CEA 6 Leg 7 (Final Leg)

We now begin the final leg of our 6th Celebration of Early Astronomy expedition, with the final destination being V429 Carinae, the furthest east real star in the in-game galaxy. Since it can only be reached via carrier, the carriers will be moving to the Bloae Hypeia GN-R d5-0 system. The C.E.A. – Cerletti is already there and available to jump in anybody who wishes to arrive and begin their trip back to the bubble early.

Kami’s Lookout will be working it’s way there and will be the carrier for the final mass jump, which will take the form of a party aboard the carrier in which the carrier will perform the jump at the prescribed time.

Dates

Start Date: March 3, 2024
End Date: March 18, 2024

Distances

Basecamp Line: 8,690 Ly
Main Waypoints: 8,690 Ly
Optional Waypoints: 10,393 Ly

Map, (click for full size):

Basecamp: V429 Carinae

Main Waypoints

  • Map References quick reference list, more details below
    • V429 Carinae
      • (Carrier will jump from Bloae Hypeia GN-R d5-0 in order to reach this system)

Main Waypoints Details

  • Map Reference: V429 Carinae
    • WR 22, also known as V429 Carinae is a Wolf-Rayet star in the Carina constellation region of the sky. It is a bright X-ray source due to colliding solar winds with its less massive class O companion star (not depicted in game). It is an eclipsing binary that is temporarily eclipsed by its O class companion roughly every 80 days.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link

Optional Waypoints

  • Map References quick reference list, more details below
    • Bleou Aed MS-U d2-0
    • Prea Aick MO-Z d13-2
    • Swauwry UY-S d3-5
    • V429 Carinae

Optional Waypoints Details

  • Map Reference: Bleou Aed MS-U d2-0
    • POI: Argon Dream
    • Listed as Argon Dream in the Galactic Mapping Project. Near the second star, a Class I gas giant with two rings can be found. It’s two inner moons roam the wide gap between them, their orbits enclosed by the second ring that has an outer radius of over 4,909,000 km. The third moon (B 6 c) is an ice world with an Argon atmosphere and two biological signals. It’s orbit is tilted by -47,64 degrees relative to the gas giant’s equator, offering a unique view of both rings and the shepherd moons from the surface.
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: Prea Aick MO-Z d13-2
    • POI: King Midas
    • Listed as King Mdias in the Galactic Mapping Project. A truly remarkable Ammonia World some 6400 LS from its parent star. This high density planet is huge, with a gigantic ring system (itself weighing in at nearly a trillion metric tons) and the planet itself looks like it is made of solid gold (its density is actually similar to that of gold!).
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: Swauwry UY-S d3-5
    • POI: Theophrastus’s Conservatory
    • Listed as Theophrastus’s Conservatory in the Galactic Mapping Project.
    • Highlights of the system include two ringed water worlds, one ammonia world, one Earth-like world, and three Notable Stellar Phenomena. This arrangement of planets appears to have spurred some staggering diversity among an ancestral population of vacuum-dwelling life, which is the true draw of this system. Usually a star system will only support one type of dynamic NSP-based lifeform, occasionally two. However the conditions of this system have allowed for the growth and coexistence of three, with each NSP hosting a unique variety of Rhizome Pod (Candidum, Cobalteum, and Gypseeum). The rings of the water worlds each contain one, as well as a population in a Proto Lagrange Cloud around the secondary star.
    • EDSM Link

CEA 6 Leg 6 (Discovery Leg 2)

Leg 6 is the second leg of discovery phase of the expedition. Looking to find new POIs and sights for submission to the Galactic Exploration Catalog.

From this point the expedition will focus on finding new sights and discoveries for submission into the Galactic Exploration Catalog, which can be found at https://edastro.com/gec

Legs 5, 6, and 7 will each be two weeks in length. Convening at certain locations along the way for mass jumps! Legs 5 and 6 there are no waypoints besides the basecamps themselves. For Leg 7, the final leg, there will be a few optional waypoints leading up to our final destination at V429 Carinae

Go get your name on something really awesome CMDRs!

