXua6U97COkr0zT67E4TaZmsJiG-jry4i6eixXeL0r_Y7KrOrLIusdHpqwQHmI/s1600/closeencounter07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrCHf2jAJm551eDCoZexHINUNwmWWnODo6mCLuelFwBTTltkNKWB2f-6YzMA3VQuohO8aohZFTIClerOXua6U97COkr0zT67E4TaZmsJiG-jry4i6eixXeL0r_Y7KrOrLIusdHpqwQHmI/s400/closeencounter07.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">...some routine duties... </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFlQ8eDQ-pa4QA8ss2QmVvzY-0h4uPRp5jL2PCm6SCcsNXnmMeVHBo4dFBqktZUrgNtH2L1mqkRE3MOZzLc4EeJObt-OjYz7UsGtsFIgfaRzaTJO_JO13BurxL8Y1KA47ZJe5KBL_f22E/s1600/closeencounter09.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFlQ8eDQ-pa4QA8ss2QmVvzY-0h4uPRp5jL2PCm6SCcsNXnmMeVHBo4dFBqktZUrgNtH2L1mqkRE3MOZzLc4EeJObt-OjYz7UsGtsFIgfaRzaTJO_JO13BurxL8Y1KA47ZJe5KBL_f22E/s400/closeencounter09.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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</span>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">...but it all gets down to a lot of uneventful hours at the helm.</span></div>
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</span>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So for the last 6,000 light years I made
my way through what I cynically called the 'Carina Suburbs':
Uniformly looking space just like those prefab homes in an endless
row where one looks like the other. I can confirm now, that M type
stars make up more than 90% of all stars in the galaxy. Well, maybe
it's even 107%, I don't know... What I know is I can confirm zero
nebulae, zero giant stars, zero O-types and zero stellar remnants
along the way, except for a one-in-a-million Neutron Star. This puts
the explorer's mind to a test. Those brave souls that have flown
through the 'Smoju' or 'Blia Euq' Sectors know exactly what I mean.
The reasons for this I already mentioned. These regions of space are
very old, most young stars went nova long ago and all interstellar
gas has long been used up so there is hardly any star formation left.
This makes the regions so 'plain'.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Here comes your space virtue: In a vast
stretch of space where there are no significant 'beacons' standing
out from all these stellar suburbs your patience is being put to a
serious test. When I decided to do a traverse across the Orion Spur
Shallows towards the Perseus Spiral Arm I was tempted more than often
to just speed things up and do what you might call a stellar
drive-by. After all the density of stars becomes significantly lower
in the Shallows and this alone keeps telling you to 'go faster' just
in order to be rid of it. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHh-yQDUnEKOhPGj7e2cKYStM15c2S4owwc-9IBmnkXynJMW-F_du84jiFUENrO4-1IyT-yvm5m6iFdkyuf9MCpmnA6Cuv5blbORf-QifgTpirFWFE-5mioM1lpI8V9s3OTnHg0EETyds/s1600/devoid_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHh-yQDUnEKOhPGj7e2cKYStM15c2S4owwc-9IBmnkXynJMW-F_du84jiFUENrO4-1IyT-yvm5m6iFdkyuf9MCpmnA6Cuv5blbORf-QifgTpirFWFE-5mioM1lpI8V9s3OTnHg0EETyds/s400/devoid_01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This is explainable from a psychological
point of view, because – sure! – we seek the unknown, which has
to be amazing and shiny, right? Wrong. It's wrong, because even
within M type star systems there are some rare finds. But the thing
truly is to stay determined and keep looking. If you do, you can
discover tiny terraformalble planets in close embrace of their M
star, you can discover gas giants that do the same (and are therefore
called 'Hot Jupiters' or 'Hot Neptunes') and there are even some
Water Worlds with indigenous life lying in wait for the not-so-bored
explorer.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE0JYgHXz6F8MAM2hRzXsnoQ7WXLXErFcoYuFY7D6jDPp6n2PC1iSdtEF7eotWLZ6AfqYRx2ESoHxqqZcnbiTc04mNsJIEJqmDDRGlj1Um_Yw9oaNo0HwqHmXKROXNDhZXXb5OCKOi738/s1600/hotjupiter_collection_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE0JYgHXz6F8MAM2hRzXsnoQ7WXLXErFcoYuFY7D6jDPp6n2PC1iSdtEF7eotWLZ6AfqYRx2ESoHxqqZcnbiTc04mNsJIEJqmDDRGlj1Um_Yw9oaNo0HwqHmXKROXNDhZXXb5OCKOi738/s400/hotjupiter_collection_01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Should I ever return to Tau Ceti (or
even the Federation) I will pay the Academy a visit and write it a
hundred times across the Forum walls: 'A Space Pilot's virtue is
patience!'</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span>
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</span>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">'nuff said, time to move on. I have a
