Boring Exploring...

I left the SOL system on 12.18.2014 heading due... UP! My ship was fitted for exploring with the standard gear, but I left on a lark. No real plans to go out into the void. Just a bit of "boring exploring" in the general direction of up. But I soon set a goal to climb toward the upper galactic plane. How far could I go until there were no more stars? What would I find? Turns out it wasn't too far. At around 1,000 LY above SOL the stars become too thin to navigate. The "Daydrinker" has a maximum jump range of 34.2 LY and I literally ran out of jump points. I supposed I could have done a bit of searching to find a route farther up but I decided to turn toward the edge of the galaxy. But being so high in the star-field I found lateral travel a challenge. 100 LY plots looked like giant corkscrews through the black. 100's of stars on my map that I can't reach. Not even close. Future explorers will need bigger and better jump drives to explore these stars. It was time to move on and I needed to move back down toward the center plane to get a better foot hold.

The galaxy is full of stars, true. But there are clusters and there are gaps. Between the arms there are massive gaps and as I came down from the upper plane I decided that it might be nice to visit the edge of the galaxy. Unfortunately, I found myself in apart of the spur without any stars I could jump to. Another gap. Here, they seemed to be just out of reach with one a tantalizing 34.3 LY mocking me. I'll admit, I was tempted to supercruise out until I could make the hyperspace jump, but beyond that star I couldn't be sure I'd make it across to the Perseus Arm. So instead, I turned into the spur. It was like walking along a vast cliff looking for some way, anyway across. System after system, and nothing but void on the edge of the spur. A rope bridge would do.

As I a made my way along the edge of the void I also aimed back down to the center plane. Finally, the stars started to thicken up and my route became easier again. 100 LY plots were more or less straight and I had no difficulty moving farther out into the void. My route had taken me near the CONE NEBULA. The choice was easy. I would detour and explore it. I am a single jump for the CONE NEBULA , some 2,200 LY from SOL, and a possible way across the void to the Perseus Arm. And all on a lark.

This is were my blog begins.