The next report is ... right here. Later than expected, because other things hold me up quite well. RL things, like my vacations coming up - it will be a pleasure to get out and see something else than your home for some time. :) But also other things going on on diverse other networks :)

The CEA3 expedition has now hit the Final Stretch back to the Bubble. So this will most likely be the last Report before the end of the tour. But this report includes some highlights as well, so here we go!

CEA3 - Highlights Stages 5-6, Stage 7 ongoing

Actual Position: MOA-2009-BLG-266L

ELW Count: 22 (+11)

Shortly after the last report, I hit the beautiful near-core areas again. One part of it are the exotic Star Systems, like this (slightly wrong-coloured) Wolf Rayet NC, sharing the system with a Herbig. They're always a nce thing to see among the boring M dwarves...

Dryiqaea AA-A h51 (A)

But it went down quickly, and I found myself next to the G2 Dust Cloud, a supernova remnant found near the Core of the Galaxy. This is the nebula, seen from a nearby system, the waypoint system and the Finish of Leg 5 to be exact.

G2 Dust Cloud Sector JH-V c2-7256

Leg 6 had many things in stock. First, I visited an absolute gem and a thing I want to find anytime soon. One of 2 ELWs known so far, that orbit a solo T dwarf. Here we are, flying into close orbit, towards the star... I counted it towards my ELW Counter (seen above), even if I forced the visit there...

Eok Bluae YW-T a16-48 1

(FYI: my name can now be read in that system too. I mapped one of the ice worlds that were unmapped upon arrival. There are still some left, if you want :) )

Speaking of ELWs, Leg 6 was the most successful for me. I now got 22 ELWs in the bank for the expedition, 8 of them being found on Leg 6, 4 of those being found shortly before its end. One of the best sectors to find them seems to be the Byoi Aihm sector, where I netted 3 ELWs in just... 30-35 jumps. I'll present one of those ELWs, it is #22 to be exact. But the "best of my own finds"! It is just my second Earth Like Moon of now 133 ELWs in my list, and the first orbiting a Terraformable. A nice find! :D

Byoi Aihm TD-T d3-6887 A3A

Sagittarius A is always a blast to visit, even on the 3rd time round. I love being there and in the close vicinity there!

Sagittarius A*

I also scratched some more "Must Sees" from the Bucket List. This includes the also well-known Great Annihilator, a Double Black Hole around 5klys away from the center. Finally I got my arse up to visit it! I needed to try and fly right into it... :D

Great Annihilator (A)

The other Highlight was definitely the 11.6G landing! I quickly went there from Sag A*, and attempted the landing. What should I say... I found the landing not very difficult. Went down in a pretty flat angle (max -15 to -20°), and didn't use the Glide, but just the gravitational forces to pull me down to the surface. There I just needed to find a spot to plummet onto the surface, and scratched the shields a bit. But I just needed to put the nose down, and I stood on the surface. No damage, just some scratches to the bottom of my ship. And some nice vistas to enjoy, before going back onto the tour...

Hypiae Aurb AA-A g588 A1

Should I tell you that in the mean time, a 45.32G landable was discovered...? I think I'll spare that one for Odyssey or the CEA4 (if I decide to take part in it)...

And now, I'm on the final leg. Back to the bubble, and some final vistas to see on the last leg. This will include a revisit to NGC 6357, and the Fine Ring Nebula. :) I already left the core regions behind, a mostly see M stars on my route again. They're good to quickly make track!

The next report will be most likely the Final Wrap-Up. It will come after reaching the final destination! :D

After being very busy in "Real Life" in the past weeks, I couldn't tell you much about my travels.But much happened in the past few weeks, too much to üut it into a long entry. So it will be a pretty short rundown...