vast star formation cluster waiting for me at the end of the rainbow.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span>Andrew Gaspurrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04104128739678349957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540723384954049348.post-50239131699539860072015-09-15T06:05:00.000-07:002015-11-15T06:07:26.255-08:00The End Of The Rainbow<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When you think the Eta Carina Nebula is a beautiful gem in space then the Wolf Rayet nebula of NGC 3199 plays in the same league. The nebula was once thought to be a ring nebula with a bright 'front' or 'shockwave' of gas, the result of intense stellar winds by a nearby Wolf Rayet star (HD 89358). Don't bother looking there, the star is at a completely different location for reasons unknown. It's not even in the line of sight from Sol. Sometimes I think 21</span><sup><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">st</span> </sup><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">century astronomers were a drunken lot.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHzTodo2iDhKDOonGmy7NG_Vi4YumK8-KigpaHxQ7IzzNUvDZPm7-VaUOmMUVsU9e6o3H2f8XOjpzX6fBqdxJbC65BwSI7dzZRDMX-suWH6hNtUrnZrld0LSD7CiuK2kc0EQWxBvxDi7U/s1600/approaching_ngc3199.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHzTodo2iDhKDOonGmy7NG_Vi4YumK8-KigpaHxQ7IzzNUvDZPm7-VaUOmMUVsU9e6o3H2f8XOjpzX6fBqdxJbC65BwSI7dzZRDMX-suWH6hNtUrnZrld0LSD7CiuK2kc0EQWxBvxDi7U/s400/approaching_ngc3199.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The nebula is not nearly as enormous as Eta Carina but it's still some good 80 light years wide. It also has considerably fewer massive stars around, suggesting that it's somewhat older in cosmic terms than the Carina. What is more interesting perhaps for the intrepid explorer is that when following the Orion Spur here, NGC 3199 seems to be the very last feature </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">21</span><sup><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">st </span></sup><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">century astronomers (yes, the drunken lot) could come up with. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpDwiqjgJrXaz09kxRNAdoaIJw_J8SMkgmVOZLcP1upx9lmvI11K_EOB1HrDxS5lFh-jAFSdR0svPDLQlAcyMDR4dn4gsXh2Iq-IT2gR9yrxPg5LQ-9cTYlEC1lR2a_aFuiWC-4lliapE/s1600/ngc3199_galmap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpDwiqjgJrXaz09kxRNAdoaIJw_J8SMkgmVOZLcP1upx9lmvI11K_EOB1HrDxS5lFh-jAFSdR0svPDLQlAcyMDR4dn4gsXh2Iq-IT2gR9yrxPg5LQ-9cTYlEC1lR2a_aFuiWC-4lliapE/s400/ngc3199_galmap.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Beyond, the 'suburbs' begin again with seamingly monotonous space; or you head coreward from here and get the opportunity to see some spectacular star forming regions in the more dense Sagittarius Arm. However, once you fly through brilliantly named sectors like 'Bloo Dryiae' or 'Blia Euq' you get the picture.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The regions beyond NGC 3199 are also those where star density can become a problem at times. My good old Asp flies at 34 Light years and has so far laughed off any 'gaps' between stars but out here I find myself replotting courses or setting them manually more often. This is where I keep reminding me of the Mission Statement: Finding a traverse across the far Orion Spur Shallows and I think I'll get my work cut out for me.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: orange;">Update:</span> </b>I left NGC 3199 well behind and finally found a system from where I will commence my traverse. I dubbed the system 'Hellsreach' because it boasts no less then nine celestial bodies with volcanic and/or magmatic activity that are nestled between a massive young B type star and its three orbiting protostars. I honestly don't know why I picked this system as my Waypoint Alpha. Maybe it's the desolate feeling of 'Don't go any further!' this system radiates.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0CZwK7szlZQp_62QMGNaVolRMklQj_idLyDdmH-ZTcRNCQeK7U3h_TKK1jPTrciA0ZFuQbN0who-fcNAAT0oKAwo1MwSMmBDcDorHXHZYSMaGYqwapDsS-T0LwDpK-8WT7hP2zFmNFsQ/s1600/Hellsreach.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0CZwK7szlZQp_62QMGNaVolRMklQj_idLyDdmH-ZTcRNCQeK7U3h_TKK1jPTrciA0ZFuQbN0who-fcNAAT0oKAwo1MwSMmBDcDorHXHZYSMaGYqwapDsS-T0LwDpK-8WT7hP2zFmNFsQ/s400/Hellsreach.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Anyway, the primary is a scoopable so now it's time to plot courses for the great Far Orion Shallows Traverse. Time to move on. </span>Andrew Gaspurrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04104128739678349957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540723384954049348.post-1834872323966053722015-06-28T07:45:00.002-07:002015-11-15T05:34:57.569-08:00Remarkably Unremarkable<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Soooo, for the best part of last week I
crisscrossed the regions beyond the Eta Carina Nebula.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I made it
downwards to -270 LY, climbed again through the ever present 'red'
layer of Brown Dwarfs and Protostars and upwards to some 250 LY above
the galactic plane, ever pushing forward towards my next Milestone of
NGC 3199. In a nutshell, what can be found here is unlike anything I
saw in my prior travels, which were rich in phenomena such as giant
stars, star clusters, young OB star associations, the occasional
