NYND 3308: Day 42
13 Feb 2022Helios Eusebio
February 13, 330805:38:57 UGT
Lunar Hyperlight, Plimbeau ZE-R e4-2732 2 F A (Purple Rings)
MET: 41:11:19:47
Hard to believe we're in the final week of the expedition. Seems like it was only yesterday that we were departing 59 V for Heaven's Lathe. I'm not sure why but it does feel like this trip has gone by faster, despite the fact that we're spending a full week longer out here. Maybe it's because we had a lot to do this time and thus spent more time flying than cooped up inside Lunar Hyperlight.
Either way, the trip here gave me some time to catch up on the news and there's sure been some interesting developments back home.
The case of the missing Emperor has been solved, but not in a way anyone expected. Turns out that Arissa Lavigny-Duval wasn't hiding, she was kidnapped. ACT looked into the dark comms network used by the NMLA and it turns out their suspicions were correct: there's a group of Senators who were backing the terrorists and they hired the PMC Darkwater to hold the Emperor hostage while claiming she was being protected from assassination. No word yet on their motives, but given they call themselves the "Lords of Restoration" and Arissa's ascension has always been controversial, it's not hard to guess. Maybe they were using the NMLA crisis as an opportunity to eliminate someone they felt wasn't a true heir to the throne? Either way, the conspiring Senators have been arrested so I suspect we'll find out soon enough.
Meanwhile, the Thargoids are back. Three more systems under assault and it looks like they're getting very close to the core systems now. With Aegis shut down and the superpowers still organizing their own AX forces, independent pilots are picking up the ball again. No word from Salvation on if they'll be working to counter the incursion, though at least Galnet noted that we should consider if these escalating attacks are a result of the superweapon? I can't say for sure myself, but I do believe that the less use of this weapon there is, the better.
Our final stop on our expedition is called "Purple Rings" and right away it's easy to see why. Another planetary nebula with a Black Hole at the center, the view is very reminiscent of Caeruleum Luna. The emission nebula is stunning in its appearance, described by some as looking like a bright day with clouds. We're not quite sure as to the reason behind the glow, but our theory is that the concentration of dust is refracting the light from the core. Given that this nebula appears to be very young (about 260 million years per our estimates), the dust must still be in a high concentration.
The Black Hole is another stellar-mass one, though it's still managing to hold the orbits of the other bodies in system, including a pair of Class Y Brown Dwarfs. We've seen several of these systems on the expedition: where Black Holes are now the primary star. The loss of heat means that these worlds are dead ones, slowly freezing solid in the vacuum of space. One of the Brown Dwarfs is the nearest object to the Black Hole at just under 2,900 ls away, but so far we've seen no evidence of any closer bodies that may have been destroyed when the original star went Supernova.
The second Brown Dwarf is ringed and orbited by 6 Class I Gas Giants, the sixth having a moon that is so cold the surface itself appears to be a sheet of ice. But the view from this moon is unbelievable. Once again we have a moon whos orbital plane is tilted above the planet's ecliptic plane, which gives us an amazing view of the rings. The surface is pockmarked with small hills and mountains and when framed against the planet it's almost as if you could just jump from the mountains onto the rings.
On the opposite horizon, the view is even better. The Brown Dwarf radiating away what little heat it has, surrounded by the other Gas Giants. The ring systems all clearly visible. I'm honestly not sure I've ever seen so many ringed planets in the sky at once.
Amazing.
I often talk about the "Music of the Spheres" when discussing orbital mechanics and this is why I use that term. We all know the mechanical and physical reasons for why this arrangement exists, but remove all that and you are left with an incredible sight. A series of massive planets and a star that's closer to being a Gas Giant than a proper star, all strung together like a series of pearls as they tango with each other through space. It's so beautiful that you can't believe that this is merely a natural act of physics, no different than the other arrangements of stars and planets that we've seen out here.
Vistas like this? It feels like the only thing missing is the signature of the artist.
It's going to be very difficult to not just spend all of this last week just staying here in system and admiring the view. But we've still got a mission to do and only a few more days to do it.