CEA3 - Highlights Stages 1 to 4 (Stage 5 is ongoing)

Actual Position: Preia Flyao EW-V e2-11

ELW Count: 11 (+6)

The first that happened was that I hit many waypoints on the way. Many Pulsars, Black Holes, etc. The first impression is from Merrill's Star, the Wolf Rayet that was the final stop of Leg 1. A nice little eclipse as seen from a close Binary moon of a Gas Giant in the background:

Merrill's Star

Further visits include the Northermost non-procedural star in the game, HD 158320. It all were nice sights to have along the way, Let's see what more would happen :D

On the way to the further waypoints, I hit the one or other Exotic system. Some with the well-known AA-A H in the name. For example this B class Super Giant I randomly came across lately. It was previously discovered (by a wing of fellow German commaders), but these stars are always a pleasure to visit, so I had some nice photos from there:

Scheau Byoe AA-A H666 (A)

Or going to a Black Hole (that was an actual waypoint on the tour), and not putting in the "Zero Throttle Gear". Result: I literally crashed head-on into the Black Hole, followed by an emergency stop and quite some damage. But I also got this picture from the situation:

XTE J1856+053

I also payed visits to 2 nebulae along the way. Some nice sights were made over there...

Sometimes, I landed on some High-G-planets (a little training for the 11.6 G that will come on Leg 6). Or on small moons, where sometimes pretty active ice geysers greeted me:

Some random Ice Moon, I forgot which one...

Or you stumble upon planets that are pretty exotic in their constellations. Like this terraformable Water World, orbiting a Y-class dwarf in an else, very unremarkable M dwarf system. But even these small M/L/T/Y dwarf systems sometimes have nice surprises for us (see the moons in Bloomeau NV-T b21-2, where my Carrier and Basis is parked). Like this WW, which is pretty rare to be found, especially when the Y dwarf isn't a "planet", but a "real star" (here, it is star D in the system). :)

Flyae Flyi XJ-C b57-2 D1

I also registered myself in 3 new regions (for me at least), these being Temple, Arcadian Stream, and Ryker's Hope. The second one was just a quick visit for the waypoint over there (HD 158320). The latest is the one I'll fly thorough mostly on stage 5. My actual position is somewhere in the Eastern brims of Izanami, near the "Four-Region Crosspoint"...

And of course, Earth Like Worlds were in the mix too :D In the past few weeks, I got 6 further Earth Likes, putting my count for this tour up to 11. For Leg 4 and the following, I don't use Neutron boosts, and just enjoy the sights along the way. And this is the recipe for getting ELWs. As long as you don't hit almost only M stars (like me in the past few days...), you're good to go for this. :) Here is one of the ELWs along the way:

Goorai SV-L d8-85 3

And now I constantly mostly hit these unremarkable M dwarf systems with mostly only Icies and the Gas Giant here and there, so I can make good track towards the next waypoint. Expect the next report to come quicker, maybe at the end of Leg 5! :)

As the title says, I was still heading West. But now, I'll turn a bit to the North, and fly to Merrill's Star. I'll skip Campbell's Hydrogen Star, I don't feel the lust for Jumponium right now...

Highlights Days 12 - PSR J1901+0716 - HD 339086

Actual position: HD 339086

ELW Count: 5 (+1)

Yesterday is run down quickly: Jump, jump, jump, jump. 81 jumps were made. With some scans in between. And there, another nice ELW popped up on the screen. :)

Byoi Eurk HX-J c22-21 4

That makes it five in 12 days. A nice quote! :D Shortly after it, I changed the Galactic region, and am now in the Temple region. Water Worlds and some Ammonias along the way, as usual, and more jumps, jumps, and jumps. Then I arrived at HD 339086. It is around 12500 lys awaay from Earth (in Vulpecula (Foxlet) constellation), and presents itself as a bright blue B9 class star. Which it is in the game too. Some planets were there as well.

HD 339086

... and now I'll skip Campbell's Hydrogen Star. I don't have the lust for Jumponium now. Plus, I want to guarantee that I'm at the Basecamp until Saturday... So I'll see you at Merrill's Star then!

Going West is the main thing now. Making distance to Sol, and reaching Merrill's Star on Friday or Saturday. The stages between the WPs will get pretty long now. But for now: Let's look at the (actually few)...

Highlights Days 9-11 - PSR J1901+0716 and more

Actual position: Byaa Eurk AY-X c28-22

ELW Count: 4 (+1)

Not many highlights are to present for this leg. There were just two stand-outs in the past days. Some Waters, an Ammonia, but else many HMCs, and even more Icies. And then, I arrived at the pulsar. PSR J1901+0716 seems to have periodic changes in its emission profile (it changes every 2 minutes). Here, the Neutron has five more stars, some planets, and pretty thin jets. If it really has 5 further stars in the system, that is object of speculation...