nebula and also multiple Neutron Stars and even some Black Holes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I don't know how else I could describe
the area beyond Eta Carina than being 'remarkably unremarkable'. With
the huge and beautiful Eta Carina Nebula behind, all signs of ancient 20<sup>th</sup> century
astronomy seem to end. There are no more 2MASS, CPD, HIP or HD denominations,
no COL star clusters from the Collinder Catalogue. Beyond Eta Carina,
it seems, astronomy once upon a time must have ended. From here, one
could argue, astronomy blends with your own imagination and beliefs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii9khtMEKRkuNYyjzVLENkn0ftSWdO2rXqrBwqo1vzIjKeY8p2_Po3TBq2w0vpo_5DYSry4k5VDRzjggmnARk-zJKVXFL55puPeXkO7rAeKK9HB0u2d0HAmx7DdGpFNMxrS6lU9O-F20E/s1600/background_02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii9khtMEKRkuNYyjzVLENkn0ftSWdO2rXqrBwqo1vzIjKeY8p2_Po3TBq2w0vpo_5DYSry4k5VDRzjggmnARk-zJKVXFL55puPeXkO7rAeKK9HB0u2d0HAmx7DdGpFNMxrS6lU9O-F20E/s400/background_02.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There is a scientific reason, of
course, for this. The regions between the Spiral Arms of Sagittarius
and Perseus are very old ones when you look at the stars' age. Here,
between the bright Spiral Arms, most interstellar gas was used up
long ago and thus no or barely any star formation takes place these
days (astronomically speaking). Even B type stars and protostars are
very rare out here. The lack of giant stars complements this as their
far shorter lifespans compared to main sequence stars means they also
died in the distant past. Essentially, all you see is vast stretches
of K and M stars dotted with Fs, Gs and Ls. The result drawn on a map
can be described as one of those homogenic metropolitan suburbs back
home where one house looks like the other and where one lawn had the
exact same dimensions and colours as the ones left and right. Hell, I
was even tempted to call them the Carina Suburbs but in the end that
might just have been a bit nasty, wouldn't it?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Still, there are sights to be seen; but
you have to either look specifically for them or you just chance upon
them in your travels. Older stars mean more room for terraformable
planets and even some rare places where life already did evolve.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHcHX8BMs4qwaZ_02M1sUIrgHWru9mEY46vW8a_pe3i6GfG_lXWJaYrC7ItU9rtQQVkOWMWAX2xnSyMb-VSC2LXE4U8SWuglJDMEoPVyDqAzULcHHGrWiNf_IBE9Fk5CQhA4SKgWSwwjA/s1600/rock_and_a_hard_place_02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHcHX8BMs4qwaZ_02M1sUIrgHWru9mEY46vW8a_pe3i6GfG_lXWJaYrC7ItU9rtQQVkOWMWAX2xnSyMb-VSC2LXE4U8SWuglJDMEoPVyDqAzULcHHGrWiNf_IBE9Fk5CQhA4SKgWSwwjA/s400/rock_and_a_hard_place_02.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There is also one particular phenomenon
I would like to present a bit closer: Nestled deep within the
brilliantly named 'Smojo<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">'</span> <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">s</span>ector and sitting right on top of the
Brown Dwarf belt lies the 'core' of what might be an Open Star
Cluster. At least, the presence of seven closely associated B stars
with the exact same spectral class (B0 VZ) and some Protostars around
might indicate that they formed in the same cloud complex (which is
now extinct due to star formation and ionization). Admittedly, that's where imagination and astronomy blend together. But we are humans, right? We are always obsessed with 'seeing things' where science tells us there is nothing to be seen. Put a Smiley in here, HAL.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXqWs48VON0vsBZ9K8mS6cGnRBg73wBPB7XbhC4u0-lrG3UGNwdUt1Ic6J6LKT5EaZSWn0g5NB0zLg7A1LPcXSWNqWlf9gDCWIiFGgF33RGaqgTJyKvEPXxEJRYo8BiQLpX-p-GjmYR-0/s1600/seven_sapphires.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXqWs48VON0vsBZ9K8mS6cGnRBg73wBPB7XbhC4u0-lrG3UGNwdUt1Ic6J6LKT5EaZSWn0g5NB0zLg7A1LPcXSWNqWlf9gDCWIiFGgF33RGaqgTJyKvEPXxEJRYo8BiQLpX-p-GjmYR-0/s400/seven_sapphires.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Now, I have dubbed the
cluster the 'Seven Sapphires'. Of course, further investigations
would be necessary to determine this Cluster's age and structure but
at least there is something out of the ordinary to report home. Ah
yes, the cluster is also a quite lively place as there are numerous
Water Worlds and Gas Giants with ammonia- or water-based life around,
so this might just be the 'stopover' for Space Trucker generations to
come. Real estate investments, anybody?</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">2,000 and some LY to go to NGC 3199. Time to move on! </span></div>
Andrew Gaspurrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04104128739678349957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540723384954049348.post-80496175679720036252015-06-25T02:23:00.000-07:002015-09-30T02:24:47.608-07:00Oh Carina!<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Okay, I have a problem.
