I have now obtained the Guardian FSD booster and upgraded my jump range to 40.09Ly (fully laden with fuel).

I have visited several stars in the Orion Constellation and made a visit to the Eskimo Nebula (AKA NGC 2392).

Its a planetary nebula with a O class central star named GCRV 4981.

Eskimo Nebula
Colour: 10/10, I love the orange/cyan combo and the pattern it makes
Prominence: 1/10, only visible right before you jump in
Accessibility: 5
Interesting phenomenon bonus: 5, for the black hole
Total: 21/30

This is the new nebula rating system, balanced out as the last wasn't very good.

While I was out here I spontaneously decided to head towards Thor's Helmet Nebula in Sanguineous Rim. I plotted a route of 88 jumps. After Thor's Helmet I plan on going on towards the Seagull, Jellyfish and Monkey's Head Nebulae then onto the Crab Pulsar and Nebula as my final destination. This route will bring me right across Sanguineous Rim to the border of Kepler's Crest and Elysian Shore and to near the edge of the galaxy.

After checking the codex I re-routed to Tau Canis Majoris to investigate some prasinum bioluminescent anemones. I had also marked a system past the Seagull Nebula for some more anemones of a different variety, and a system between the previous one and the Rosette Nebula for some crystalline shards.

I left the route until the next day, this will henceforth be known as the Crab Expedition and it will hopefully cover some uncharted territory unlike my previous expeditions.

I arrived in Alaunus and scanned the system and found an unexpected generation ship here.

I visited one of the NSPs just over 5kLys out and found the Q09 type anomalies, this time without ramming them. I noticed that these ones stayed further apart, the others clustered together but these ones were out of visual range of each other.

Following my investigation of the anomalies I set out for Generation Ship Lycaon, a bit over 27kLy from my current position, over 30kLy from the main star.

I reached the Lycaon soon enough and after reading the recovered logs it's apparent that an alien microorganism from and an asteroid infected a member of a survey team, leading to a pandemic breaking out on board which killed everyone.

After this I will be heading towards a nearby white dwarf and Trappist-1, then on towards the pilots federation district where I will meet a friend of mine who is new to the game.

I arrived in HIP 15310 after deciding I had had enough of the thargoid structures near the Pleiades.

I immediately noted the small number of planets and the lack of any population, despite it being a federation system.

Scanning the system revealed the two Notable Stellar Phenomena.
I checked the map and found X-2487 and X-2488, binary ammonia worlds. I also found HIP 15310 2, a HMCW that was almost 24kLs out.

I mapped the two ammonia worlds and then headed straight for the anomalies.
At the first NSP I found just rubeum metallic crystals so I went towards the next one.
I was disappointed yet again when the second NSP appeared to be a proto lagrange cloud with purpureum metallic crystals however when I went to identify a cluster of glitchy looking markers on my radar near the edge of the cloud a cluster of lights suddenly appeared and hit me with a shield breach attack. I slowed down and scanned them to identify them as Q04 type anomalies. I investigated several other clusters of anomalies here then returned to the previous NSP to find the anomalies there, now that I know what to look for.
I was once again going too fast and rammed the anomaly, this time it was a Q08 type anomaly and it unleashed some sort of lightning that disrupted the HUD.

Following this I plotted a course for Laksmi, home base of Lyra squadron.

Today I visited the Survey Vessel Pandora in HIP 21478. It appears that a similar thing occured here as what occured on Survey Vessel Victoria Song except that the crew of Pandora abandoned ship.

I proceeded to the next system I had marked, Col 285 Sector CV-Y d57. There I attempted to climb another mountain on moon AB1c. I got a nice view of planet AB1 eclipsing the main star. I started from the lowlands at 18.4510° 71.1862° at an altitude of 0km. I then attempted to climb a peak at 19.2667° 70.6289° at an elevation of 7.8km.