Dates

Start Date: February 18, 2024
End Date: March 04, 2024

Distances

Basecamp Line: 7,452 Ly
Main Waypoints: 7,452 Ly
Optional Waypoints: 7,452 Ly

Map, (click for full size):

Basecamp: Preou Aip JY-U c2-0

Main Waypoints

  • Map References quick reference list, more details below
    • Preou Aip JY-U c2-0

Main Waypoints Details

  • Map Reference: Preou Aip JY-U c2-0
    • The D 1 planet features a stunning view of the star, while temperatures on the surface are still relatively safe. This is perhaps the closest one can ever get to disembarking on this type of body, at only 2.0 ls to the star. Not only is it a stunning sight to behold, but the planet’s orbit is also quite fast: achieving a full orbit around its parent takes only two hours.
    • EDSM Link

CEA 6 Leg 5 (Discovery Leg 1)

Leg 5 begins the “Discovery” phase of the expedition. We are starting to enter areas of space that have been sparsely explored, and as such there are not many points of interest already known to the Galactic Mapping Project or the Galactic Exploration Catalog on the line between GU Muscae and V429 Carinae.

From this point the expedition will focus on finding new sights and discoveries for submission into the Galactic Exploration Catalog, which can be found at https://edastro.com/gec

Legs 5, 6, and 7 will each be two weeks in length. Convening at certain locations along the way for mass jumps! Legs 5 and 6 there are no waypoints besides the basecamps themselves. For Leg 7, the final leg, there will be a few optional waypoints leading up to our final destination at V429 Carinae

Go get your name on something really awesome CMDRs!

Dates

Start Date: February 4, 2024
End Date: February 18, 2024

Distances

Basecamp Line: 8,791 Ly
Main Waypoints: 8,791 Ly
Optional Waypoints: 8,791 Ly

Map, (click for full size):

Basecamp: Prie Aec IX-L d7-6

Main Waypoints

  • Map References quick reference list, more details below
    • Prie Aec IX-L d7-6

Main Waypoints Details

  • Map Reference: Prie Aex IX-L d7-6
    • This system is our stopover for exploration in this region, it features a terraformable water world as well as an ammonia world amongst it’s selection of planets.
    • EDSM Link

CEA 6 Leg 4

We being leg 4 of Celebration of Early Astronomy 6, which is the last single week length leg of the expedition. We have a few more real celestial objects along this leg. The legs after this one will be two weeks in length and focus on discovering new noteworthy points of interest in the eastern reaches of the galaxy.

Dates

Start Date: January 28, 2024
End Date: February 04, 2024

Distances

Basecamp Line: 4,237 Ly
Main Waypoints: 7,723 Ly
Optional Waypoints: 8,528 Ly

Map, (click for full size):

Basecamp: GU Muscae

Main Waypoints

  • Map References quick reference list, more details below
    • NGC 3199 Sector LC-V c2-5
    • OGLE-TR-211
    • AG Carinae
    • GU Muscae

Main Waypoints Details

  • Map Reference: NGC 3199 Sector LC-V c2-5
    • POI: NGC 3199
    • NGC 3199, also known as The Banana Nebula is an emission nebula in the Carina constellation region of the sky. It was discovered by James Dunlop in 1826. It was originally thought to be a bow shock of it’s central star WR 18, but has since been determined to have been formed due to the composition of local space, not the star’s movement.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: OGLE-TR-211
    • POI: OGLE-TR-211b
    • OGLE-TR-211b is a known exoplanet, a hot Jupiter in a very close orbit with it’s parent star OGLE-TR-211. It is estimated to be slightly more massive than Jupiter. at 1.03±0.2 Jupiter masses.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: AG Carinae
    • AG Carinae is luminous blue variable star in the Carinae constellation region of the sky, and is one of the most luminous stars in our galaxy. However, due to it’s distance of roughly 20,000 lightyears from our solar system, all the stellar dust between us and it makes it generally not visible to the naked eye despite how bright of a star it is. The star has a planetary nebula of material that has been ejected from the star. It is in a transitional period going from being a class O supergiant star to becoming a Wolf-Rayet star.