When exploring the unknown and covering distances of thousands of
light years you start to speak in superlatives of the things you see.
I mean, Black Holes, Supergiants, Nebula after Nebula? Planets with
indigenous life? Not long ago, this was the stuff of legends and no
wonder you start to choose the highest categories of words that come
into your mind.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">And here I am, having
reached the Eta Carina Nebula; and there are no more superlatives
left. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirrGo1CdtmvIpksLF6ZjhCBnW2ptVkSdyEu2IV-ioLRl-Z3mDQTngsiehc3MV22gRme0bieShv2G1z8uj6zYSSoC0ESDKBlHEtPJs31DVGr1V66qRFp41kJrEwgzQyM5YaUWXb2n610Zo/s1600/eta_carina_neb_03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirrGo1CdtmvIpksLF6ZjhCBnW2ptVkSdyEu2IV-ioLRl-Z3mDQTngsiehc3MV22gRme0bieShv2G1z8uj6zYSSoC0ESDKBlHEtPJs31DVGr1V66qRFp41kJrEwgzQyM5YaUWXb2n610Zo/s400/eta_carina_neb_03.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I have described other things as 'amazingly beautiful', 'awe
inspiring' and 'truly magnificient'. What else is there now for this
jewel in space? It is like an arrangement of red, orange and dark
curtains falling down, thus revealing its intriguing interior, which
seems to be a small cosmos of its own.Eta Carina Nebula <span lang="en-GB">is</span>
the heart of the Carina Molecular Complex. Well, in fact it is the
'last' of multiple structures in the Complex, whereas other clusters
and nebulae lie 'in front' of it when approaching from Sol (or Alioth
in my case). But it is also the climax, the beautiful crescendo of a
galactic cloud some thousand light years wide.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The nebula itself was once thought to
be (at least in part) the product of ejected planetary material from
a Wolf-Rayet star. There is no WR in the nebula, however, so maybe it
already died many years ago. The death of stars is a common sight in
and around as there are some Neutron Stars and also a couple of Black
Holes in the vicinity. These violent deaths in the past may (or rather must)
have contributed to the nebula's immense gas columns. These columns, like I said, seem like curtains to me and astronomers of old attributed several flashy names to them, like the Keyhole Nebula (which is indeed a substructure of Eta Carina Nebula so to say), the Homunculus Nebula and even a 'Finger of God'. Speaking of fingers, when you look at it from a distance the nebula looks like a hand, don't you think? A hand that was somehow blown into its shape by cosmic winds from 'bottom to top'. </span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhytiuSaCSHzClmYfn5w5m4jhmckuKShtKCPw3dOPpS_Ou4to8vIr_a3cBEudvxvRD_GJB0sRGEWmsvEvsY3GEZXF5MjsewR-gct1FacG1L9sVJEV5Pr5Lu_VSJrJTY7z9Yc_LHWuWuu3w/s1600/etacarina_neb_06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhytiuSaCSHzClmYfn5w5m4jhmckuKShtKCPw3dOPpS_Ou4to8vIr_a3cBEudvxvRD_GJB0sRGEWmsvEvsY3GEZXF5MjsewR-gct1FacG1L9sVJEV5Pr5Lu_VSJrJTY7z9Yc_LHWuWuu3w/s400/etacarina_neb_06.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Astronomy and imagination don't lie that much apart sometimes...</span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">All right, hands and death aside, there is also star formation that can be observed in and around the Carina
structure, too. There are many T Tauri stars lying closely together
and the occasional massive O type star, including the supermassive
Eta Carinae system itself, already foreshadow the next wave of deaths
that will occurr here. This in turn will once again enrich the
interstellar medium for new stellar births. It all comes full circle
here.With all this to discover the Eta
Carina Nebula is a definite 'must' for any explorer going in this
direction. For me, it's 'Sayonara Carina!' as there are even more
superlatives out there on my way. I hope I will find the right words
for them. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Time to move on!</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
</span>Andrew Gaspurrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04104128739678349957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540723384954049348.post-42106804566560424082015-06-09T04:10:00.002-07:002015-06-29T04:36:58.982-07:00Clusters and Molecules<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Another week, another peek! </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">It's really hard not to give in to
temptation and divert to that seemingly unique jewel you have spotted
on your Galaxy Map. I did it a couple of times, going here, going there.
