Outer Rim Stations Tour photo journal 3: Orion Nebula to Thor's Helmet
08 Jul 2018Thunktone
3304 July 03, Tuesday19:40
The Orion Nebula Tourist Centre is a nice little place to stop, built into one of the larger rocks of some planetary rings. It reminded me of Mammon where I took on my last long distance research mission and got recognised as an elite explorer. There is a shipyard here so I took some time out to go bounty hunting in a stock sidewinder. Made about 30 kCr, more than paying for the ship even if it isn't a lot of money.
3304 July 04, Wednesday
17:04
I overslept in the station a bit and missed the start of the meeting. But they were still posing for photos and videos so I snapped a few pics of my own before joining in the mass jump.
I had a bit of a break from the expedition here, before going too far from the core. I jumped back to Lave, picked up my Viper and went out bounty hunting with Fighter Club. No pics of that, I was too busy shooting pirates. Tried out a rail gun and loved it, I'll be reworking that fighter a bit after the expedition, ditching the plasma accelerators. If only I could fit plasma repeaters!
3304 July 05, Thursday
While I was back I did some work on my Diamondback. Mainly I was re-engineering it to remove mass, visiting some of the same folks who have been working on my Viper. I also improved the scanners a bit and fitted a xeno scanner. Probably won't see any more thargoids on the tour, but if I do I'll be ready. Finally I fitted chaff launchers to my wings. Some of the others on the tour have been using them for displays, now I can join in.
3304 July 06, Friday
18:56
On returning to the expedition route I ran in to the permit locks we were warned about. Stars, stars everywhere, nor any course to plot.
I thought I'd be able to plot my own route if I just went around Barnard's Loop.
But I gave up and decided to take the recommended route.
20:15
The Horse Head Nebula really earns its name from this angle.
20:37
I made an overnight stop on some blob of metal halfway through Barnard's Loop.
3304 July 07, Saturday
07:38
Nice little water world.
08:13
My first new discovery of the expedition. It's only an ice world, but I landed and took my SRV out. Found some nice Tellurium-rich meteorites.
08:39
08:44
08:52
14:31
15:01
15:33
My first totally untagged system of the tour, quite close to the exit of the Col 70 tunnel. I hadn't expected to find one so soon.
15:44
17:20
17:53
17:59
One hour late for the mass jump meeting. I've been listening in to the expedition comms channel. So I know that there has been some collaborative exploration going on, and that the pilots involved are on their way back to the station. There are also a couple of other late arrivals here.
That's Thor's Helmet Nebula behind the station.
18:04
Patched up my ship and stocked up on chaff, I'm going back out to see if anything else is going on.