      There has been some recent data grom the Gaia mission however suggesting that AG Carinae may actually be close to our own solar system than the previously believed 20,000 lightyears, but it is still up for debate which value is the accurate value.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: GU Muscae
    • POI: Nova Muscae 1991
    • GU Muscae, also known as Nova Muscae 1991, as well as GRS 1124-683 is a star system containing a black hole candidate. The system was discovered by both the Russian Granat satellite and Japanese Ginga satellite on January 9, 1991 when the system produced an outburst of x-rays. The black hole is estimated to be 7 times as massive as our sun with a companion star it is taking material from that is three-quarters the mass of our sun. The companions star likely was a more massive star before, but has its outer layers blown away by the supernova that resulted in the creation of the black hole.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link

Optional Waypoints

  • Map References quick reference list, more details below
    • HD 92023
    • NGC 3199 Sector LC-V c2-5
    • Smoju DA-Q d5-2
    • OGLE-TR-211
    • AG Carinae
    • GU Muscae

Optional Waypoints Details

  • Map Reference: Smoju DA-Q d5-2
    • POI: Smoj Crystal Fields
    • The Smoj Crystal Fields, while not a real celestial system, are worth a visit if you would like. Many systems around this system contain Notable Stellar Phenomena points of interest containing icy and metallic crystals of various varieties. Refer to the EDSM page for this system for the full list of nerby systems with NSPs.
    • EDSM Link

CEA 6 Leg 3

There are a few optional waypoints on this leg as well as the two main waypoints. The gaps between waypoints at times have a long distance between them so feel free to explore in those gaps and looks for any other cool points of interest and sights to see that may be suitable for submission to the Galactic Exploration Catalog!

Dates

Start Date: January 21, 2023
End Date: January 28, 2023

Distances

Basecamp Line: 4,506 Ly
Main Waypoints: 5,569 Ly
Optional Waypoints: 6,155 Ly

Map, (click for full size):

Basecamp: HD 92023

Main Waypoints

  • Map References quick reference list, more details below
    • GCRV 6432
    • HD 92023

Main Waypoints Details

  • Map Reference: GCRV 6432
    • POI: IC 2553
    • IC 2553 is a distant planetary nebula in the Carina constellation of the sky. The main star of this system is a Wolf-Rayet C star.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: HD 92023
    • POI: HIP 51899
    • HIP 51899 is a giant star located in the Carina constellation region. It is an M class star (although shown in game as K for some reason), and one of the colder known main squence stars in the universe at a temperature between 2,400 and 3,700 Kelvin based on it’s M1II spectral type.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link

Optional Waypoints

  • Map References quick reference list, more details below
    • PCYC 17
    • DETWC Tr 14 J104348.8-593236
    • 206 G. Carinae
    • GCRV 6432
    • HD 92023

Optional Waypoints Details

  • Map Reference: PCYC 17
    • POI: Pan-Carina YSO Catalog
    • The PCYC catalog is a survey of 1,439 young stellar objects in the Carina complex. This is one star of many in this region that is listed in game via their PCYC catalog number. This star like many others of this catalog have only been cataloged by this specific survey.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: DETWC Tr 14 J104348.8-593236
    • POI: Trumpler 14
    • DETWC Tr 14 J104348.8-593236 is a young star in the NGC 3372 cluster. It also appears to be the only DETWC catalog (De Gioia-Eastwood+Throop+Walker+Cudworth) star in the in-game galaxy. I’m adding it as an optional waypoint as a curiosity to see what is there. There are a fair few other real stars in the 2MASS and PCYC catalgs around this star system as well.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: 206 G. Carinae
    • POI: HD 91533
    • This appears to be some sort of mix-up by the stellar forge with information. The main name this is listed as is 206 G. Carinae, however it lists the HIPP as 51623 and HD as 91533. HIP 51623/HD 91533 is a different star than G Carinae, and there is not a star known as 206 Carinae. (The game’s habit of sometimes smashing together a star’s Bayer and Flamsteed designations into one) Additionally GIP 51623 does not have an official Carinae based Flamsteed or Bayer designation at all.