Most of the time, it left me baffled about the beauty of the 'out
here'. I remembered some of my Astrophysics
lessons back at Tau Ceti and I realised that
all these space phenomena are connected in a way. So even that far and remote place is
just a puzzle piece of some greater thing. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">In my case, it's the
so-called Carina Molecular Cloud (CMC) and it's known to be one of
the biggest structures in the known galaxy, spanning hundreds of Lightyears in diameter. Although the Carina
Nebula is still some 2,500 Light Years out, I am already moving
through its associated complex, full of Open Star Clusters, younger
regions of star formation (like the Carina OB1 and OB2 associations)
and also some silent witnesses of stellar extinction, like the
occasional Neutron Star or White Dwarf.</span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoEkmu77FQIYfZRyFpzK4sl7E92z3400TJAdaffFecT9lQ2b9s2_kkEwweR9lwd2YDbP271iM5bNTPyl6zMqWKvp9rng5b__GDmdi4El-dje46qBTjk81nsHD-n87WqdLGbyE91iXVLDU/s1600/Carina_Complex.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoEkmu77FQIYfZRyFpzK4sl7E92z3400TJAdaffFecT9lQ2b9s2_kkEwweR9lwd2YDbP271iM5bNTPyl6zMqWKvp9rng5b__GDmdi4El-dje46qBTjk81nsHD-n87WqdLGbyE91iXVLDU/s400/Carina_Complex.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Speaking about Open Star Clusters, it is
generally assumed that they all formed out of the CMC, although not
all simultaneously. These clusters are generally some ten to fifty LY across and densely packed with stars, either in the form of a clump or more of a string. Some of their stars were so short-lived however, that
they already ceased hydrogen fusion or even went supernova,
explaining the occasional Neutron Star, Black Hole or even Wolf-Rayet
star in those clusters. The Clusters' cores mainly consist of the
more younger types of stars like O, B and also A types, and they can
be easily spotted on the Galaxy Map by setting the star type filters
accordingly. Here is an example of the larger Open Cluster of NGC 3590:</span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizedOBaKkAuNpeMhodbOJqhiLCURiYKrj32flO5IY1qfU8aKtYeALsPoE1lEHWJPPp6WVtu9H9UE4VlPOrNKxc_fxrD_Sp2AvRf_4hveTfAyPv0_sZdDpkTFEOZ1P53uTAvqU4FsaD_ZU/s1600/ngc_3590_galmap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizedOBaKkAuNpeMhodbOJqhiLCURiYKrj32flO5IY1qfU8aKtYeALsPoE1lEHWJPPp6WVtu9H9UE4VlPOrNKxc_fxrD_Sp2AvRf_4hveTfAyPv0_sZdDpkTFEOZ1P53uTAvqU4FsaD_ZU/s400/ngc_3590_galmap.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">If ancient archives are to be believed,
it took the 'Early Tech' astronomers of the 20<sup>th</sup> century quite
some time to realise that most prominent nebulae are in fact only the
'hot spots' within the bigger Molecular Clouds. The Orion Nebula is a
perfect example for this, and so is the Eta Carina Nebula. In ancient
pre-spaceflight times, however, most nebulae were seen as separate
entities. The bigger picture is, simply put, that Molecular Clouds
are hard to detect, because they are cool and hence emitt barely any
visible light. But when a star goes nova or supernova the ejected
stellar material compresses the surrounding dark clouds, promoting
star formation through gravitational collapse of the cloud. Young
stars in turn emitt heavy energetic radiation that ionizes the
interstellar medium and thus makes it 'shine' in different colours,
depending on its chemical components. Ionized Hydrogen is most
prominent, shedding the characteristic red light as can be seen in
the region's magnificient Eta Carina and Statue of Liberty Nebulae (which can be seen below).</span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj24wUYKOy56XQ1g2SdAJ1UqGRWJXR-SGZ7_UP6ToU-ucFJggvrw7jTcHEvonCr2NE3dz1iH-EaUvKrogyfn3Pl9q0gSol86qgbsfBJ2P20M5UdKN3mv5UtscbInG6iXcxSWg_ciCtrY6I/s1600/StofLiberty_02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj24wUYKOy56XQ1g2SdAJ1UqGRWJXR-SGZ7_UP6ToU-ucFJggvrw7jTcHEvonCr2NE3dz1iH-EaUvKrogyfn3Pl9q0gSol86qgbsfBJ2P20M5UdKN3mv5UtscbInG6iXcxSWg_ciCtrY6I/s400/StofLiberty_02.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
</span>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">So for the non-poethic or non-aesthetic people, this beautiful nebula is just a relatively small patch of a Molecular Cloud made visible by some young stars' heavy radiation, much like an area of a green park lit by a lantern. The darker reaches remain obscure and, well, makes one itchy to redirect the Nav Computer and to go there and find out, what's there to be found. To honour this most endeavoring attitude, I have compiled a small collage of sights and places:</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6C7LwWVCBHyloOSU5GtZ8nzz-r8uq5sYbXe3S525BbFCP4rbQb5BVDEYyT3q7TabLlGZmN7rRRG8C28k0t3hyQwgziWdxJY2FUpZ9iER2-WnV5FETofWKdoRpWpr66K745LQK9D6Rv2U/s1600/compile_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6C7LwWVCBHyloOSU5GtZ8nzz-r8uq5sYbXe3S525BbFCP4rbQb5BVDEYyT3q7TabLlGZmN7rRRG8C28k0t3hyQwgziWdxJY2FUpZ9iER2-WnV5FETofWKdoRpWpr66K745LQK9D6Rv2U/s400/compile_01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Now Eta Carinae is waiting. Time to get a close-up look at her beauty. Time to move on...</span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
