Leg 6 of the expedition returns back on itself, covering much of the same area as the latter half of Leg 5, but angling slightly back and ending up at the NGC 1893 cluster. We encourage deeper exploration of this region during this leg to seek more POIs for this region that has not been well explored for submission to catalogs like GEC. Due to the limited existing POIs for this region this leg does not have many POIs arranged.
Map References quick reference list, more details below
Hyueths HS-H d11-5
NGC 1893 CF 43
Main Waypoints Details
Map Reference: Hyueths HS-H d11-5
POI: (NC) 2 ELW Binary
This systems is the GMP POI known as “The Twins’ Garden”, it is described as such: Situated in a rather sparse region, with few habitable planets around, this system has a wide variety of worlds orbiting its two stars. The most striking are the two binary Earth-likes orbiting each other, but there is also a nearby ammonia world orbiting a planet as its moon. The more distant second star has two water worlds orbiting it, one which has an ammonia atmosphere: both are candidates for terraforming.
Additionally this system is home to the DSSA carrier named DLNV Leo’s Vision.
NGC 1893 is an open cluster in the Auriga constellation region of the night sky as seen from Earth. Roughly 12,400 light years from our solar system (although 10,750 in game). It is located within an emission nebula IC 410, also known as the Tadpole Nebula.
The Tadpole Nebula is very close in the sky to the Flaming Star Nebula from Leg 1 of our expedition, however in distance much further with the Flaming Star Nebula being only 1,500 Ly from earth and Tadpole Nebula being roughly 12,400 Ly from Earth. They are often imaged together though due to being so close to each other in the sky from our perspective.
We now launch into Leg 5, which will take us all the way to HD 39340, the furthest south real star in the in-game galaxy. Due to the sparseness of points of interest along this leg and the distance needed this leg is spread across two weeks to encourage deeper exploration of the region with the hopes that members can find new interesting POIs for submission to catalogs such as the GEC. There will be a midway basecamp the carriers will stop over at for the first week before continuing along.
As mentioned in the FAQ (https://theexpedition.info/faq) in order to reach HD 39340 you need to be able to make a 77.06 Ly gap along the route. That means the minimum base jump range you’ll need for your ship is 38.54 if you’re able to use Premium FSD Injection. Near the end of the leg we will arrange one of the carrier to perform shuttling service past that gap for those that need it.
Basecamp Line: 8,790.79 Ly (4,395.36 Ly per week) Main Waypoints: 9,856.27 Ly (4,928.14 Ly per week) Optional Waypoints: 10,097.88 Ly (5,048.94 Ly per week)
Map, (click for full size):
Midway Basecamp: Eok Hypue ZO-Z b33-0 Final Basecamp: HD 39340
Main Waypoints
Map References quick reference list, more details below
Gongae QW-L c24-0
Eok Hypue ZO-Z b33-0
3 Geminorum
HD 39340
Main Waypoints Details
Map Reference: Gongae QW-L c24-0
POI: (NC) Dreamer Blush
This is the Glowing Green Gas Giant designated as “Dreamer’s Blush” in the GEC.
Summary: A magnificent ringed glowing green gas giant with deep purple clouds in the Kepler’s Crest region.
Description: A magnificent ringed glowing green gas giant with deep purple clouds in the Kepler’s Crest region. Its bright colours shine on the dark velvet of space of this inter-arm region. Land near Silicate Vapour Geysers on planet 2 b a for an astounding and colorful view. This scenery is known for renewing the inspiration and dreams of any tired explorer.
This is a system with colliding rings between bodies 1 and 2 that was found using The Explorarium tool.
The rings of the two bodies will collide ever 5 hours, 49 minutes and 12 seconds due to their orbital alignments. Niamh Kaminari scouted the firsrt known confirmed collision of these rings at March 3rd 2026 at 03:05:09 UTC. The times for the month of July calculated out from that first known time can be found at this link: Eok Hypue ZO-Z b33-0 Collision Clock
Blue supergiant in the constellation Gemini. It was found to be an Alpha Cygni Variable star in 1998 and also given the designation PU Geminorum, and it varies by a few tenths of a magnitude on a period of 3.81 days. 3 Geminorum is a double star with it’s second star being about 2.5 magnitudes fainter.
HD 39340 is a main sequence star in the Columba constellation region of the night sky. It is a Be Star, which is a non-supergiant B class main sequence star that had (or has had) Balmer Emission Lines, which is chemically peculiar for B class stars outside of supergiant B class stars.
Map References quick reference list, more details below
Schadgae LD-K c8-0
Gongae QW-L c24-0
Eok Hypue ZO-Z b33-0
3 Geminorum
HD 39340
Optional Waypoints Details
Map Reference: Schadgae LD-K c8-0
POI: (NC) Jumponium Refill Depot before gap
Space will become sparse further ahead on the route as we go further south, this system contains Crystalline Shards with Yttrium on B 5 d for premium injections if you need a refill.
