Galactic Deep

My euphoria of reaching Sagittarius A* has passed, and while deciding what to do next I plotted a course straight down. I have never been to the fringes of the galaxy and while the rim is a journey in itself, travelling on the vertical plane not so.

I am currently taking a steady trek and have so far made it approximately 2000ly below the core. The view is very different down here, no longer am I surrounded by the galaxy instead I am looking up at it. The stark contrast between deep unchartered empty space and the galaxy we call home is remarkable.

There are a lot of K & M class stars down here, with a number of metal rich world. More prominent is the galactic space on the right.

But there are still some stunning sights to behold. I dropped into this glorious misty ring system today to have another look at the asteroids. I'm getting more confident at plotting courses through the rings now and have nearly made the journey from one side to the other under normal power.

That was a pretty Class 1 gas giant too, with the misty rings.

The stars are getting further apart now. The nearest is currently 5Ly away and as I venture further down this will increase massively. I shall update again when I can venture no further.

Rikk, signing off.

Sagittarius A*

Tonight I reached Sagittarius A*

I had been having difficulties with my navigation computer while plotting routes, and often it would lock me out completely. This did not bode well for the journey ahead, and it was with mild trepidation along with contained excitement that I powered up my frame shift drive for the first jump.

Despite my misgivings, those final 998 light years were smooth sailing, and it seemed like no time at all before I jumped into to a system about 2ly from Sagittarius A*. This was planned, rather than direct into the system I wanted to make sure my tanks were topped off before I entered, and also give myself some time to relax and recover from the journey.

At approximately 20:00 standard time I made the jump and for the first time I saw the majesty of Sagittarius A*

It's big. Very big.

I landed about 75 Ls from it, and my heat was at about 50%. On closing this to 60 Ls my heat started rising up towards 90% - naturally I spun around and gave the engines full power! Once the scrubbers had cleared the smoke from the cabin I decided to fly around the black hole.

The gravitational lensing effects are creepy, mind buggeringly creepy. Flying around the hole at about 90 Ls distance and the warping of space makes you feel like you are constantly being drawn closer. It has to be seen to be believed. Which is why I have some footage from that flight - you must excuse the quality - I'm not a natural at videography.

It was shortly after this that, much to my suprise, I found I was not alone at the core of the Galaxy. I had the pleasure of chatting to CMDR Lucek about our journey and where the stars will take us next. Fly safe Commander!

I am going to spend a little bit more time at Sag/A* for now, then the next journey will take me perpendicular to the galactic plane. Probably straight downwards, as there are a couple of galaxies in that direction I would like a clearer look at.

I set out to see the centre of our galaxy. It took a little longer than I planned but I made it. But now I'm out here, I am going further, my thirst for unseen stars and planets is far from quenched. My desire to push deeper into the unknown is growing.

My trusty Clipper has only taken a tiny amount of hull damage. My ships modules are all in reasonable condition. My repair units still have plenty of life in them. I have a good stock of coffee (Kitten Brand & Void Extract) and also a nice supply of Kongga Ale & Gueuze Beer. I may not agree with the Federation on many things, but they sure can brew their beer well.

On that note, time for another celebration.

Rikk, Signing off.

10,000 to 1000 Light Years

As I have drawn closer to the core my wanderings have become more purposeful. I have not been so willing to deviate from my course to look at water worlds and gas giants. Indeed the only thing that has seen me stop tends to be terrestrial worlds.

I am plotting 300 - 500ly legs and I will stop at or near the end of each one to see what is there and more often than not simply plot another leg and carry on. I have got fixated on my destination, Sagittarius A*

I have still seen a few interesting things. Top of the list is another earth like world only a few thousand LY from the core

This was a particularly pretty earth like and was perfect to get a shot showing the dense galactic rings behind it. Sometimes it is the little things that make a stop worthwhile.

Not much further on from this I was strangely intrigued by a ringed planet that was within scan range while I was scooping. Turns out it was just a rock, but a rock with some very nice looking rings.

Naturally I have to go an have a closer look. Yes, I cruised between the planet and the rings and that was nearly an accident! Just inside the closest white ring was another one which was only visible from a few thousand k out. Slight junk and emergency drop averted!