PSR J1901+0716 (A in the game)

The other thing happened right in the final system I entered. The innermost planet of that G star (see under "Actual Position") happened to be a magnificent ELW, my #4 in under 2 weeks! :D Even better, it has a landable moon, which allowed for some nice vistas. Ideal for a night stop! :D

Byaa Eurk AY-X c28-22 1/1A

...and today, I opt to reach a for me new Galactic Region: Temple. I never was in the deep "West" of the Inner Orion Spur, only in the North, East, Northwest, and South. And therefore, Temple is a new region for me. Let's see what awaits me there :)

The last three days I was eager to make distance. But not only that, some very nice discoveries were made along the way. Here's a quick rundown!

Highlights Days 6-8 - Y Ophiuchi - R Scuti - Trifid Nebula - CoRoT-27 - NGC 6755 - HD 171809 (- PSR J1931+0716)

Actual position: Gru Dryiae PE-X d2-94

ELW Count: 3 (+2)

The trip started out quickly, and I reached R Scuti, the Yellow pulsation Variable I mentioned in the last reel pretty quickly. Ingame, it presents itself with three stars (in real, there is just one star), and as "normal" G dwarf (in real, it is a Super Giant).

R Scuti

Then I made a detour, and travelled to the Trifid Nebula. This one lies in the Sagittarius constellation, one of the brightest constellations to be seen in the sky. As it lies towards the Core, it is filled to the brim with clusters and Nebulae. One of them is the Trifid Nebula, also known as Messier 20. From 3 jumps out, the Nebula lookes like this:

shortly before entering the Trifid Nebula

And inside it, there are some nice life forms to be found - Collared Pods, which stood on my "to-do-List" since ... a long time. They appear in four diefferent kinds, here's one of them (the Lividum kind):

Trifid Sector FW-W d1-233

Right at the waypoint system, there was also this ELW, making it an ELW count of 2 at that point :)

Trifid Sector DL-Y d157

The way back onto the "main route" was full of Waters and Ammonias. There were many system with 2 or even 3 waters along the way, many of them even Terraforming candidates. But then, I arrived at the next Hot Jupiter - CoRoT-27b. It is depicted as a Gas Giant Class V (its real mean temperature lies around 1500 K) - and as planet 2 of the system, along with some others, as usual. Here's the photo of it:

CoRoT-27b (2 in the game)

Planet 1 may be a kind of foreshadowing. Maybe there is indeed a small rocky planet orbiting that G-class star closer than the Gas Giant... (it was unmapped, so I put my card there btw.)

CoRoT-27 1

The waypoint after that was a bit brighter: HD 181709, a B-class star with a Black Hole companion (not known in real life). But before I reached that, somewhere in the sector Thailoi, I stumbled across a K star with 38 further bodies orbiting it. One of them being this magnificent Blue Marble, putting up my ELW count to 3 :D

Thailoi JP-T c5-5 5

And this is HD 171809 - Star A to be exact. I also mapped the innermost planet, as most of the system (some HMCs, Brown Dwarves and Gas Giants) was unmapped.

HD 181709 (A)

... and now I already made halfway to the next waypoint. (I have to admit that I'm pretty far back - Real Life with the Uni Finals closing in goes first and has all right to slow me down.) :) To end the report for today, here's a random Hot Jupiter I came across in an M dwarf system with 5 stars. It greeted me right at the entrance into the system...

Thailoea AU-O b52-3 A1

Just 4 waypoints until end of leg 1! :)

In the last few days, I slowly moved forward on the travels towards the first Basecamp, seeing some nice sights along the way. The Optionals are really nice waypoints! :D Today, I opt to try and reach the Trifid Nebula, but before, I think it is time to see the...