For leg 3 of Celebration of Early Astronomy 8, we are moving from the Seagull Nebula down below to the Jellyfish Nebula, and passing through the NGC 2244 cluster as well as the Rosette Nebula along the way.
Map References quick reference list, more details below
HD 258691
Rosette Sector CQ-Y d59
HD 45829
CXOU J061705.3+222127
Main Waypoints Details
Map Reference: HD 258691
POI:NGC 2244 Cluster Start
NGC 2244, also known as Caldwell 50 is a young cluster in the Rosette Nebula. HD 46223 and HD 46150 are the two brightest members of the cluster. While the former is not in the game, the latter, HD 46150 curiously is in-game but 1,383.34 Ly away from the cluster (as measured as distance from HD 258691).
The Rosette Nebula, also known as Caldwell 49 is an ionized hydrogen star forming nebula (known as an H II region) in the Monoceros region of the sky as seen from Earth. NGC 2244 is also related to this nebula, having been formed rom the nebula’s matter. There are over 2,500 yound stars in the star forming region of this nebula. Rosette Nebula is also the official astronomical object of the U.S. State of Oklahoma as designated by their legislature in 2019.
HD 45829 is a red supergiant that was studied in a 1989 paper of red supergiants that were either far from the galactic plane or moving at unusually fast velocities. HD 45829 being studied as one of the latter. It showed blueshifted Hydrogen-alpha emission wings indicating that it was likely outflowing mass rapidly.
Jellyfish Nebula, also known as IC 443 is a supernova remnant in the Gemini constellation of the night sky as seen from Earth. It appears in the sky near Eta Geminorum, officially known as Propus, which can also be found in the bubble in-game.
Jellyfish Nebula is the remnant of a supernova that occurred 30,000 to 35,000 years ago that likely created the neutron star CXOU J061705.3+222127 which is believed to be the collapsed core of the original star.
Jellyfish Nebula is heavily studied for how supernovae remnants interact with pre-existing molecular clouds as part of the complex making up this nebula is another remnant shell from a supernova estimated to be from around 100,000 years ago known as G189.6+3.3.
Unlike some other supernova remnants like Crab Nebula though (which we will see on a later leg), Jellyfish Nebula is not dominated by the pulsar’s wind.
Map References quick reference list, more details below
HD 258691
NGC 2244 CDZ 346
Rosette Sector CQ-Y d59
HD 45829
Jellyfish Sector FB-X c1-5
CXOU J061705.3+222127
Optional Waypoints Details
Map Reference: NGC 2244 CDZ 346
POI: NGC 2244 Cluster End
This system is located at the other end of the NGC 2244 cluster from main waypoint HD 258691 to mark out the length of the cluster for those wishing to explore it more in-depth.
We start off Celebration of Early Astronomy 8 from one of our colony systems, Algenib, which is a major star of the Pegasus constellation. We will then begin southward making our way through various nebulae away from the bubble.
Map References quick reference list, more details below
Algenib
HIP 3289
HIP 102082
Volkov
Flaming Star Sector LX-T b3-0
Epsilon Orionis
Main Waypoints Details
Map Reference: Algenib
POI: Gamma Pegasi
Algenib, also known as Gamma Pegasi is a binary system in the Pegasus constellation and part of the asterism, represetnting the wing of the Pegasus at the southeast corner. Historically Algenib was also used as the name for Alpha Persei as well, however in 2016 the Internaional Astronomical Union formalized that Algenib will be specifically for Gamma Pegasi.
Algenib experiences small rapid variations in it’s brigtness and as such is classified as a Beta Cephei Variable star. The pulsations have a period of 3.6 hours.
The primary star of the system is 8.8 times as massive as our own sun (although in-game it is set as 15) and 5.5 times the sun’s radius (roughly accurate in-game) and is a B2 IV subgiant star. Not much is known about the secondary star of the system beyond that it has a 85.6±0.1 microarcsecond seperation from the main star.
The photo taken by Artemis II astronauts of the moon eclipsing the sun in April 2026 features Algenib prominently as a particulary bright star to the top right of the moon. https://www.nasa.gov/image-detail/amf-art002e009301/
LBN 623 Nebula, also known as IC 59, is a dark purple emission nebula. It has also been called the Gamma Cassiopeiae nebula due to visual proximity of that bright star and the nebula as seen from old Earth. It is the nearest photodissociation region to our solar system. Photodissociation regions are regions of interstellar medium where far-ultraviolet photons strongly influence the gas chemistry and act as the most important source of heat. They occur in any region of interstellar gas that is dense and coldenough to remain neutral (electrically), but has too low of a density to prevent far-ultraviolet photons from penetrating.
