CMDR PAUSANIAS - THE SHIP OF THE MIND EXPEDITION - DAY 98
15 Nov 2020Pausanias
ARRIVAL AT EOCK BLUAE NEBULA, ANTICS WITH THE SRV AND AN AMMONIA WORLDHi Cmdrs,
I'm going to start with 3 images tonight taken roughly 500 ltyrs apart of the EOCK BLUAE NEBULA I am aiming for. This first one is taken from where I left off yesterday, 1200 ltyrs away.
This is taken at 790 ltyrs . . .
And the final one just 320 ltyrs distant. You can clearly see the difference in size as I got closer to it.
I have arrived at the Nebula tonight but I'm going to leave exploring the Nebula until tomorrow and do a thorough job.
It was 8 jumps, as usual, using the Asp Explorer to get from where I was last night to the next jump for The Carl Sagan and on route I went down to this planet to investigate another Geographical Signal. This one turned out to be Ammonia Gas Geysers. In this image you can see one spewing gas at extremely high pressure.
Now, I wouldn't normally do this but having the Carrier nearby helps as I knew I could get a new SRV should I need one. I drove over to the Geyser and ONTO it, whoosh I was sent flying up into the air, 2.44km to be precise, this shot is of the SRV at the peak before I started falling back down to the low G planet, you can't even see the Geyser anymore!
Note, 2.44km is more than the limit you can get from your Ship on a planet before it takes off automatically, it did! Bearing in mind I was spinning about in mid-air in the SRV I somehow managed to get this crude image of the Asp as it took off! You can also see how high I was by the curvature of the planet.
Miraculously I managed to land using full upward thrusters both once on the way down and just before hitting the ground and kept 92% of my hull! I only lost 8%, which I think is remarkable from 2.5km up. Flushed with success I went back and did it again, I had to didn't I? This time when I landed I wasn't so lucky and used up 50% of my SRV's hull. I used some materials to repair the hull but then drove around the site finding most of what had I used in repairing the SRV. Great fun!
I then continued on to the Carrier handing in 1,500,000 in scan data, which wasn't a great deal but with only jumping 8 jumps at a time I'm not expecting much, because of this I switched to the Python which only has a jump range of about 35ltyrs. I set the next Carrier jump up and set off on the 15 jumps that produced.
My next find was a Sulphur Dioxide Fumarole field as seen in the image below. This field was quite spectacular because of its close proximity to a Red Sun. In this image the Galactic Plane adds a dramatic backdrop.
Talking of drama, just look at this image taken from behind the SRV with one of the spewing fumaroles in front of it, the Red Sun the planet is orbiting and a distant Yellow Sun, you can also see the Python parked off to the right of the shot. Even though I say it myself I think this is an amazing image but only possible because of the beauty of this Galaxy.
I'd like to include this image too. It's not that I haven't seen lots of Gas Giants but this one had this unusual storm formation amongst its clouds, it also has odd colouring, I've not seen many this colour on my travels so far.
I reached the Carrier again and handed in a respectable 12,500,000 credits worth of exploration data. I then set The Carl Sagan up to jump into the Nebula itself. It was only 12 jumps to reach it this time as it hasn't jumped a full 500ltyrs this time.
One of those jumps took me through this Neutron Star system, I got quite hot getting this image but I think it was worth it . . .
Next comes a bit of dedication, flying 214,000 light seconds to scan an Ammonia Planet potentially worth only 1,000,000 credits. Here I can be seen sitting at the helm with about 16,000 light seconds still to go.
But it was worth it. I manoeuvred the Python around this Ammonia World so that the EOCK BLUAE NEBULA was a backdrop to this image.
I've caught up with the Carrier tonight and handed in a further 1,500,000, so that's a grand total of 15,500,00 which on the whole isn't too bad really. Again I'm going to stay on the Carrier tonight and tomorrow I'll get out there in the system I'm in and see what I can find.
o7 Cmdrs.
Total Carrier jump distance since 10th August: 42,000 ltyrs - (Personal note: 81 jumps on 14 Nov)
Total Ship jump so far: 69,590
Total planets Level 3 scanned: 26,777
Total exploration data: 696,000,000 credits
Total systems with my name on: 3531
My Ship is now 31,608 ltyrs away from Sol!
Distance to Beagle Point: 41,758 ltyrs
The journey to the EOCK BLUAE NEBULA has ended! Where next?
P