Highlights Days 3-5 - HD 170053 - CoRoT-6 - CoRoT-9 - Nu Aquilae - CoRot-16 - CoRoT-17 - Y Ophiuchi

Actual position: Y Ophiuchi

ELW Count: 1 (+0)

The last travel days stood under the sign of exoplanets. As four CoRoT systems crossed my path, each one having a Hot Jupiter as known exoplanet (all depicted in-game; along with some further planets and moons). So here are CoRoT-6 and -7, where Planet 1 is in both cases the planet in question:

CoRoT-6b (1 in the game)

CoRoT-7b (1 in the game)

CoRoT-7 has some further planets, including a Gas Giant with these two pretty close moons. I sadly couldn't land there, as I (on console) still don't have access to Odyssey with all new features...

CoRoT-7 2C and D - two very close co-orbiting moons

Then some Crystals crossed my path, somewhere in the Bleia Eohn sector. Along with Waters and Ammonias along the way, it was quite a good day...

Metallic Crystals, somewhere in the Bleia Eohn sector

Ringed Ammonia shortly before Nu Aquilae. In its rings, there is one single Tritium Hotspot.

...then I arrived at Nu Aquilae. It is a Double star, consisting of a F-class Super Giant and an A-class star. It is around 3,700 lys away from Sol, and located near the celestial equator. To add, the stars are also very young (15 million years). Only the F-Super Giant is in the game, and has a few planets, some Lava worlds, some T-Tauris and Gas Giants...

Nu Aquilae (in fact, star A)

Then I moved on, and entered the Scutum constellation. It contains 3 waypoints inside and nearby the constellation, CoRoT-16 and -17 with their known exoplanets, both being Hot Jupiters:

CoRoT-16b (1 in the game) CoRoT-17b (1 in the game)

... and R Scuti, a Pulsating Variable Yellow Super Giant, which can also appear as Orange or even as Red Super Giant. it is around 4,000 lys away from Sol. It is known to have the longest periods for that type, and very extreme brightness changes.

After these two planets, nothing special happened (except for one Terraformable Water World), and I quickly arrived at Y Ophiuchi. Another Yellow Super Giant, another Variable, but an Irregular Variable. It belongs to the "Delta Cepheid" type, that means it is a star which changes its size in regular pulses (17.1 days). It can be seen with the naked eye in fairly dark sies.

In game, it appears as Yellow Super Giant:

Y Ophiuchi from close-up

... and that's where I set off today. Next up: R Scuti and the Trifid Nebula!

Yesterday was 4th of July. So: Happy (belated) 4th of July to the Americans! I hope you had a nice day yesterday! :D Stay safe and healthy! :)

For me, it was a "normal" Sunday (our National Holiday is on October 3rd). Time to do some travels...

Highlights Day 2: Veil West Nebula - IC 4665 - BD+06 3756 (- HD 170053)

Actual position: HD 170053

ELW Count: 1 (+1)

Yesterday's travel was a bit shorter than the day before, but the next two waypoints could be checked off. What surprised me were the many partly (or even completely) undiscovered systems. Especially, as I was just around 1,200 lys from Sol. But these were a nice surprise, even if those were mostly icies and M dwarves...

I went through the Stock 1 area. Stock 1 is an open cluster in Vulpecula constellation, It is a pretty small cluster with around 40 stars of size class 7 or lower, around 1000 lys away from Sol (visible via binoculars). And there I hit a partly undiscovered M star system, which contained my first ELW of the tour! It was already discovered though, but it doesn't matter. :)

Stock 1 Sector SG-B b14-4 1, the first ELW for me on this tour

Last time I hit ELW #1 (and #2 and 3) on ... day 4 I think, this time I get it on Day 2 :D A nice little surprise, between the icies in these systems. :D

ThenI hit the first of two waypoints for yesterday, IC 4665. Another open cluster, this time in the Ophiuchus constellation. It is about 40 million years old, and lies some 1400 lys from Earth. It is pretty loose, but it is also very bright, it can be seen vie binocular or small telescope. In ED, it has mostly M stars (from the 2MASS catalogue and some others), as well as HR 6590, a Yellow Giant visible with the naked eye. Here it is as seen from close-up:

HR 6590 from "right there"

This is the next waypoint, BD+06 3756, an F star as the first "Main" waypoint on the tour. There is just the star, nothing else:

The waypoint, BD+06 3756

...so I went abroad and checked 2 Orange Giants (HD 169113 and HD 170053) in the nearby cluster. The first one was the funnier one: It is a catalogued star, and most of the system was uncharted! Biggest surprise of the day for me :O So I scannd and completened it. Looks like I was just the third Commander to be there...