A very large carbon star with only twice the mass of our sun, but nearly 200 times the size of our sun. It is located 271 parsecs from our own solar system. Additionally it is a Mira Variable star, which are pulsating stars characterized by very red colors, pulsation periods longer than 100 days, and amplitudes greater than one magnitude in infrared spectrum and 2.5 magnitude within the visible spectrum. The large visual amplitudes are not due to actual luminosity changes, but shifting of their output between the infrared and visual wavelengthsas that star changes temperature during the pulsations.
NGC 1333 is a star forming region and reflection nebula located in the Perseus constellation region of the sky. It was first discovered by Eduard Schönfeld in 1855. This star formation region contains various low mass stars below 10 times the mass of Jupiter and has been studied for how stars of such low mass are formed. So far it has been noted that many of them form like planets and sometimes get ejected from their formation systems. It has also been seen that there are none below 4 times the mass of Jupiter, leading the hypothesis that the lower limit of stellar formation could be near that point.
Flaming Star Nebula, also known as IC 405 and Caldwell 31 is an emission and reflectoin nebula roughly 1,500 Ly away from our own solar system in real life (1,700 in-game) in the Auriga constellation region of the sky. It surrounds the star AE Aurigae (although for some reason that is about 200 Ly away in-game). Based on its proper motion, the central star, AE Aurigae is believed to have been a star ejected from the Orion Nebula from a collision of a pair of binary star pairs.
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.
Map References quick reference list, more details below
Algenib
HIP 3289
HIP 102082
Alpha Cygni
HD 239486
HD 25508
2MASS J03292407+3119577
Volkov
Schweickart
Flaming Star Sector LX-T b3-0
AE Aurigae
Epsilon Orionis
Optional Waypoints Details
Map Reference: Alpha Cygni
POI: Deneb
The brightest star in the Cygni constellation, and 19th brightest star in the night sky. It represents the tail of the swan in the Cygnus constellation. This star is the star ionizing the North America Nebula and Pelican Nebula. Was also featured multiple times in the science fiction series Star Trek.
The Cepheus portion of the sky is home to a selection of various dark nebulae such as the Seahorse Nebula and Cave Nebula. These nebulae are not energetic enough to emit their own light, and so appear dark and obscure stars behind them.
The California Nebula, also known as NGC 1499 is an emission nebula in the Perseus constellation, named due to it’s resemblance to the outline of the US State of California. (granted in game it’s a generic nebula). It was discovered in 1884 by E. E. Barnard and is roughly 1000 lightyears from our own solar system. Its flourescence is due to the nearby energetic star Xi Perrsei, also known as Menkib, which is the next waypoint on the route.
Be aware that Thargoids hyperdictions may occur in California Nebula!
AE Aurigae is currently the central star of the Flaming Star Nebula, however is was not formed there. It is considered a runaway star, believed to have been ejected from the Orion Nebula by a collision of a pair of binary star groups along with 53 Arietis. As such it is passing through Flaming Star Nebula at high speed. This is creating a bow shock which creates my of the high energy electromagnetic radiation lighting up the Flaming Star Nebula.
We launch the final leg of Celebration of Early Astronomy 7 by departing from the first ever discovered black hole, and headed towards the first of another type of stellar corpse, LGM-1, which is both the first ever discovered neutron star, and first discovered pulsar.
Map References quick reference list, more details below
KOI 4939
HD 188504
QZ Vulpeculae
CSI+19-20105
HD 343965
LGM-1
Main Waypoints Details
Map Reference: KOI 4939
POI: Kepler-486b (False positive exoplanet)
This is a bit of a different one for CEA. KOI 4939.01 also known as Kepler-486b is actually NOT a real exoplanet. It was later discovered in 2016 to be a false positive. This highlights the importance of the scientific process in astronomy and confirming observations by peer review and additional observations.
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.
NGC 6886 is a planetary nebula discovered by Ralph Copeland in 1884. It is located in the Sagitta constellation region of the sky. The central star is a post-AGB star with 55% of the Sun’s mass, but 2700 ± 850 times its luminosity. The nebula is thought to have been expanding for between 1,280 to 1,600 years.
LGM-1, officially designated as PSR B1919+21 is the first ever discovered pulsar in 1967 by Jocelyn Bell Burnell. It is also the first ever discovered pulsar as well since it is a neutron star of the pulsar variety. Due to the nature of pulsars as a repeating radio source not being a known phenomenon at the time, it was at first thought to be a signal from an alien intelligence. Originally named LGM-1 standing for “Little Green Men” because of that assumption. Later observation into it led to the discovery of pulsars and their nature.
