We come now to the final WP announcement of Lost Souls 3. This journey has been long, 123 days so far, roughly 66k LY. We’ve seen more of the Southwestern Quadrant than likely any other organized expedition has in the history of Elite: Dangerous. Expedition Leadership is proud of each and every one of you for accomplishing this herculean feat. You should be proud of yourselves as well!
This week is simple, we visit a pair of pearls and we tour the birthplace of The Fatherhood!
As always, Expedition Leadership wishes you a great many finds and safe travels!
Photo by CMDR “Stellar” Jibberd
POI 1: Alessia’s Pearls
System: Outopps KO-X c28-0
A system just 1,200 LYs outside frontier borders, it contains tidally locked twin Earths, and a water world, making it a likely tourism or colonization candidate. The system was discovered by the mysterious CMDR Salomé sometime in late 3301.
Waypoint 18: Kolaga
System: Kolaga
Britnev Hub is the birthplace of The Fatherhood. Several years ago several great Commanders gathered for drinks and decided to form a Squadron dedicated to openness, friendship and playing the game as they wanted to play. Upon receiving Player Minor Faction status, The Fatherhood relocated to Schwann Port, in Hajagani, where many of the factions leaders live to this day.
This is the final waypoint for Lost Souls 3. To avoid confusion and maintain consistency, the final meetup will be announced next Friday, August 5th.
July 31st Meetup
Meetup location is at Geo Site 6 on Orbital Body B2 in the IC 1396 Sector QS-Q C6-0 system.
As we get closer and closer to The Bubble, we start seeing a great many familiar sights. Settlements, Stations, maybe some Xenos if you’re unlucky. We’ve seen many thousands of unfamiliar and strange things over the last four months but it’s nice to finally see a few things I’ve already seen. I don’t know about you, Explorers, but it’s nice to almost be home.
And yet, the journey is not over. This is the penultimate week for Lost Souls 3 and it features a singularly rare star, a lovely nebula and for the final time on Lost Souls 3 we will meet up outside The Bubble.
I just got chills writing that.
As always, Expedition Leadership wishes you a great many finds and safe travels this week!
Photo by CMDR DangerPencil
POI 1: V509 Cassiopeiae
System: V509 Cassiopeiae
V509 Cassiopeiae is a yellow hypergiant, one of the rarest types of stars. Current estimates suggest there are no more than 15 of these stars in the entire galaxy. Yellow hypergiants are an extremely short-lived phase of late stellar evolution of massive O-type stars. These stars evolve from red hypergiants to blue hypergiants in a phase that lasts only a few thousand years. Many stars lack the mass to go through this phase, or have a much greater mass and end as a supernova.
V509 Cassiopeiae currently has 11 solar masses and a radius 600 times larger than Sol; this would encompass the Sol system past the orbit of Mars. V509 has varied significantly in temperature and size over periods as short as 1 year, indicating that this phase is highly unstable. The attached photo is from a metal-rich orbiting planet at 2300 light-seconds distance.
POI 2: Cupid’s Arrow
System: S171 34
Cupid’s Arrow is a tourist beacon at the edge of the NGC 7822 Nebula. As described by the tourist beacon: “The beautiful NGC 7822 nebula is pierced by a line of O-stars – therefore it has been compared to Cupid’s arrow piercing a heart.” The reference photo is taken from nearby system NGC 7822 Sector KC-V c2-2.
Waypoint 17: VV Cephei
System: VV Cephei
VV Cephei is a stellar mystery, one star missing an another star greatly changed. In the 20th century astronomers observed VV Cepehi as an eclisping binary pair of a red supergiant and a blue-white dwarf companion star. The pair had one of the longest known eclipsing cycles, lasting over 20 years. Based on data from this pair, the red supergiant was determined to have over 1000 solar radii and making it one of the largest known stars by radii. The only other bodies in this system are three high-metal content worlds.
After the invention of frameshift drive, exploration of the VV Cephei pair stunned astrophysicists. The blue-white companion was entirely absent, and the red supergiant was only 318 solar radii. Did astronomers miss a cataclysmic event, or had their observations been wrong for so long? Theories are being hastily reviewed.
July 24th Meetup
Meetup location is at SLEGOU LU-N B21-0 1 Geo site 2.
Expedition Leadership sincerely hopes you enjoyed the butt-puckering experience of flying into the Three Angels of Death! It’s harrowing but it’s fun This week was a reflective one as well, given that we’re currently exploring some of the farthest out land-based human colonies on the same week we started getting images from the James Webb Telescope. Seeing the universe as it is while seeing how much further we have to go is humbling, yet hopeful.