I think it is HD 169113, but I'm not sure

And today... the next waypoints are pretty close-by, so I think I can run them down quickly. Let's see what I hit along the road :)

It happened! Tonight, the CEA3 expedition "officially" started! Like last time, I chose a different time slot for my own departure. So it was about 9 pm (my time), when I took off at Laird's Progress, and started the journey...

Actual position: Veil West Nebula (Veil West Sector KC-V c2-18)

ELW Count: 0

Highlights Day 1 - Keltim - Alpha Cygni/Deneb - Veil West Nebula

The first travel day stood in the signs of "Water Worlds". I went out of the Bubble, and took the first 31 jumps to Deneb. Right after just 6 jumps, the first landing of the trip took part on a small moon of a Water World (I got 5 of them on Day 1). Once on the surface, it looked like this:

Synuefai HJ-W b49-0

Then I quickly reached Deneb (or Alpha Cygni), the brightest star in the Cygnus constellation, and 19th brightest star overall. Together with Vega and Altair, it builds up the Summer Triangle. In both real life and ingame, the star is a A-class Super Giant and looks like this (including Bioluminescent Rubeum Anemones):

Alpha Cygni 2, Bio Site 2 (IIRC)

From there to the Veil West Nebula, it were just 9 jumps. Some hot twins awaited me along the way:

Wredguia LQ-H c28-4

I also found some more Water Worlds, before I arrived at the Veil West Nebula. In Germany, it is known as Cirrusnebel, and includes six objects, all of them being parts of the Nebula itself. From almost inside, it looks like this:

Taken from: Veil West Sector DL-Y d68. The nebula in the Background are IIRC Veil East and the Heart and Soul Nebulae.

And that's the Highlight Reel for Day 1. What will the next days bring? Let's find out!

As I'm now sitting in Laird's Progress/Keltim, I'll think, that I'll depart from Keltim this evening, at around 9-9:30 pm my time (as the launch event and mass jump would take place at 3 AM my time, and I wouldn't see the others - I'm on Xbox and 2. at 3 AM I have other things to do...). So I would make it like last time - departing aside from the mass jump...

The others may already be on the way. I'll catch up! :)

In each log, I'd give you my route of the day (together with the actual system I'm in), and some info on the highlights of that day(s). Plus an ELW counter on top of each log, to keep track the numbers of ELWs I find/see on the tour. Can I beat the 13 ELWs from last time (not counting these in inhabitated systems)?

With that aside, I hope for a nice trip! :D The Clipper (MCS Sakura) is fully prepared, inspected, and filled to the brim with proviant and all I need on the tour. This will be a nice time :D

After a long, long time, finally another small Status Update from me. I'm currently sitting back in my "old" home station (Garratt Station/Frey), and waiting for my Clipper to get transferred over there. The reason is: I registered for a new expedition, the third installment of the "Celebration of Early Astronomy" expedition. After taking part in the 2nd tour last year, and having much fun along the way, I decided to take on the 3rd round too. The tour "officially" starts on Saturday (July 3), but I think I'll depart on Friday evening (as the official start would be at 3 AM (my time)).

The tour will have nice sights along the way. Mostly heavy-mass monsters, and Nebulae as the waypoints. Looking forward to it! :D

PS: Let's see how many ELWs I'll find/see on the way. Last time, I saw 13 Earths on the tour. Let's see how many it will be this time... :)

The main waypoints will be some of the most Northern "Catalogue/Real World" objects in the game. So after going "South-East" in CEA2, we'll go "North/West" and back this time:

1. Merrill's Star (WR 124)
2. PSR J1902+0615
3. 15 Sagittarii
4. HD 158320 (the furthest North "real" object in the game!)
5. G2 Dust Cloud
6. Sagittarius A* (Time for a revisit! :D)
7. HD 157693
8. T Tauri

Further waypoints include 13 Mu Sagitarii, The Great Annihilator or Campbell's Hydrogen Star. Looking forward to see all those waypoints! I'll report here when I'm on the way :)