There was multiple adders flying near landing site for whatever reason.
After 22 minutes of climbing I tumbled back down very far and aborted the ascent due to hull damage. I stopped at a relatively flat shelf and attempted to recall my ship but it couldn't land, I continued on downward. At a time of 41 minutes I made it to a place for my ship to land.
Upon taking off I noticed a few ships still flying around in the distance, I don't know who they are or why they were here but maybe they were related to a mission given out by a nearby starport.

In this session I made it to the top of the mountain. In all it took me probably close to 3 hours over the course of two sessions to make if to the top.
Nothing too notable occured but it was enjoyable to get out of my ship and drive around, something I had neglected to do on the final few segments of the nebula tour.
It reminded me of my hobby of real life mountain climbing, sometimes you get too absorbed in reaching the high points of your route that you forget to look around and enjoy the small things.

After reaching the top of what I call Black Spire (due to the black rocks of the mountains and it's very steep sides) I attempted to recall my ship but it couldn't land so it just bonked into the side of the peak. I descended back down the cliffsides and gullies that were previously too steep to ascend and made it back down in about 15 minutes to the area I call Rust Valley (due to the reddish dirt and black rock making this area look rusty) where I started this journey.
I flew back up along the route in my ship and then checked the elevation of Black Spire by flying straight out over the flat low lands and reading the elevation. In total the peak was 10.6km above the surrounding orange lowlands, higher than Everest here on earth (over 8km tall) but not quite as tall as Olympus Mons (almost 22km tall) on Mars. Still, despite it not being as large as Olympus Mons I was still high enough above the surface to see the curvature of the moon I was on.

I had just left the system when I decided to return and get the coordinates for future reference:
Black Spire: -63.6722° 59.6429°
Rust Valley: -63.4677° 38.3968°
The Outcast: -63.0049° 33.6488°

The Outcast is a small peak with an elevation of 3.3km that is separated from the main mountain range, the slopes are more gradual and thus more suited to those seeking an easier, quicker or more relaxed climb.
Rust Valley is at an elevation of 3.4km, making the total ascent of Black Spire only 7.2km.
An easy way to find this mountain range is by going to the crash site and heading towards the smaller mountain range, in fact I may one day return here and climb some of the other peaks in the larger range as it covers a large area of the planet's surface so is bound to have something interesting.

I continued on towards HIP 19026 which I believe contains another surface site according to Canonn's data.

The thargoid signal was on a moon, B1c. It was over 30kLs out but it didn't take too long to get there.
I located the unknown structure scan and landed without incident. The interior of this structure was apparently collapsed. I scanned a thargoid uplink device here then left.

I visited another inactive thargoid site nearby then headed to 42 n Persei where I checked out the faction installations and riker class prison ship then docked.

While on my way back from the nebula tour I stopped by the Pleiades.

I stopped by Pleiades Sector AB-W b2-4 and stopped at a surface base there. I ventured out to a wrecked thargoid interceptor.

I checked the xeno section of the codex and found that Delphi had a lot of thargoid items to find.

In Delphi I visited a thargoid surface site there, this prompted me to investigate other known thargoid locations leading me to mark HIP 17125, HIP 19026 and Aries Dark Region DB-X d1-63.

In HIP 17125 I found the Survey Vessel Victoria Song. After scanning it I found several log entries, transcribed below:

Entry 1:
Some of the crew are not happy we're working for the Feds, but this deal is too good to pass up.
With all the expansion going on in this region we need to make sure we're in at the beginning to secure the contracts we need.
This survey mission is just that. A simple rock hop. Scanning for minerals.

Entry 2:
We arrived in orbit around planet A7 a day ago. It's been all hands on deck to make sure all the equipment is ready for launch down to the surface.
While the majority of our planet scans just showed the usual mineral data there is one area on this rock that is giving off some unusual readings.
If there's any profit to be made from this trip it's going to be found there.