      In any case, the stellar data besides the name does match with HIP 51623, which is a real star in the Alessi 5 open cluster. That said is seems to be the only star from that cluster represented in the in-game galaxy. It is a little under halfway through the distance of the leg.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link

CEA 6 Leg 2

As we head out away from NGC 3590, we make our way out and through the Eta Carina Nebula as we make our way further east through the Carina constellation of the night sky.

Dates

Start Date: January 14, 2024
End Date: January 21, 2024

Distances

Basecamp Line: 3,939.90 Ly
Main Waypoints: 4,754.95 Ly

Map, (click for full size):

Basecamp: GCRV 6493

Main Waypoints

  • Map References quick reference list, more details below
    • Statue of Liberty Sector LC-V c2-12
    • x Carinae
    • V405 Carinae
    • Eta Carinae
    • Eta Carina Sector JH-V c2-9
    • GCRV 6493

Main Waypoints Details

  • Map Reference: Statue of Liberty Sector LC-V c2-12
    • POI: Statue of Liberty Nebula
    • Statue of Liberty Nebula, also known as NGC 3576 is an emission nebula within the Carina constellation area of the night sky. It was discovered by Sir John Frederick William Herschel in 1834. It was additionally named the Statue of Liberty Nebula in 2009 by Dr. Steve Mazlin.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: x Carinae
    • x Carinae, also known as V382 Carinae is a G class yellow hypergiant star in the Carina constellation of the night sky. It is the brightest yellow hypergiant in the night sky, easily visible to the naked eye. It is roughly 6200 lightyears from our own solar system, 200,000 times as luminous as our sun, and around 500 times the radius of the Sun.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: V405 Carinae
    • POI: NGC 3293
    • NGC 3293 is an open cluster discovered by Nicolas-Louis de Lecaille in 1751. It contains more than 100 stars brighter than 14th magnitude, some of the brightest of are blue supergiants.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: Eta Carinae
    • Eta Carinae is a star system containing at least two known starts, and has a combined luminosity greater than five million times brighter than our Sun. It is roughly 7,500 lightyears from our solar system in the Cairna constellation section of the night sky. In 1837 is brightened to become brighter than Rigel. It then became the second brightest star in the night sky for a few days inMarch 1843 before beginning to fade down again, going below naked eye visibility levels in 1856. It had another short brightening period in 1892 before fading again. It has though since 1940 been brightening consistently and has become a 4.5 magnitude star since 2014.

      The brightness eruptions of this star are unqieu to it and no other anlogues to this behaviour are currently known in any galaxy. The cause of the eruptions is also not known, some hypotheses include one of the stars having mass transfer to the main star on close orbital passes (perriastron passage), or possibly the merging of two very large stars into a single larger star.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: Eta Carina Sector JH-V c2-9
    • POI: Eta Carina Nebula
    • NGC 3372, also known as the Carina Nebula is a large nebula in the Carina-Sagittarius arm of the galaxy, approximately 8,500 lightyears from Earth. Within it is the Carina OB1 association and several open clusters including Trumpler 14 and Trumpler 16. It is one of the largest diffuse nebulae in our night sky. While it is four times as large as and brighter than the Orion Nebula it is less well known due to being in the southern sky. It was discovered in 1752 by Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: GCRV 6493
    • POI: NGC 3211
    • NGC 3211 is a small blue planetary nebula around the star GCRV 6493 in the Carina constellation of the night sky. It was discovered by Sir John Frederick William Herschel in 1837

      There is reportedly Notable Stellar Phenomena in this system containing anomalies.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link

CEA 6 Leg 1

On January 7, 2024 we will be launching the sixth iteration of the Celebration of Early Astronomy expedition. For Leg 1 we will be working our way eastward to the NGC 3590 cluster as we visit sights such as Orion’s Belt, and The Vela Pulsar along the way, as well as some clusters and other stars of interest.