But I had to go have a closer look. You see, once I stop I tend to have a bloody good look around.

So that's what I was from 10k to 5k Ly out from that massive black hole which is my destination. The next four thousand light years I have been flying non stop. Jump, Scan, Scoop, Engage. With just a quick check of the galaxy map to make sure I'm not jumping into a star nursery.

This is my scoop as I passed the 1000Ly mark. Next destination I set will be Sagittarius A*

Rikk, signing out.
Slightly excited.

Asteroids!

Later, much later. It turns out that I did have a bottle single malt in store but I was strangly drawn to the Orrerian Vicious Brew, which my comrades I can assure you lives up to it's name. I may have had good intentions when I seated myself to write about my encounter in the rings but I just ended up playing Asteroids. Again.

Hidden in the depths of every starship computer console, because systems developers are all big kids at heart, is a 20th century game called Asteroids. A game which is almost as old as the computer itself which pits a pilot against increasingly fast asteroids. For every commander you can find who has never played asteroids, even a modern equivalent, I am certain I can find you 10 who have!

In the game the pilot uses a laser to destroy the asteroids before they hit the ship, however on my recent asteroid encounter I am certain that had I deployed my pulse lasers they would have been no such use!

You see, as part of my journey something I really want to see is an earth like world with a complex ring system. Thus far such a discovery has eluded me, but I did get a close second recently with a Water world with breathable atmosphere and rings. It would have been a travesty to simply pass by without dropping in to take a close look at the rings. There is a shot of the rings in my last post.

Well here we are up close

From afar the rings look solid, but they are in fact made of of a lot, and I do mean a lot, of asteroids. I cruised across the top of this ring system at just 30km/s taking in it's beauty and in no time at all I had reached the inner edge. This is where the brave explorer started whispering in the ear of the sensible explorer. The end result had me piloting my Clipper along the inside edge of the rings until she was close enough to initiate an automatic drop from supercruise.

Then, I ventured into the asteroid field.

Now those asteroids look pretty well spaced, and indeed the are. But the little buggers are always moving. It was at this point that I overcame my awe and exhilaration at being here, and realised I should probably power my shields. While I may have a class 6 shield fitted, it will still only protect me against minor scrapes from small rocks, and some of these are bigger than an outpost!

So what do you do in an asteroid field that could be the end of your ship? That's right, take photos. I have been a firm believer since the camera drones came online, that photos including my ship should be dynamic. I try to convey the awe and adventure in my shots, and one thing I think really helps this is to have power to the main engines.

Did I ever mention that I have to choose between controlling the camera drones and controlling my ship? I cannot do both at the same time. So at this point, I am in an asteroid field, some 17000ly from populates space. My engines are at 70 percent power and I am not in control of my ship.

I think the risk was worth it, I hope you do, here is one of the resulting photos.

This little endeavour deserved a blog entry of it's own. Later I will be back on the level with the next stage of my journey.

Rikk, signing out.

BYUA AIM AA-A & Beyond

You may have noticed that since the camera drones became operational I've been somewhat obsessed with taking photos including my ship. I think it is a reflection on something that started in the early 21st Century known as a 'selfie' where one takes a photo of themselves at places they travel to.

My promise is that I will endeavour to take a 'non selfie' photograph for each post.

Today's travels have brought me to under 10k Ly from the galactic core, and took me through the BYUA AIM AA-A nebula. From a distance this nebula is a particularly dark and foreboding cloud as seen below.

It still looks pretty menacing from a couple of hundred light years out. I have visions of another dark journey through it's centre.

It is only when you are on approach that it starts to look noticeably thinner, giving the deep black more of a purple hue. Indeed by the time I was on the fringes of the cloud it was a little underwhelming. The stars inside were in very dense clusters with some less than a single light year apart

I took this shot on the far side of the nebula as I was leaving, it's splendour once again coming to light from the outside

As promised, here is the non selfie showing BYUA AIM AA-A in the distance

There is a second post coming in a few hours, as I have just experienced the most nerve wrecking moment of my exploration journey so far. Indeed it could be one of the most exciting since I took the controls of my Clipper.

For now, I'm going to see if I have bottle of single malt in stores. It was that good.

Intrigued, check back later!

