Port Of Call

My fellow adventurers,
on November 14th, 3301 AD the AGS Intrepid 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.

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):
- HIP 63835 (The 'Explorer's Graveyard')
- The Coalsack Dark Nebula
- Open Cluster NGC 3532
- Open Cluster NGC 3114
- Open Cluster Collinder (Col) 240
- Open Cluster NGC 3590
- The Statue of Liberty Nebula (NGC 3576)
- Open Cluster Collinder (Col) 228
- Open Cluster NGC 3324 & the Eta Carinae Solar System
- Open Cluster NGC 3293
- The Eta Carina Nebula (NGC 3372)
- Open Clusters Trumpler (Tr) 14 & 16
- The Seven Sapphires Cluster (Smojo Sector)
- NGC 3199 Wolf-Rayet Nebula
- Traversing the Far Orion Spur Shallows
- The Vela Ultima Molecular Complex (Hyuedau/Preou Thua Sectors)
- The Hyon Cluster (Hyuedau Sector)
- The Gloomgown Association (Phreia Phoe/Gludgou Sectors)
- The Skull and Crossbones Nebula (NGC 2467)
- Open Clusters Haffner (Haf) 18 & 19
- The Hyperion Cluster (Hypio Phoea Sector)
- Open Cluster NGC 2384
- Open Cluster NGC 2367
- Open Cluster NGC 2374
- Thor's Helmet (NGC 2359)
- Open Cluster Collinder (Col) 132
- VY Canis Maioris Solar System
- Vela Dark Region

Some statistics:
Departure date: May 30th, 3301 AD
Return date: November 14th, 3301 AD
Hull Status on return: 67%
Systems visited: 2,917
Distance travelled: ~73,000 LY
Rank achievement: Pioneer
Highest payout: 480,011 Credits
Coffee consumed: 6.48 Metric Tons

Next steps:
'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.

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.

The Explorer's Graveyard

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.

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:

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).

But HIP 63835 madness doesn't stop there. No!

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!
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.

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.

I hope the Sirius Corporation doesn't get any funny ideas about this...

To the crossroads, once more...

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...

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.

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.

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!

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.

Time to move on...