Dates

Start Date: January 7, 2024
End Date: January 14, 2024

Distances

Basecamp Line: 5,333 Ly
Main Waypoints: 6,923 Ly
Optional Waypoints: 6,923 Ly

Map, (click for full size):

Basecamp: NGC 3590 CLA 15

Main Waypoints

  • Map References quick reference list, more details below
    • Keltim
    • Alnitak
    • Mintaka
    • Vela Pulsar
    • Phi Velorum
    • HD 78344
    • GCRV 715
    • NGC 3590 CLA 15

Main Waypoints Details

  • Map Reference: Keltim
    • POI: GL 149
    • We will launch our sixth Celebration of Early Astronomy Expedition from this location, while in-game it is named Keltim, it is the real binary star system known as GJ 149, containing the stars
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: Alnitak
    • POI: Orion’s Belt
    • The easternmost star of Orion’s Belt, a very recognizable landmark in the night sky. It is a known triple-star system. Its distance from our solar system in-game is actually a lot closer than in reality, as when the in-game galaxy was generated it was thought to be at a distance of about 225 parsecs from us, however observations since then have revealed that it is actually much further at approximately 1260 parsecs. (about 4100 lightyears). Alnitak Aa is an O class supergiant, estimated to be roughly 33 times as massive as our sun, 20 times the diameter, and 21,000 times the brightness. It is the brightest class O star in the night sky. – Alnitak Ab is a B type subgiant discovered in 1998, and Alnitak C is believed to be part of the system, but has not been fully confirmed and may be another star along the line of sight from our solar system to Alnitak.
    • There is a POI there named “Impressive Rings” on one of the other stars in the system.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: Mintaka
    • POI: Orion’s Belt
    • The westernmost star of Orion’s Belt, a very recognizable landmark in the night sky. Mintaka is a multi star system approximately 1200 lightyear from our own solar system, however in game it is only 692 lightyears from Sol. This is due to new discoveries that occurred since the generation of the in-game galaxy show it being nearly twice as far as it was believed to be in 2013. – The primary stars of the system are a class O and a class B star that orbit each other. They are aligned such that they eclipse each other periodically as viewed from our solar system, causing periodic decreases in the brightness of the system in the night sky.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: Vela Pulsar
    • The Vela Puslar is a nearby pulsar and one of the best known “gltiching” pulsar, in that it will have unpredicatble changes in its rotational speed for a few seconds at a time. Currently the most recent known glitch of the Vela Puslar was on July 22, 2021 where it briefly slowed down it’s rotational speed for a few seconds before returning to it’s normal rotational speed.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: Phi Velorum
    • Phi Velorum is a B class supergiant in the Vela constellation. It is additionally known by the identifiers HD 86440 and HR 3940, and has the traditional Chinese name of Tseen Ke (天紀 ). It is approximately 10 times as massive as our sun.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: HD 78344
    • This system contains the rather rare sight of a ringed neutron star. The main star of the system is an O class main sequence star. Additionally there is a fair number of other real star systems near this one for exploration.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: GCRV 715
    • POI: The Southerner Nebula
    • NGC 3918, also known as The Southerner Nebula or “The Blue Planetary Nebula” is a bright planetary nebula in the Centaurus constellation region of the sky. It was first discovered by Sir John Herschel in March 1834 and is easily visible through small telescopes. The central star of the nebula is actually obscured from optical light observations because of how bright the planetary nebula around it is.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: NGC 3590 CLA 15
    • POI: NGC 3590
    • NGC 3590 is an open cluster in the Carina constellation of the sky. There are a fair number of real stars located around this region for exploration purposes. We will be having our CEA 6 Leg 1 Basecamp at NGC 3590 CLA 15 in this cluster.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link