Rikk, signing out.

New Discoveries

This thing about exploring is quite a lot of the stuff out there looks like quite a lot of the other stuff out there. The galaxy has a lot of stars, and a lot of the stars are M class of varies size and heat values. In the ~17000ly I have travelled so far I have been thankful of the M & K class stars as they are my primary fuel source, which is important considering I have to refuel every other jump to remain fuel safe!

Anyhow, I digress, as this entry is about the stuff that you don't see every day.

It started as I came out the other side of BLEAE AESCS nebula and my normal plotted route included a neutron star. Now I have seen these before, but I have never actually scanned one. A quick check around the map and I was able to pick out a Wolf-Rayet star along my route a further three jumps - now this was a first for me. The added bonus was a few clusters of ringed T-Tauri stars in orbit. Finally only 50ly from the Wolf-Rayet system I dropped across my first black hole.

This was a lot  to take in, so I did what any good explorer did, took pictures.

First up is the blisteringly bright Wolf-Rayet. I've since seen another one of these and they only seem marginally brighter than an O class star. Still, got the ship a bit warm looking at this beauty.

Next up is the black hole. They really are not that much to look at, the lensing effect of space is quite fascinating as you get close to it. Not a huge hole this one it still wanted to draw me in, I could feel the pull as I was taking this shot.

Finally I present the most spectacular view I think I have seen on the journey so far. Orbiting the Wolf-Rayet were 8 very young T-Tauri stars with their own vast sets of rings. They were truly a sight to behold. A star, with rings like this. I stayed here a while.

My journey is progressing well. Under 12000ly to Sagittarius A*
It's cold out here, there's no kind of atmosphere.
I'm all alone. More or less.

CMDR Rikk, missing populated space a little today, despite the wonders I have seen.

The Road to Bleae

Destination: BLEAE AESCS AA-A H25.

This is a deep red nebula sitting high on the galactic plane, and it also happens to be a mere 300ly diversion from my route to the galactic core. I would have been a fool not to swing by this galactic wonder especially as it marks my first visit to a nebula. This is going to be more of a photographic journey than a wordy description.

Just under 1000ly from the nebula, it looks rather small and clearly visible above the galactic plane.

Throughout the day I stopped at a few systems on the way and my target was slowly growing in my canopy. During a detailed scan of a system some 200ly out I snapped this shot showing just how much larger the nebula is up close.

This is a Class II ringed gas giant, and you can just see nebula CROOKAAE AA-A H129 through the gap in the rings. I considered doing both, but that would be another 1000ly out of my way. Another time, maybe when I get back and want to take my Imperial Courier out for a spin...

I actually grabbed another shot here closer to the rings, such was the beauty of the location. Have to admit cracking open one of the fine beers I brought along for the journey. The mighty Empire may frown upon liquor, but I am a long way from the border...

Once I was close to the nebula, the views actually got much less spectacular. Within the cloud I could see very little of, well, anything. It was disorientating not being able to see much of the galaxy as I have been used to all my life. The glow of the core has been a constant in every system I have been in, every jump I make. Within the nebula this was no longer visible, apart from a small portion marking the clear space.

I have to admit, I did not want to venture all the way into the murky systems at the head of this nebula, maybe next time.

Further in and the nebulas the deep red colour was at it's most prominent. I explored one system specifically to find an angle to display this. There was no black here, it felt like they sky itself were on fire such was the intensity. Time to move on.

Finally I am out of the nebula and feeling much more comfortable being able to see again. I don't even want to know the toll that red dust had on my ship exterior. As I departed I dropped across a water world bathed in the red glow.

I am almost half way to the centre of the galaxy now. The beer is still cold. The food is still tasty and the coffee is still fresh. Despite her quirks and issues, and not forgetting how inappropriate she is for the exploration task, I am glad I chose to pilot a clipper on this quest.

Her name is Samantha Jayne. She is doing me proud.

Onwards!

Rikk, Signing Out.

Curses! Computer Malfunction

Short update today.

I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later, I had a computer malfunction in hyperspace last night which resulted in my controls going non-responsive on drop out.

Sadly this has ended my quest to get to the galactic core without taking any damage, as I have now got a small amount of damage to my hull from the emergency drop out along with a small amount of heat damage to my ship components.