Map References quick reference list, more details below
KOI 4939
HD 188504
QZ Vulpeculae
Thailoe UO-A e4
CSI+19-20105
Traikeou OR-W b5-0
HD 343965
LGM-1
Optional Waypoints Details
Map Reference: Thailoe UO-A e4
AKA: Existence in Desolation
This system harbors an extremely rare ringed Earth-like moon orbiting a ringed Y-class dwarf star. What’s more, this planet exhibits many rarities, such as very high ice content (88.9%), high argon content in its atmosphere (43.4%), very low density (2.292 g/cm^3), and zero orbital eccentricity. Further, the system’s primary star is an A2 VAB — this planet represents the very first Earth-like found around this type of star. A2 stars in general are quite disagreeable to the formation of Earth-like planets (thanks to their short lifespans and high radiation), so very few have been found around them.
What’s especially appealing about this world is the low concentration of stars in its vicinity, thanks to its location 800 light years below the galactic plane, on the Orion-Cygnus Arm. This produces unobstructed, scenic views of the galactic plane on one side, and the inky black on the other. Thus the name: this planet affords life in a region of scarcity and desolation. For explorers looking to visit this world, it lies just under 9,000 light years away from Sol, making it quite accessible.
A scenic stopping location near the hyper-luminous Traikeou Goliaths. Planet C 3 is an earth-like world with a moon orbiting at no more than 0.1 light-seconds. Terrific and varied views are possible due to the 60 degree orbital inclination of the moon. If you arrive at the right time, the Traikeou nebula can also be observed while admiring the earth-like world. A water world with a moon just as close can also be found, but the water world is both smaller and less colorful. An ammonia world rounds out the collection of life types.
Leg 5 is the penultimate leg of the Celebration of Early Astronomy 7, ending at the first ever discovered black hole, Cygnus X-1! This is a two week leg with a mid-week event.
One of the additional waypoints is KOI 1701, put in for the challenge of landing on the 45G planet. Use Extreme Caution if you attempt this, and it is highly recommended to turn in exploration data prior to attempting.
Map References quick reference list, more details below
IC 4996 DAM 9
V1820 Cygni
HR 7678
CSI+29-19529
HD 191612
V1357 Cygni
Main Waypoints Details
Map Reference: IC 4996 DAM 9
POI: IC 4996
IC 4996 is a small cluster in the Cygnus constellation about 5,600 Ly from our solar system. It is also very young at only 9 million years old. Because of that theyre are some stars in it that haven’t yet reached their main sequence stage. As a result this cluster is studied to research pre-main sequence stage of stellar evolution.
NGC 6871 is a small young cluster in the Cygnus constellation, located roughly 5,135 Ly from our solar system. It has fewer than 50 members. Most of the members are blue and white stars. The cluster was discovered by Wilhelm von Struve in 1825.
HD 191612 is a binary star system in the Cygnus constellation. It is located roughtly 6,100 Ly from our solar system and is part of the Cygnus OB 3 association. In 1972 astronomer N. R. Walborn proposed this star as a Of?p type stellar classification. Later in 1989 the Einstein Observatory listed it as a possible X-Ray Binary due to having high x-ray luminosity. Then in 1992 another study of OB stars found that the spectrum for HD 191612 was different than the one reported by Walborn in 1972, which led to a 2003 study that showed that HD 191612 alternated between two spectral states. It was shown to have a cycle time of roughly 540 days, which seemed too long to be explained by normal rotation of pulsation. In 2006 a strong magnetic -1.5 kilogauss field was discovered, making it the second ever O-type star found to have a strong magnetic field, the other being Theta-1 Orionis C.
By 2007, the combination of earlier observations along with lack of radial velocity suggested a binary system with an orbital period of 1,542 days (+/- 14) with a B-type main sequence companion star with about half the mass of the primary star. In 2011 the magnetic field was confirmed and found to also vary with a period of 537 days, matching the spectral variation, supporting that the star was an oblique rotator, with the magnetic field oriented at a different angle than the stellar poles by 30 degrees tilt.
For in-game peculiarity this is also the only known system with an F-class supergiant in a planetary orbit around another star.
Cygnus X-1 is a microquasar, and was the first x-ray source widely accepted to be a black hole. First discovered in 1964, it is one of the strongest X-ray sources detectable from Earth. Estimated mass is roughly 21x that of our sun, but has shown to be too small to be any other known type of star or object besides a black hole. The event horizon radius is estimated to be 300km in size. — It orbits in a binary system with blue supergiant HDE 226868 at 0.2AU.
Cygnus X-1 is thought to be orbited by a thin, flat disk of accreting matter known as an accretion disk. While not represented in-game, these are highly heated disks of matter from the friction cuased by vast differences in orbital speeds as the proximity to the black hole increaes, with the innermost orbits forming a plasma. Accretion disks emit massive amounts of x-rays, which begin as lower energy photons in the accretion disk and are given more energy through the process of Compton scattering from extremely high temperature electrons from the corona surrounding the accretion disk.