Optional Waypoints

  • Map References quick reference list, more details below
    • Keltim
    • Alnitak
    • Mintaka
    • Epsilon Orionis
    • Vela Pulsar
    • Phi Velorum
    • HD 78344
    • GCRV 715
    • NGC 3590 CLA 15

Optional Waypoints Details

  • Map Reference: Epsilon Orionis
    • AKA: Alnilam
    • More commonly known as Alnilam, this is the center star of the Orion’s Belt asterism. It is a decent bit further (in-game) from our solar system than the other two stars of Orion’s Belt (Alnitak and Mintaka). It is the 29th brightest star in the night sky and the fourth brightest star in the Orion constellation.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link

CEA 5 Leg 2 – Caldwell 1

For the next three weeks we will be doing an in-depth survey of the cluster known as Caldwell 1. Discovering, mapping, and bio-scanning anything we can find in there, and logging it to our discoveries spreadsheet for the leg, which can be found: here

Dates

Start Date: January 14, 2023
End Date: February 4, 2023

Distances

Basecamp Line: 480.18 Ly
Main Waypoints: 480.18 Ly
Optional Waypoints: N/A

Map, (click for full size):

Basecamp: NGC 188 SMV 4385

Main Waypoints

  • Map References quick reference list, more details below
    • NGC 188 SMV 4385

Main Waypoints Details

  • Map Reference: NGC 188 SMV 4385
    • POI: Caldwell 1
    • Caldwell 1, also known as NGC 188 is an open cluster located within the Cepheus constellation areas of the sky as seen from Earth. Being circumpolar as well it is always above the Horizon no matter where you are in the northern hemisphere. It was discovered in 1831 by John Herschel. Among open clusters it has a high number of main sequence stars making it of particular interest to scientists studying those and for potential exoplanets.

      It is the first object in the Caldwell catalog made by Sir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore to act as a complement to the Messier catalog. The objects in the Caldwell catalog are ordered by their declination, meaning Caldwell 1 is the most northerly in the sky, and Caldwell 109 being the most southerly.

Optional Waypoints

The optional waypoints for this leg is to simply scout out any stars you can within the cluster. There is a shared discoveries spreadsheet available at this link: https://1drv.ms/x/s!AuaQ1lvTHzu7jkpyRmG-FXzQ2uvU?e=dE7SG0 to keep track of what has already been scouted by the group and what needs to be scouted still. Please make sure to record any progress there as well!

CEA 5 Leg 1

We are setting off with the first leg of the fifth Celebration of Early Astronomy. In this leg we are travelling from the human populated bubble up to our entry basecamp for Caldwell 1, which we will then enter on leg 2 and spend three weeks scouting in depth.

Dates

Start Date: January 07, 2023
End Date: January 14, 2023

Distances

Basecamp Line: 6,461.95 Ly
Main Waypoints: 8,219.67 Ly

Map, (click for full size):

Basecamp: Ploea The YQ-U d3-0

Main Waypoints

  • Map References quick reference list, more details below
    • Keltim
    • 45 Tauri
    • Musca Dark Region HM-V c2-29
    • BrSO 14
    • Veil West Sector DL-Y d68
    • North America Sector LC-V c2-3
    • Ploea The YQ-U d3-0