Entry 3:
We've stumbled onto something big, I don't know what it is or who built it, but we've definitely hit the mother load.
Aries Dark Region DB-X d1-63 is gonna have our names on it.
First things first, I've got to make sure all this is by the numbers. I don't want this going south because we didn't fill in the correct paperwork.
I'm calling it in.

Entry 4:
Security vessel, please respond… Hold your fire! This is a registered survey mission. We have all the correct paperwork… Listen to me! You can't just arrest us… we havent done anything wrong, we have rights.
Repeat, we're an unarmed survey team on a registered mission.
We surrender! Please!

From the logs it appears the vessel was surveying planet A7 of Aries Dark Region DB-X d1-63 when they found the thargoid site there. After this federal security arrested them, the ship appears to be fully operational so my guess is that the original crew got arrested and the vessel was re-assigned to planet A3 of HIP 17125, a planet that has a moon containing another surface site.

Before I investigated the site I would investigate Pirx, a water planet with a ring system in a binary orbit with planet A3. It was interesting but nothing too special.

I went back to A3 after this and mapped the planet to reveal a crash site. I followed it down and lost the signal as I dropped from orbital cruise however the site was rather apparent once I had completed my glide. It was in a canyon near the base of a large mountain. I scanned the crashed thargoid scout and investigated it a bit. There was thargoid resin, bio matter and tech scattered across the site but I didn't pick it because it was corrosive.

After this I flew my ship over to the mountain but was unable to find somewhere to land near the top. After a long time searching I eventually found somewhere on the far slope of the highest peak. From here I set out in my SRV to attempt a summiting of the highest of the peaks.

From my base camp and a relatively flat area near the foot of the mountain I ascended 30-50° slopes and got (approximately) halfway. I passed a minor peak sticking out from the main peak that I had noted on my way to the base camp. Eventually I decided to leave this session here, around halfway up a mountain on HIP 17125 A3a.

This will be the last part in my tour of the nebulae near the bubble.

On the way back I docked in two outlying stations: California Gateway and New Beaumont Dock, controlled by Turner Research Group and Spinward Marches Hydroponics, both Alliance factions.

I set a course towards 39 Delta Persei, part of a group of blue-white stars and Mirphak, a white supergiant.

In 39 Delta Persei there was a type B giant star and a black hole. I decided not to investigate any further and instead move straight onto Mirphak.

In 2 jumps time I was in Mirphak. It was massive, there was a class IV gas giant there but not much else of interest.

I mapped a metal rich body and left this final session here, from here I will return to the bubble, obtain a guardian FSD booster, A rate my modules and figure out where to go next.

I journeyed to a system within the California nebula itself.
Here I docked at Mic Turner Base, an Alliance surface port. I checked for any useful modules since it was a high tech system but there was nothing useful to me.
On the same planet I encountered my first thargoid barnacles and barbs.

California Nebula
Colours: 7, the oranges are nicer on this one
Size: 7
Prominence: 9, can be seen from quite a bit away
Accessibility: 2
Station bonus: 5
Total: 30/32, that's the new top ranking

I eventually departed the nebula and began heading towards an inhabited system that was on the way back.

I noticed that one of the system I was passing through was in NGC 1514 sector. I looked it up and found that it was a planetary nebula I had entirely missed. I diverted my course to explore it.

Due to its distinct blue colour it was quite prominent for a planetary nebula.

I soon arrived to the nice blue skies of NGC 1514.
I docked at the USS Lombardi, a Victory class carrier owned by CMDR Skiptomyluke.
I checked out the short "Little Blue" tourist beacon.

NGC 1514
Colours: 10, love the blue
Size: 1
Prominence: 4
Accessibility: 2
Total: 17/32

I decided to leave my journey back towards the bubble (stopping by the cluster of blue and white stars near Mirphak and 39 Delta Persei) until the next day.