As the matter from the accretion disk dalls towards the black hole, it loses massive amounts of gravitational potential energy. Due to law of conservation of energy, that energy has to go somewhere, which it does in the form of jets of matter flowing outwards from the black hole accelerated to relativistic velocities.
In 2006, Cygnus X-1 became the first stellar-mass black hole found to display evidence of gamma-ray emission in the very high energy band above 100 GeV.
Cygnus X-1’s companion star is HDE 226868, an O-type supergiant with a surface temperature of 31,000 Kelvin, and a mass roughtly 20-40 times that of our Sun. The surface of HDE 226868 is tidally distorted by the gravity of the black hole, causing it to be tear drop shaped, and causes the optical birghtness of the star to vary by 0.06 magnitude during each 5.6 day orbit.
Cygnus X-1 is the subject of a two-part song by the band Rush.
Additionally the 1979 Disney movie The Black Hole features a black hole called “The Cygnus” in the movie, which presumably would be Cygnus X-1.
Map References quick reference list, more details below
KOI 1701
IC 4996 DAM 9
V1820 Cygni
HR 7678
CSI+29-19529
Blaa Eohn YZ-G d10-0
HD 191612
V1357 Cygni
Additional Waypoints Details
Map Reference: KOI 1701
POI: Via Gravitatis (Extreme Caution!)
KOI-1701.01 is an unconfirmed exoplanet around the star KOI-1701. It is thought to be a gas giant, however the game generated it as a landable metal-rich body, resulting in the wackiness of a 45.32 G landable body.
Like the infamous Monde de la Morte (Spoihaae XE-X D2-9), this system consists of a planet which orbits perpendicular to the core white dwarf’s jet cones close enough to pass through them at either end. While not passing as near as the exclusion zone unlike its eponym, the cones themselves still create a severe hazard for landing which should not be attempted while the planet is inside the jets themselves.
Leg 4 begins the first two-week leg of the Celebration of Early Astronomy 7 expedition. Longer distance between basecamps, and on the mid weeks we will hold an event somewhere partway through the distance.
This leg features a few systems from the KOI (Kepler Objects of Interest) catalog, which themselves have real exoplanets in them. KOI catalog contains stars with transiting planets as observed by the Kepler telescope due to periodic dimming.
Map References quick reference list, more details below
Sadr
Kepler-5
KOI 3179
KOI 1014
KOI 116
WR 136
Crescent Sector GW-W c1-8
KY Cygni
Main Waypoints Details
Map Reference: Sadr
POI: Gamma Cygni
Sadr, also known by the Bayer designation Gamma Cygni, is a supergiant star in the Cygnus constellation. It additionally forms the intersection of the asterism known as the Northern Cross. It is located roughly 1,800 lightyears form our solar system. The official IAU name Sadr for this star is derived from the Arabic word for chest, this base word is also used for another star Schedar (Alpha Cassiopeiae).
Sadr has an apparent visual magnitude of 2.23, putting it amongst the brightest stars in the night sky. Sadr is 14.5 times the mass of our sun, 180 times the radius, and emitting over 33,000 times as much energy. This star is also surrounded by a diffuse nebulae called IC 1318.
Kepler-5 is a star located in the Cygnus consteallation. It has a closely orbiting Hot Jupter type planet Kepler-5b (Kepler-5 1 in game). This was the second exoplanet to be detected by NASA’s Kepler mission, which aimed to detect planets transiting their host stars as seen from Earth via periodic dimming. The discovery of Kepler-5b was announced at the January 4th, 2010 meeting of the American Astronomical Society along with Kepler-4, Kepler-6, and Kepler-7.
Kepler-5b has is 2.1 times as massive as Jupiter and 1.426 times the radius. It orbits Kepler-5 at 0.0538 AU, thus making it a Hot Jupiter class exoplanet. (in comparison, Mercury orbits at .3871 AU)
KOI 3179 is one of the many members of the Kepler Objects of Interest catalog from NASA’s Kepler missions which aimed to detect exoplanets by the dimming of their parent star as their orbit transited their parent star as observed from our solar system.
KOI 3179.01 aka Kepler-1911b is a Super Earth type exoplanet orbiting a G-type main sequence star. Even though classified as a Super Earth (mass greater than Earth) it is barely more massive than Earth, at only 1.01 Earth masses. However, it is likely not an Earthlike planet given it orbits it’s parent star at a mere 0.06 AU. Here is the NASA page regarding this exoplanet: https://ciencia.nasa.gov/exoplanet-catalog/kepler-1911-b/
The specifics of the planet as a Super Earth came after the 2013 galactic generation however, the original detection with the Kepler mission it was thought to be more massive and thought to be a Hot Jupiter type, which is why in-game it is represented as a Hot Jupiter instead of as a Super Earth.