</span>Andrew Gaspurrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04104128739678349957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540723384954049348.post-62913721859181632212015-06-03T10:36:00.000-07:002015-06-09T04:59:16.185-07:00The not so bad Badlands<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Eastward Ho!</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">For the last two days I navigated a
route towards the Galaxy's trailing direction and crossed the Orion
Spur Badlands, which are not much more than a band of Brown Dwarfs
and T Tauri-type stars stretching on for what must be forever. My
first destination was the NGC 3532 Open Cluster in the Carina Complex
(dubbed the 'Black Arrow Cluster' for some reason) but after having
to re-route several times just in order to get to a stellar filling
station I just switched my goal to 'Get the heck out of here!'</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisqEXE6EAcHznjgKYzPsvovAE0-GX_-dthRrJLoyDgQPenLfptFz-I6HQxO04GyoalJFH34SFMFdVObBJFx21UaNvobHW9W4N7rkA3rCNrsk9C3Sp11QyxJqJ7bkgXCImjm29EG7Av068/s1600/OrionSpur_Badlands.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisqEXE6EAcHznjgKYzPsvovAE0-GX_-dthRrJLoyDgQPenLfptFz-I6HQxO04GyoalJFH34SFMFdVObBJFx21UaNvobHW9W4N7rkA3rCNrsk9C3Sp11QyxJqJ7bkgXCImjm29EG7Av068/s400/OrionSpur_Badlands.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Yes! Red means no fuel...</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The Badlands aren't just bad, however.
There are many interesting places to see and quite some giant stars
to bump into as well and NGC 3532 lies nestled in these supposedly
bad lands as well. It is supposed to be one of the earliest star
clusters that was observed with Earth's first and ancient spaceborne
telescopes at all so I figured it might still be worth a visit,
despite all those Brwon Dwarfs prowling on the way.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Ah! As an aside, I urgently suggest to
use your 'View by Stellar Class' filter on the Galaxy Map from time
to time, since it facilitates a general overview of your surroundings
AND provides you with info on the more reclusive types of phenomena as
well, like Wolf-Rayet Stars and White Dwarfs. Do it every 100 LY or
somesuch and you'll get the picture.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Speaking about pictures, there's some
info to be shared if you want to venture into that region; and what
makes it better than having a peek preview of what's out there?</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: orange;">Beta Muscae</span> – Explorers will find a
Black Hole and a Neutron Star here.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: orange;">HR 4499</span> – We have a G-type Supergiant
with nearly 37 Solar radii being orbited by a companion star (which
is not unusual). For those of you unfamiliar with stellar dimensions,
just imagine Earth being here on its regular orbit and then take a
look from an imagined El Capitan summit in Yosemite National Park. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu5heJkKBTOkIOc9wzO_pgke3nGXyf7mJFw1VyPGgXjgI5iwdsgUavTkrhNdECWGDEjD2Oo1mxSgUfAwFzc3f2y3qEMNLEMSpystgnjC-OUjRIPVju_T4-OWaHNPA_41LjZpN5nbgfVAA/s1600/HR_4499.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu5heJkKBTOkIOc9wzO_pgke3nGXyf7mJFw1VyPGgXjgI5iwdsgUavTkrhNdECWGDEjD2Oo1mxSgUfAwFzc3f2y3qEMNLEMSpystgnjC-OUjRIPVju_T4-OWaHNPA_41LjZpN5nbgfVAA/s400/HR_4499.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Amazing, is it not?</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: orange;">245 G. Carinae</span> – A B-type subgiant,
where apparently hydrogen fusion stopped already, and it's being
orbited by a Neutron Star, bearing witness, that a star has died here
in the past already. 'Soon' it will be the main star's turn...</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: orange;">HD 102773</span> – The most obvious thing
here are two Black Holes, hungrily sucking the lifeblood from this
star system. The strong gravitational lens effect of the Holes is
very impressive and one might think there's only destructive
hostility to be found here. However, there is life on the Gas Giant orbiting one of the numerous Y-type Brown
Dwarfs. Considering these and the system's B-type main star one can
only wonder what kind of water-based life can exist here. Due to the
apparent heavy radiation and solar winds impairing the magnetic field
of the Gas Giant it is to be suspected that it's some kind of
radioplankton deriving its energy from molecular ionization rocesses.