Main Waypoints Details

  • Map Reference: Keltim
    • POI: GJ 149
    • We will launch our fifth Celebration of Early Astronomy Expedition from this location
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: 45 Tauri
    • POI: Caldwell 41
    • Caldwell 41, The Hyades Cluster is the nearest open cluster to our own solar system, and one of the best studied star clusters in existence due to that. From the perspective of Earth, it appears within the constellation Taurus at a similar angle in the sky to Aldebaran, albeit unrelated to Aldebaran otherwise. Four stars of the Hyades, with Tauri constellation Bayer designations Gamma, Delta 1, Epsilon, and Theta form the asterism that is the head of Taurus the Bull. Due to its proximity to our own solar system, the distance to it can be measured using parallax shift of the member stars as we orbit our own sun throughout our year. This leads to the a highly accurate mesaurement of roughly 145 Ly to the center of the cluster. 45 Tauri particularly is on the closer side of the cluster.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: Musca Dark Region HM-V c2-29
    • POI: Caldwell 99 – Coalsack Nebula
    • Caldwell 99, The Coalsack Nebula is a dark nebula easily visible to the naked eye in the sky as a dark patch obscuring part of the Milky Way’s band. Taking up about 7 degrees of arc in the night sky it is multiple times the size of the apparently size of the moon in our night sky from Earth. In Australian Aboriginal astronomy, it forms the head of the “Emu in the Sky” constellation. It was likewise a bird in Incan astronomy as well, representing a Tinamou.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: BrSO 14
    • POI: Caldwell 68 – R Coronae Australis Nebula
    • Caldwell 68, roughly 400 lightyears away from our solar system is one of the nearest star-forming regions to us. It is one part of the larger Corona Australis Molecular Cloud. It was discovered in 1861 by Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt. It is a variable nebula which shows irregular variations in brightness and shape.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: Veil West Sector DL-Y d68
    • POI: Caldwell 34 – Veil West Nebula
    • Caldwell 34, also designated as NGC 6960, a nebula in the Cygnus constellation and constitutes the visible portions of the Cygnus Loop. It is the remnants of a supernova. It is also sometimes referred to as the Cirrus Nebula or the Filamentary Nebula.

      Additional viewing site suggestion: Veil West Sector PD-S B4-2, puts it nearly in line with Barnard’s Loop for a spectacular view.
  • Map Reference: North America Sector LC-V c2-3
    • POI: Caldwell 20 – North America Nebula
    • Caldwell 20 was discovered by William Herschel in 1786 and located roughly 1800 lightyears from our own solar system it occupies a section of the sky roughly three times the apparent size of a full moon within the constellation Cygnus. It is an emission nebula with the clouds of gas being ionized by a nearby star, causing the gas to glow. The reddish colour is characteristic of hydrogen the dominates Caldwell 20.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: Ploea The YQ-U d3-0
    • POI: Caldwell 1 Pre-Entry Basecamp
    • This is the final star before the carrier jump that will be required to enter Caldwell 1 itself.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link

Extra Waypoints

  • Map References quick reference list, more details below
    • Keltim
    • 45 Tauri
    • Musca Dark Region HM-V c2-29
    • BrSO 14
    • HIP 102082
    • Veil West Sector DL-Y d68
    • North America Sector LC-V c2-3
    • NGC 40 Star
    • HIP 16267
    • Ploea The YQ-U d3-0

Optional Waypoints Details

  • Map Reference: HIP 102082
    • AKA: V Cygni
    • A very large carbon star with only twice the mass of our sun, but nearly 200 times the size of our sun.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: NGC 40 Star
    • POI: Caldwell 2 – Bow-Tie Nebula
    • Caldwell 2 was discovered by William Herschel in 1788 and located roughly 3500 lightyears from our own solar system in the constellation Cepheus. It can be quite difficult to spot due to having only apparently visual magnitude of 12.3, making it the faintest object in the Caldwell catalog.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: HIP 16267
    • HIP 16267 is a binary star system high up from the galactic plane consisting of the stars BD+83 78A and BD+83 78B
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link

Eldritch Gate, CEA’s Points of Interest

For the “At the Eldritch Gate” expedition, Celebration of Early Astronomy will be basecamping at the Dehe PP-V d3-22 system. Here is a list of some real celestial objects of interest near the line between LAWD 26 and Dehe PP-V d3-22.