KOI 1014, aka Kepler-749 contains the exoplanet Kepler-749b, a Neptune-like exoplanet 9.8 times as massive as Earth. Here is a link the NASA page regarding this exoplanet: https://science.nasa.gov/exoplanet-catalog/kepler-749-b/
KOI 116, also known as Kepler-106 is a member of the NGC 6866 open cluster, and also contains 4 known exoplanets. Like with KOI 3179, the original dsicovery of this missions prior to 2013 has estimated some of their masses to be higher than was later revealed through further observations. As such they are represented in game by gas giants, when they are each Super Earth type exoplanets.
Additionally Kepler-106f is as of 2024 a potential candidate for a 5th exoplanet around this star, but is as yet unconfirmed.
WR 136 is a Wolf-Rayet type star located in the Cygnus constellation of the sky and located at the center of the Crescent Nebula, and is the star responsible for the existence of the Crescent Nebula. (however in game it is erroneously located far from it) It’s age is estimated to be around 4.7 million years, but Wolf-Rayets are very short lived, so this means it is nearing the end of it’s life and is expected to go supernova within the news few hundred thousand years.
It is roughly 600,000 times brigher than our sun, 21 times more massive, and 5.1 times larger, with a surface temperature near 70,000 Kelvin.
Additionally there is some evidence that WR 136 may have a low mass companion star of main seqence type K or M. (which is represented in game as well as a K class star)
The Crescent Nebula, also known by identifiers NGC 6888, Caldwell 27, and Sharpless 105; is an emission nebula in the Cygnus constellation, located roughly 5,000 lightyears from our solar system. William Herschel discovered it in 1792, and it is formed by the fast stellar winds of the Wolf-Rayet star WR 136 (our previous waypoint) colliding and energizing the slower moving wind ejected by the star previously when it became a red giant 250,000 to 400,000 years ago.
The resulted in two shockwaves, one moving outward and one moving inward. The inward moving shock wave heats the stellar wind to X-ray emitting temperatures.
KY Cygni is a red supergiant in the Cygnus constellation, located roughly 4,700 lightyears from our own solar system. It lies near the open cluster NGC 6913, but is not a member of the cluster itself. The light from KY Cygni is heavily reddened due to “interstellar extincion” which is the absorption and scattering of light due to interstellar dust.
Ky Cygni is also variable, but with no clear periodicty or predictability to it’s periods of variation.
Map References quick reference list, more details below
Sadr
HR 7767
Kepler-5
KOI 3179
KOI 105
KOI 2484
KOI 1014
KOI 116
BD+41 4004
WR 136
Crescent Sector GW-W c1-8
KY Cygni
Optional Waypoints Details
Map Reference: HR 7767
HR 7767 is near the route, it is a real binary system in the Collinder 419 cluster. In-game however the secondary star is a black hole, when in reality it is a B class star.
KOI 2484, aka Kepler-1253 contains the exoplanet Kepler-1253b, a Super Earth type exoplanet 2.33 times as massive as Earth, but orbiting a mere 0.31 AU from the parent star. Here is a link to the NASA page regarding this exoplanet: https://science.nasa.gov/exoplanet-catalog/kepler-1253-b/
The Magic Carpet Nebula (NGC 7027) is a very young dense planetary nebula roughly 3,000 lightyears from our solar system. It was discovered in 1878 by Edouard Stephan at the Marseille Observatory. It is one of the smallest planetary nebula, and the most extensively studied. It is also one of the visually brightest planetary nebulae.
It was photographed multiple times by the Hubble Space Telescope. Prior to being photographed by Hubbe it was thought to be a protoplanetary nebula with a central star too cool to ionize the gas, but the photographs revealed it is a planetary nebula, but unusually small, measuring only 0.2 lighyears by 0.1 lighyears dimensions, where the average size of a planetary nebula is roughly 1 lightyear.
The Helium Hyrdride Ion (Helonium), was first detected in 2019 in this nebula, confirmed hypotheses about the early formation of the universe, as Helonium was one ofthe first molecule thought to have been formed after the Big Bang. There is also evidence to suggest the presence of nanodiamonds within the nebula. (Diamonds smaller than 100 nanometers)
For Leg 3 of Celebration of Early Astronomy 7 we are moving over to the Veil Nebula West with two waypoints along the way to allow for a more freeform exploration leg for leg 3 before we begin with the longer two week legs.