This week we continue our march back towards civilization by landing at our first starport in nearly three months! We’ll then move on to see a whole bunch of stars! Finally meeting back up at a Racetrack!
As always, Expedition Leadership wishes you safe travels and many interesting finds!
Photo by CMDR DangerPencil
POI 1: Farsight Expedition Base
System – Heart Sector IR-V b2-0
Farsight Expedition Base is mainly a mining outpost carved deep into a large asteroid orbiting a near gas giant in its inner ring system. The outpost is still crude and basic, and as of 04/3303 no outfitting or ship dry docking is available, so extensive ship maintenance is a problem. There is a Universal Cartographics office and some local contractors offer missions and passenger transport opportunities.
POI 2: Fireflies
System – 2MASS J02351897+6131236
Part of the IC 1805 cluster, this system is swarming with stellar objects. The high-mass O-type is in a nested binary pair with no less than three different black holes ranging from 9.4 to 31.3 solar masses. What really makes this system stand out are the five K-class stars and nine M-class stars, including one with a rare ring system. From the surface of one of the landable planets these stars will appear to flitter and fly across the sky during their orbits, giving the appearance of a field of fireflies.
WP 16: The Racetrack
System – Slegou LU-N b21-0
The first planet of this system has an exceptionally thin ring of 231 km width. Pilots can find some fun here by racing around the ring at top supercruise speed. The ring also has a shepherd moon very close to the rings. The moon orbits the rings in 2 hours and 53 minutes, giving excellent and dynamic views. The planet itself is in a binary orbit of 7 and 1/3 hours with another planet; all three are landable and provide great views.
July 17th Meetup
Meetup Location is at Geo Site 10 on Orbital Body 10 C in the Eafots JE-I b10-0 system.
Hopefully we all made it safely onto Sochi’s surface!! The completion of this weeks’ leg of Lost Souls 3 marks the beginning of the end of the expedition. As we begin this week, we begin the final four waypoints of Lost Souls 3. There will be enough time for goodbyes and congratulations later on, but we wanted to mention it now as it’s a bit of a milestone.
This weeks’ exploration will see us traveling along the Formidine Rift, a mysterious realm of space where stars become, again, sparse. As a bit of Fatherhood Trivia: The minimum jump range to cross the Formidine Rift is around 30-35LY, which is where we came up with that suggestion for all Lost Souls Expeditions.
Among the sights you’ll see this week is a system that probably only exists because we’re playing a video game and some of the far reaches of Human civilization. We’ll meet up again at several abandoned settlements. Each week brings us closer to home! As always, Expedition Leadership wishes you safe travels and many great finds!
Praise the sun!
POI 1: Three Angels of Death
System: Phrio Hypue AA-A h0
A system that only contains three black holes. Two of the black holes are less than 0.01 AU from each other and have an orbital period of 0.1 D. The third black hole is fairly close by as well with an orbital period of 4.4 D. The central black hole has the mass of 29 solar masses. The three angels of death are named Abaddon, also called Apollyon, which is the destroying angel in Book of Revelation in the New Testament, Azrael, also known as Malak al-Maut from Islam, and Mot, angel of death from the Hebraic Book of Habakkuk.
POI 2: Salome’s World
System: Eafots RX-T d3-3
Situated around 200 LYs above the mysterious Dynasty outposts of the Formidine Rift, this interesting system is thought to have been first discovered and tagged by CMDR Salomé (aka Lady Khahina) sometime in 3302 while she was (presumably) out in the rift looking for clues into the Exodus conspiracy.
The system contains many worlds but interestingly Salomé only scanned the two Ammonia worlds within the system – what was she looking for?
In early 3303, a CoR patrol passed through the system during the Dynasty base search and subsequently scanned some of the worlds Salomé had left untouched. Since then, several Rifters have visited the system and each claimed a world of their own.
Salomé was killed trying to expose the Exodus Conspiracy on 29th April 3303, so it is believed that this system and the worlds she scanned could be some of her final exploration-related discoveries.
Waypoint 15: Formidine Rift Abandoned Settlements
System – Eafots LZ-H b10-0
In late 3302, Alessia Verdi, a commander associated with the enigmatic CMDR Salomé, set up an exploration community goal on behalf of the Children of Raxxla. The goal was to retrieve and analyze as much survey data as possible from three specific regions. Those regions being the Formidine Rift, The Scutum-Sagittarii Conflux, and Hawking’s Gap (Lin-Shu Hollow). On analysis of the data, CoR Intel discovered the location of several navigational beacons in each region, that in turn provided the planetary location of several settlements.