Most disappointing. Had it been my flying then I'd just shrug it off, but a damn computer fault... curses Still, could have been worse.

On the plus side, I had two systems in a row with worlds that look very much like Earth along with a number of terraforming candidates. This brightened my day up a little.

I'm just under 18,000 Ly from Sagittarius A* (8500ly from home) and overall the journey is going well. I have already passed the Eagle Nebula which I mentioned in my last log entry, initially I planned to go within 100ly of it but that would have put me quite a way off my planned route so I stayed on course.

There is a cluster of nebulae about 2000ly ahead which I intend to fly near. Until then, I shall continue the smooth ride and prey to the frame shift gods that there are no further computer malfunctions.

Rikk, Signing Off.

Still Burning to the Core

Today I am writing from my cabin as my ship drifts between a binary pair of O class stars approximately 6000ly from Achenar. I'm not the first to visit this system, CMDR Abrigant discovered these two stars, not that surprising when you consider how much the stars stand out on the map. This was taken at approximately 1200ly from the star, it certainly was big.

There have been some changes on my ship, it seems despite the distance, software updates are still getting out here. My ships heat meter has been recalibrated somewhat and after a few stars I'm finding fuel scooping a more pleasant experience. My ship is now taking the weight of the point defence turrets into account while calculating jump range too, I hadn't really considered it when fitting them, but I guess it's only a couple of tonnes and my ship is heavy enough that it makes little difference.

The most important update is the external camera drones, they have finally come online. I may be a commander foremost, but being an Imperial Baron permits me time to persue other hobbies, photography being one of them. Now I have my external camera I can start capturing many of the breathtaking views I come across without having to point my camera through the canopy glass.

The journey so far has been smooth. I made may way up the galactic arm about 2000ly before turning for the core. This afforded me the fuel confidence to make it over the void between the arms. The Clipper may be the most comfortable vessel in which to carry out my journey, but she is thirsty and only has a small fuel tank, so I scoop at nearly every star. I fitted a class 7 fuel scoop to ensure this did not delay me, and also to allow me to keep a safe distance from the hotter stars.

So far, my hull is undamaged and my modules are all operating at peak performance. I have been carefully studying the galaxy map each jump to minimise the chances of hitting a hot binary pair, and assessing the risk of each jump accordingly. This was a close one, but heat did not pass 90% on the new gauge.

Within the next 48 hours I hope to be passing near enough to the Eagle Nebula for some photographs. I don't plan on entering the nebula on the way out, but maybe on my return. Many an explorer has already charted that one, so I hope to find something new and untouched out there.

Another shameless shot of my ship, adding a touch of beauty to some already dramatic scenery.

This journey should get interesting soon, as I get closer to the core. I will also ensure I post about things I have found which may help new explorers looking to spread their wings out here. This is my first trip out of populated space, I have learned a lot already.

Rikk Out.

CMDR Rikk, Signing On

This is the first of, all going well, many postings describing my journey to the centre of the galaxy. I am currently sitting in the pilots seat of my Imperial Clipper precisely 1750.8 Ly from the Empire capital of Achenar (That's 1688.5 Ly from Sol).

So far I have seen many things which populated space denied me in my travels, not 300 Ly ago I passed a massive K class star, I was 300ls from the core and scooping fuel at maximum rate! I have also seen my first undiscovered Earth like world with indigenous life. The cynic in me is sure that one will have been seen by someone else who gets back to civilisation before me.

While fellow explorers  laughed at me for doing so, I am flying with a full compliment of weapons, shields and point defense modules. Indeed on the fringes of populated space I had a pirate interdict me, opening fire in his Viper without making any demands. While Pulse Lasers may not be the most powerful in the galaxy they were more than adequate to disable his drives allowing me to escape unscathed.

My shields, weapons and defences are now powered down, as I have not seen a soul for over 1000Ly. The sounds of space are my only companion, maybe I should have a meddle with my ships sensor arrays to see if Lave Radio can be picked up this far out.

No damage so far.

I do sometimes wish I had someone for that chair beside me. It's a solitary life out here. The view is, however, fabulous.

Until next time, comrades.

(Current Location)