NGC 1333
Colours: 3, not particularly interesting
Size: 4, rather small
Prominence: 5, not very prominent
Accessibility: 1
Station Bonus: 5
Total: 18

I might consider changing the accessibility rating from a 0,1 or 2 to a 0,2 or 5. Also might reduce the station bonus to 3 or something, seems to boost some mediocre nebulae a bit too high. Also might try to balance out size/prominence and colours because currently a nebula can reach the top of the ratings just by being large.

With that out of the way I selected a nearby system to get right on the edge of the nebula.

I marked the inhabited systems in the California Nebula. I also calculated the total population to be 559,245 people, most of which were in a system with 500,000 people. Outside the nebula there is NGC 1333 and two other remote inhabited systems with a population totalling to 776,838, mostly in a system with a population of 751,838. In total this region has 1,336,083 people living in it. This region is mostly extraction, agriculture and high tech with one refinery system with a population (500,000) that makes up almost half of the total population.

With my analysis of the population complete I finally plotted my course to a detention centre system 142Ly away just below the nebula. 10 jumps would get me there.

The system had a prison ship known as "The Quarry" orbiting a HMCW. Since the system is an extraction system I assume that the prisoners here would be brought down to the planets surface to mine.
I docked at a carrier named "Deep Space Nein" owned by CMDR Khadrim. I refueled and repaired some minor structural damage I had obtained somewhere between now and my last advanced maintenance check.

I plotted a course to a nearby Alliance system on the edge of the nebula.
The system was swarmed by thargoids.

I experienced some login failure issues so I left this session here, on the edge of the nebula.

I have decided that I probably won't be joining the MitS expedition. I have checked to see if any other Xbox users are going and am waiting a response from any other legacy players.

I attempted to plot a route to NGC 1333, just below the California Nebula but route plotting failed.
I tried to plot a route to 38 Omicron Persei near the Perseus Dark Region but that also failed.
I was able to plot to a random F class star in Col 69, 331Ly away, 24 jumps. From there I would continue my route plotting, I am unsure of what prevented plotting this time.

My very first jump brought me back into the Inner Orion Spur.
And then the next brought me back into Sanguineous Rim.

I identified a line of bright stars that I had been seeing as NGC 1647. It was a telescope error type thing composed of F, B and A type stars. The entire NGC 1647 region was apparently permit locked which is presumably what caused my route plotting errors. My research revealed that NGC 1647 is an open cluster in real life (explaining the quantity of stars but not why they are in a line pointed towards earth). In elite dangerous the sector it was in is rather small so the permit lock must be to stop players from getting to the cluster itself. Another strange locked sector.

After this I was back into Inner Orion Spur. Apparently for good.

Looking ahead I found the real culprit of my dodgy route planning, Col 70 strikes again. I seriously thought I had escaped Col 70 back at Barnard's Loop but here it was interfering again. I would have to go around by Oochorrs sector to evade it.

I replotted my route to a system in Oochorrs sector, 255Ly away, 22 jumps.

After getting there it was 464Ly to NGC 1333, 38 jumps.

I entered a class G system with a large star so I FSS scanned the system and found an ELW. I mapped the ELW and a few other planets such as a metal rich body and multiple HMCWs.

I encountered a system with two type G stars and a white-yellow T-Tauri. I thought that if one star was a T-Tauri they all were.

Throughout the last 15 or 20 jumps of my journey I had been utilising a tactic where I would fly right by the exclusion zone of a star to scoop as much fuel as possible while flying past. While this was very effective and ensured that I never had to stop for fuel as it was constantly being replenished when I was just two jumps away from NGC 1333 I almost crashed into the EZ of a star I was scooping from.

The system of 2MASS JO3291977+3124572 had: a very long name, 2 class B stars, a class G, multiple brown dwarves, class V and IV gas giants, ringed HMCWs, high metal content worlds and an asteroid base with a surprisingly high amount of traffic.

I docked in Ring Mine here, an asteroid base owned by Deep Space Mining. I sold all my cartographic data for approximately 6mil credits.