A very large carbon star with only twice the mass of our sun, but nearly 200 times the size of our sun. It is located 271 parsecs from our own solar system. Additionally it is a Mira Variable star, which are pulsating stars characterized by very red colors, pulsation periods longer than 100 days, and amplitudes greater than one magnitude in infrared spectrum and 2.5 magnitude within the visible spectrum. The large visual amplitudes are not due to actual luminosity changes, but shifting of their output between the infrared and visual wavelengthsas that star changes temperature during the pulsations.
The brightest star in the Cygni constellation, and 19th brightest star in the night sky. It represents the tail of the swan in the Cygnus constellation. This star is the star ionizing the North America Nebula and Pelican Nebula. Was also featured multiple times in the science fiction series Star Trek, most notably in the first ever episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation as the location of Farpoint Station.
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.
Start Date: January 26, 2025 End Date: February 2, 2025
Distances
Basecamp Line: 1,768.04 Ly Main Waypoints: 2,657.83 Ly
Map, (click for full size):
Basecamp: NGC 752 DLM 167a
Main Waypoints
Map References quick reference list, more details below
Segin
HIP 3289
California Sector BV-Y c7
Menkib
ASR 27
NGC 752 DLM 167a
Main Waypoints Details
Map Reference: Segin
Segin, also known as Epsilon Cassiopeiae is one of the stars acting as a point for the Cassiopeiae constellation, one of the ends of the constellation. It is categorized as a B3 V star, although it displays the spectral properties of a Herbig Be star. The difference in spectrum is attributed to a shell of gas that has been thrown off by the star. It has a radius roughly 6x the size of our sun, 9x the mass, but 3000x the radiation. The Hipparcos mission determined due to it’s space velocity that it is very likely to be a member of the Casseiopeiae-Taurus Group, an OB association of co-moving stars.
LBN 623 Nebula, also known as IC 59, is a dark purple emission nebula. It has also been called the Gamma Cassiopeiae nebula due to visual proximity of that bright star and the nebula as seen from old Earth. It is the nearest photodissociation region to our solar system. Photodissociation regions are regions of interstellar medium where far-ultraviolet photons strongly influence the gas chemistry and act as the most important source of heat. They occur in any region of interstellar gas that is dense and coldenough to remain neutral (electrically), but has too low of a density to prevent far-ultraviolet photons from penetrating.
The California Nebula, also known as NGC 1499 is an emission nebula in the Perseus constellation, named due to it’s resemblance to the outline of the US State of California. (granted in game it’s a generic nebula). It was discovered in 1884 by E. E. Barnard and is roughly 1000 lightyears from our own solar system. Its flourescence is due to the nearby energetic star Xi Persei, also known as Menkib, which is the next waypoint on the route.
Menkib, also known as Xi Persei is a star in the Perseus constellation roughly 1,200 lightyears from our own solar system. It was officially named Menkib by the IAU due to it’s traditional arabic name Al Mankib., which meant “shoulder.” It is an O class blue giant roughly 263,000x more luminous than our sun across all wavelengths while being roughly 30x as massive as our sun. It is a member of the Perseus OB2 association of co-moving stars, but may be a runawau star since it is now separated by 200 parsecs from the association’s center with an unusually high radial velocity.
NGC 1333 is a reflection nebula located in the Perseus constellation, along the border with Taurus and Aries, roughly 980 to 1,140 lightyears frm our solar system.. First discovered by Eduard Schönfeld in 1855. It is a young region of active star formation and one of the most studied stellar formation regions. The nebula region has a combined mass of approximately 450 solar masses, and contains roughly 150 stars iwth a median age of a million years, and combined mass near 100 stellar masses among those. A significant portion of the stars are in the pre-main sequence stage of their stage of evolution.
NGC 752, also known as Caldwell 28 is an open cluster in the Andromeda constellation. It was discovered by Caroline Herschel in 1783 and cataloged by her brother William Herschel in 1786. However, an object that matches details with NGC 752 was described by Giovanni Batista Hodierna in 1654. The cluster is roughly 1,400 lightyears from our own solar system and can be easily seen through binoculars or telescope, however may be naked eye visible in very dark skies.
For the first leg of Celebration of Early Astronomy 7 we set off from the Thethys system and as a warm-up tour some of the nearby sights to the human populated bubble, included the first exoplanet discovered around a main-sequence star, as well as various nebulae, a pulsar, and a nova!
Since we are staying near the bubble, no worries in case you accidentally forgot something before departing, or need to alter something on your ship build. We are basically going around the bubble counter-clockwise starting in the east. The furthest we get from Sol on this particular leg is 657 Ly, so will always be quite easy to pop back in to a nearby populated system.