But I'm an Explorer, not a Xenobiologist...</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-inEODUL4YsQ_gd7JKrW9b9LFkQRKy3p1X0M5D2R0wtzvg0DMZvQSGm_gBFVsIG__5qBHhK2GCxtp3s0vSMa_z84-QKU4WzRQiLuCMEn0uaqSIIPenE4FrJcXibE7tIBAQHFk68WL-vY/s1600/HD_102773.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-inEODUL4YsQ_gd7JKrW9b9LFkQRKy3p1X0M5D2R0wtzvg0DMZvQSGm_gBFVsIG__5qBHhK2GCxtp3s0vSMa_z84-QKU4WzRQiLuCMEn0uaqSIIPenE4FrJcXibE7tIBAQHFk68WL-vY/s400/HD_102773.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: orange;">HD 303310</span> – An M-type Supergiant at
33 Solar radii. The star can be viewed as one of the representatives
of Giant-class stars in the NGC 3532 Cluster. Have a look around and
you can glimpse quite a few of them!</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisg5pfQzcHwH3dFjK94wU8HLRsbyKj_vSLJb-Pc1MMn3BwaKWFcJyn2-K7MF8ZWvyzvFZLaAwcDkuEY9BEGLqgs3d-eWJdng0tLLA2tQhhPFqeQSKr41lv5FvEbCj_rhuizg_mxpXlwSw/s1600/HD_303310.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisg5pfQzcHwH3dFjK94wU8HLRsbyKj_vSLJb-Pc1MMn3BwaKWFcJyn2-K7MF8ZWvyzvFZLaAwcDkuEY9BEGLqgs3d-eWJdng0tLLA2tQhhPFqeQSKr41lv5FvEbCj_rhuizg_mxpXlwSw/s400/HD_303310.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: orange;">Upsilon Carinae</span> – Woops! Giant Star
Madness! This system is awesome: Two A-type Supergiants in a close
orbit of only 2,300 LS. Luckily, my approach vector didn't involve
getting 'sandwiched' between the two. But still they are some heavy
dudes, one having a radius of 77.5 Solar radii and the other even
tops this at a whooping 218 Solar radii. You have to look from a
viewpoint on an imagined Earth orbiting Sol at 500 LS to get the
picture.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF_4ZAm3ySpv91kJftJ0J6Tl8wgJy6VJiohRTttcHV6Wb92-CRiLCAbPTXjgZEEVgG0yqU7pm0WgKuPjTvYgHdKf4GLkFwEhRkht4488MzsrlbPYfQcTxzxfNobQzZeLVuN4-R-LjpkoY/s1600/Upsilon_Carinae_sysmap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF_4ZAm3ySpv91kJftJ0J6Tl8wgJy6VJiohRTttcHV6Wb92-CRiLCAbPTXjgZEEVgG0yqU7pm0WgKuPjTvYgHdKf4GLkFwEhRkht4488MzsrlbPYfQcTxzxfNobQzZeLVuN4-R-LjpkoY/s400/Upsilon_Carinae_sysmap.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Right? Imagine the night skyline of New York or Dubai against the backdrop of these two stellar monsters...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: orange;">HD 92072</span> – There are two Neutron
Stars to be found here orbiting an F-type Bright Giant. Quite a prize, to be sure, but in picture terms pretty unremarkable, to be honest.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Passing HD 92072 we are approaching the rim of the NGC
3532 Open Cluster. Of course, it was not a thorough survey of the entire cluster. There are at least 150 stars directly associated with it and there may be more jewels on the left and right. But that will be another journey, someday.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Time to move on. There is still much distance to be covered and I plan to pay NGC 3114 a visit, another Open Cluster en route to the Eta Carinae Nebula. </span></div>
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</span>Andrew Gaspurrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04104128739678349957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540723384954049348.post-30767687993777908572015-06-01T02:46:00.001-07:002015-06-02T07:55:28.998-07:00The Explorer's Graveyard<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Speaking of the 'doorstep' of inhabited
space, both Musca Dark Region and the Coalsack sport some very
interesting places to see. As I came across several of these, I
decided I might as well share them with you, so here we go.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">First of all, there is HIP 63835.