Dates

Start Date: July 10, 2022
End Date: September 10, 2022

Distances

Basecamp Line: 21,447 Ly
Main Waypoints: 24,289 Ly

Map, (click for full size):

Basecamp: Dehe PP-V d3-22

Points of Interest

  • Map References quick reference list, more details below
    • LAWD 26
    • Kepler-186
    • Kepler-7
    • CSI+19-20201
    • KOI 3901
    • PSR J1959+2048
    • QZ Vulpeculae
    • Campbell’s Hydrogen Star
    • Dehe PP-V d3-22

Points of Interest Details

  • Map Reference: LAWD 26
    • This is where the “At the Eldritch Gate” expedition will be launching from
  • Map Reference: Kepler-186
    • POI: Kepler-186 7
    • The first Earth-sized exoplanet to be discovered within the habitable zone of its star. Represented most closely in game by Kepler-186 5. In-game it is not terraformable for whatever reason, but the criteria otherwise matches the closest. The system also contains four other known exoplanets as well represented in-game by bodies 2 (Kepler 186c), 3 (Kepler-186d), 1 (Kepler-186b), and 4 (Kepler-186e).
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: Kepler-7
    • POI: Kepler-7 1
    • Kepler-7b is the fourth of the first five exoplanets to be confirmed by the Kepler teelscope. It was the first new discovery by it as the first three were already known exoplanets used to confirm the telescope was working correctly. It is a “Hot Jupiter” orbiting close to its star and measured at a temperature of 1540K. The planet in-game representing this real exoplanet is Kepler-7 1.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: CSI+19-20201
    • POI: Blue Flash Nebula
    • Also known as NGC 6905, this is a planetary nebula around a Wolf-Rayet Star first discovered by William Herschel in 1784.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: KOI 3901
    • POI: KOI 3901 5
    • This system contains a known exoplanet classified as KOI-3901.01 of roughly 40% the radius of Jupiter. (in game: KOI 3901 5 is the planet in the system matching the criteria)

      Of interest to the At the Eldritch Gate expedition in particular is that the planet in question is a gas giant with Ammonia based life, which have the chance to be a green gas giant, so may actually be our giant. Or maybe not, but at the very least it’s an interesting real world planet.
    • SIMBAD Link
  • Map Reference: PSR J1959+2048
    • POI: Black Widow Pulsar
    • Nicknamed “The Black Widow Pulsar”, PSR B1957+20 aka PSR J1959+2048 is an eclipsing binary millisecond pulsar discovered in 1988 by the Arecibo radio telescope with a rotation period of 1.6ms. It orbits with a companion super-jupiter brown dwarf with orbital period of 9.2 hours when it was discovered. At discovery it was hypothesised that the brown dwarf companion was being destroyed by the powerful outflow of high energy particles from the neutron star’s jet cones. As it is no longer there in 3308 this seems to have held true. It was the first known pulsar with this arrangement and is the namesake of the class of pulars known as spider pulsars. Black widow types having a companion brown dwarf, and redback types having companion red dwarfs.

      This pulsar was also observed by the XMM-Newton telescope to observe it’s Intra-binary Shock, scientific paper can be found here: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ac15f7/pdf

      Chandra X-Ray Telescope has also determined through observations of the system’s bow shock that is has a high speed across the galactic plane in comparison to most stars. Approximately 20 times as fast as our own solar system.

      Wikipedia page about this pulsar can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Widow_Pulsar
    • SIMBAD Link
  • Map Reference: QZ Vulpeculae
    • Discovered by the Ginga telescope in April 1988 when it produced an X-ray nova caused by matter falling in from it’s K class companion into the black hole classified as GS 2000+25. In 3308 it is found to also contain some other bodies, including a terrestrial planet with ammonia based life.
  • Map Reference: Campbell’s Hydrogen Star
    • First discovered by William Wallace Campbell who noted it’s peculiar hydrogen-rich spectra. It was an at the time uncharted planetary nebula, and a member of the yet to be classified WC subclass of Wolf-Rayet stars. Do note that this system is fairly high from the galactic plane and may be difficult to reach for low jump range ships
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: Dehe PP-V d3-22
    • CEA’s At the Eldritch Gate Basecamp