Start Date: January 19, 2025 End Date: January 26, 2025
Distances
Basecamp Line: 710.60 Ly Main Waypoints: 2,328.29 Ly
Map, (click for full size):
Basecamp: Nova Aquila No 3
Main Waypoints
Map References quick reference list, more details below
Thethys
51 Pegasi
HIP 62270
Sheron
HR 6387
Snake Sector PD-S b4-1
PSR J1856-3754
Nova Aquila No 3
Main Waypoints Details
Map Reference: Thethys
POI: GL 135 & AB Doradus Moving Group
GL 135, known in 3310 as Thethys, is one of the stars in the AB Doradus Moving Group, a group of 30 stars that are moving through space together with similar age and composition due to being formed in the same stellar nursery. AB Doradus is the primary star of the AB Doradus moving group, hence the name. This particular moving group, being roughly 20 parsecs from Sol is the closest known co-moving group to Sol.
51 Pegasi b, officially named Dimidium, discovered in 1995 was the first exoplanet discovered orbiting a main-sequence star. (First exoplanets were discovererd in orbit of PSR J1300+1240 (which is also in-game))
It is the prototype planet for the class of planets called “hot Jupiters” due to their proximity to their parent stars. 51 Pegasi b orbits at 0.05 AU, closer to its parent star than Mercury does the sun.
The 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Didier Queloz, and Michel Mayor in part for their discovery of 51 Pegasi b.
The planet was officially named Dimidium after a public nomination and voting process by the IAU, the winning name Dimidium, meaning “half” in Latin refers to the planet’s mass, which is roughly half that of Jupiter.
The Coalsack Nebula is a dark nebula, visible to the naked eye as obscuring parrt of the Milky Way in the Crux constellation region of the sky. It covers a rectangle about 7 degrees by 5 degrees in the sky, and extends partially into the Centaurus and Musca regions of the sky as well.
The first reported observation of it was by Vicente Yáñez Pinzón in 1499.
IC 4604, also known as the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex is roughly 460 lightyears from our solar system centered in the sky around the star Rho Ophiuchi (albeit further from us than Rho Ophiuchi), and one of the closest star-froming regions to our solar system. It consists of the star-forming cloud L1688 and various filament clouds known as the Dark River clouds.
Additionally in this system Sheron, there is a megaship worth scanning with some lore logs related to humanity’s history with the Thargoids.
Rho Ophicuhi, aka 5 Ophicuhi is a multi-star system in the Ophiuchus constellation. The main pair Rho Ophiuchi AB consists of two blue subgiants. Rho Ophiuchi A emits X-rays with strong variability, however the cause of these is not known. Leading hypothesis are a magnetically active surface spot, or a low mass companion it feeds material from that we haven’t been able to distinguish apart from it.
Additionally HD 147932, designated Rho Ophiuchi C is located roughly 17,000 AU (8.5 million lightseconds) from the AB pair (in-game it’s not that far, however this is due to that measurement being published in 2013 after galactic generation).
Further there is also the Rho Ophiuchi DE pair, which are not represented in-game due to publication in 2013 in the same observations as the distance measurement for Rho Ophicuhi C.
The Pipe Nebula, aka Barnard 59 is a dark nebula in the Ophiuchus constellation shaped like a smoking pipe. It consists of two parts, the Pipe Bowl Nebula and the Pipe Stem Nebula. It is part of the larger Dark Horse Nebula.
The Coronet Pulsar, cataloged as RX J1856.5-3754 and PSRJ1856-3754 is the closest known neutron star to our own solar system. It was hypothesized for a time to be a “quark star” a still hypothetical star type called a quark star because of early measurements erroneously gauging it as having a surface temperature of 700,000 Celsius. Later measurements more accurately showed a surface temperature of 434,000 Celsius, allowing it to fit back within the models for neutron stars.
The Snake Nebula, aka Barnard 72 is another dark nebula in the Ophiuchus constellation of the sky. It is a small but visible s-shaped dust alne near the Pipe Nebula. It is part of the larger Dark Horse Nebula.
V603 Aquilae, aka Nova Aquilae 1918 aka Nova Aquila No 3, was a bright nova observed in 1918. It was the brightest nova to appear since Kepler’s Supernova in 1604. It is a white dwarf in a close binary with its companion red dwarf orbiting each other every 3 hours and 20 mintues. (although in game it is inaccurately a neutron star).
Was first seen by Zygmunt Laskowski, and confirmed by Grace Cook on June 8th 1918, it reached peak magnitude of -0.5, and was briefly the third brightest object in the sky, only dimmer than Sirius and Canopus. This is the brightest nova in the era of telescopes.
The nova event itself is what occurs when the white dwarf has sucked enough material off of it’s companion star to fill it’s Roche Lobe. Once the Roche Lobe has filled, it explodes in a massive thermonuclear explosion, which forms a bright expanding shell. Another nova is expected in the imminent future from T Corona Borealis, scientist were expecting it in the latter half of 2024, but it has not occured yet as of writing this, but is expected quite literally, any day now.