Granted, it's still in the Wregoe Sector but I'd like to include it
anyway. Dubbed the 'Explorer's Graveyard', it's truly worthy of
having an entry of its own. This system seems to have claimed many
lives and you can virtually feel all the wrecks drifting aimlessly in
some unidentified signal source throughout the system. Still, the
Graveyard is a very popular magnet for Explorers, despite the dangers
lurking within. And here is why:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The star system's central body is a
very young O-type Main Sequence star with more than 74 Solar masses
and 14.55 Solar radii. This alone makes an astonishing sight when
dropping out of Hyper. But what is more impressive still is the first
of the three (!) Black Holes orbiting the central star at a mere 55
Light Seconds (LS), which is only a tenth of the distance between Sol
and Earth. It has 15.5 Solar masses and an orbital period of (only)
1.2 standard days. I guess orbiting a star with more than 14.55 Solar
radii in not much more than a day makes the BH quite fast. Luckily my
FSD Drive didn't drop me into the Hole's Accretion Disk or Event
Horizon, because that would have made my trip real quick (and fatal).</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpKDuto3orulOa_ZgQaPvwqVATYna0kX99WLHy_TAItCgeimJLM6c4Z0nkw72mgSx4rVYXYf_2kwS-lYclfXVwL9tfSmTyu-l66vKCP3_Dm_7YUQH3lTGdwINZ_xBT2KwC9UbputozdSg/s1600/HIP_63835_bh1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpKDuto3orulOa_ZgQaPvwqVATYna0kX99WLHy_TAItCgeimJLM6c4Z0nkw72mgSx4rVYXYf_2kwS-lYclfXVwL9tfSmTyu-l66vKCP3_Dm_7YUQH3lTGdwINZ_xBT2KwC9UbputozdSg/s400/HIP_63835_bh1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">But HIP 63835 madness doesn't stop
there. No!</span></div>
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</span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Orbiting the central star at a mere 680
LS (Earth orbits Sol at appr. 500 LS) are two more Black Holes (6.4
and 3.7 Solar masses), interlocked in a mutual orbit at an
unbelievable 4 LS! That's less than four times the distance between Earth and Luna!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">And dancing dangerously close around them are no
fewer than four Brown Dwarfs and two Class III Gas Giants, waiting to
be eventually sucked into the Holes' black, gaping maw.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Interestingly, there's even a
mineral-rich planet suitable for Terraforming on the twin Holes'
dinner platter. Its characteristics DO look a bit odd but I guess Terraformers are little miracle machines anyway. A house with a view of the night sky would be fine.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I hope the Sirius Corporation doesn't get any funny
ideas about this...</span> <br />
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</span>Andrew Gaspurrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04104128739678349957noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2540723384954049348.post-33329302204712180482015-06-01T01:47:00.000-07:002015-06-02T07:55:41.193-07:00To the crossroads, once more...<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I returned three days ago from a
two-months trip to the NGC 7822 Stellar Nursery area, mapping out
YSOs, Black Holes and Neutron Stars. It took me two days of trading
in a cramped T-7 to realize (again) that I don't belong here. Busy
trade lanes full of traffic, comms chatter, wannabe pirates and the
omnipresent systems' police. I got wanderlust... again. I sold my
Beryllium (for the gazillionth time), gave the traffic warden some
bucks for a mug of coffee and told him to mothball my Space Mule and
went to the Stellar Cartographics Bulletin Board. It didn't take long
to find a secondary entry, on behalf of a privately funded operation,
asking for aid in mapping out the edges of some of the Milky Ways'
spiral arms. What followed was a short comms exchange with the
operation's Commander, and then things were set: It would take a
decent amount of time but should be worth the stretch. StellCart
would buy the exploration data as usual but would leave all other
mapping rights to the operation. A more perfect stage couldn't be
asked for...</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">So I went out in my 32 LY Asp Explorer
and headed towards the Musca Dark Region and the Coalsack Dark
Nebula. I like to see the Coalsack as a crossroads of sorts, because
from there you can basically go further coreward, towards the Pipe
Dark Nebula and, further on, the Lagoon Nebula; or you might go in
the galaxy's trailing direction, where eventually you will find the
Eta Carina Nebula and get to the rim of the Sagittarius Arm of the
Milky Way.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Both, Musca Dark Region and the
Coalsack are ideal for novice Explorers as they basically lie at the
doorstep of inhabited space and are easy to navigate and quite dense
with stars. Musca is a place filled with many, many brown dwarfs
(where you cannot scoop fuel) but also patches of main sequence stars
with the occasional sub-giant or (super-)giant star. Ah yes, and quite a few
of the very young O and B type stars, which are generally hunted for
their Black Holes and Neutron Stars they might contain.
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Approaching the Coalsack, the stretches
of brown dwarfs get thinner and give way to the more 'regular'
variety of stars. Star density is still more than enough to navigate
here and quite a few stars have terrestial planets suitable for
Terraforming or even boast an intact ecology already teeming with
life. And then of course there is the Dark Nebula of the Coalsack
itself. It's a dark and beautiful jewel, especially when viewed with
the Milky Way as background. Make sure to shoot some pictures out
here for a postcard for your loved ones at home!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">All of this presents many opportunities
for the up-and-coming Explorer to hone his navigational skills and
get a grip on the different types of stars and stellar bodies (yes,
there are quite a few of them): What's a TT-star and what's a T-star?
What's an A1 III and what's a Y5 V? Where do I find habitable
planets? Where do I find planets rich in minerals? After some time,
you'll get the hang of it, I'm sure.
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Time to move on...</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
</span>Andrew Gaspurrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04104128739678349957noreply@blogger.com0