These settlements turned out to be staging posts for a mysterious ‘Dynasty Expedition’ that had traversed the location three decades earlier and had set up bases there.
July 10th Meetup
Meetup Location is Hypo Aeb WK-H b51-0, planet B 1, geo site 12.
This last week was truly fun. Ring Shore is a place I’ve wanted to see for a long time. I, personally, love seeing the interaction between the celestial bodies in this game and this is a very direct example of that. Enough about me, though, let’s talk about LS3!
This upcoming week is a very special week in terms of the Lost Souls Expedition series. This week we return to the Zurara! Those familiar with The Fatherhood or Lost Souls history may know that The Zurara was the destination of the first ever Lost Souls expedition. This cemented this location as a place of prime significance to The Fatherhood forever. I encourage everyone to visit that POI this week.
This week, we’ll experience a bit of Life and Death, a little Fatherhood History and meet up again on a very interesting planet!
As always, Expedition Leadership wishes everyone safe travels and many great finds!
POI 1 : Opposites
System: Smaidou ZE-A g0
One of the very few systems in the far outer rim of the New Outer Arm that hosts a black hole as its primary hyperspace arrival point. This system also contains two freshly born T-Tauri-Stars. Life and death are close together here. An opportunity to refuel is provided by a nearby A-type-sequence star.
POI 2: The Zurara
System: Syreadiae JX-F c0
This megaship from the mysterius Dynasty Expedition was found deep within the Formidine Rift on April 17th 3303.
Audio logs on the site tell the story of the unfortunate crew. It is a haunted place…
Waypoint 14: Sochi
System: Hypo Aeb WK-H b51-0
When setting down on orbital body B 1 you will notice that your fuelscoop is busy… as this scorched planet is only 1.5 ls from the star it orbits. Scans indicate that geysers can be found there, but so far no one has stayed long enough to locate any…
July 3rd Meetup
Meetup Location is at Smaidiae IZ-M d8-7 planet 1 A at geo site 8.
Expedition Leadership hopes that you’ve enjoyed the last month out in The Black, circling the outer edge of the Milky Way. We see that there have been some incredible finds in ls3-photos and we encourage everyone to go check them out! But now our journey starts to get a little bit easier as we turn back towards Hajangai. From here on out stars will become much more dense and easier to navigate. The systems will feel more familiar and everyones’ chances for an ELW will go up, assuming Cmdr “Mc” Drazkul hasn’t beaten you to it!
It is at this point that we will rescind the standard travel advisory we have been giving about flying close to the FCs. Still continue to do so if you are uncomfortable navigating The Black, however, stars are becoming much easier to jump to and thus your range from the FCs can increase. Stay safe out there!
This week will you will find yourself jumping to your doom, seeing a group of siblings and then we will meet up again on the Ring Shore. As always, Expedition Leadership wishes you safe travels and many great finds!
POI 1: Explorer’s End
System: Phae Phlai AA-A h0
Situated between the Bovomit Badlands and the far edge of the Formidine Rift, this system can pose an extreme hazard to any starships hyperspacing to it. Its primary star is a harmless AE/BE Herbig Protostar, but the danger lies in a Blue Giant companion in extreme proximity and two orbiting black holes. Starships approaching from the wrong vector can easily become wedged in the inferno between the primary and secondary stars, or exit hyperspace very close to one of the black holes. Explorers beware.
POI 2: Seitsemän Veljestä (Seven Brothers)
System: Phae Aeb ZK-P e5-0
During the first half of The Dead End’s Circumnavigation Expedition (DECE), a system with 6 B type stars and 1 A type star was found while surveying the systems within the sector. Such system is quite remarkable on its own but considering its location within the Outer Arm Region, it is exceptional. Due to the complicated nature of the system, no planets are present in the system.
Waypoint 13: Rings Shore
System: Smaidiae IZ-M d8-7
Moon Orbiting extremely close to the parent gas giants rings. Orbit is so close that the rings edge reaches beyond the orbital cruise distance of the moon. Aside from the mountains and canyons that are abundant on the moon there are even supposed to be silicate vapour geysers, but I wasn’t able to locate any of them.
May 26th Meetup
Geo Signal 8 on Planetary Body 5 A A – RedRock Geysers – in the Myoidu HS-S D4-4 System, 13.86ly away from WP12 .
You’ve made it to the Western Meridian! We are roughly 29500LY away from the comfortable beds and strong drinks at Schwann Port. However, each week brings us closer to those familiar and happy surroundings! I’m sure many of you discovered a great many planets, bodies and unique stars over the last few weeks. We are proud of you for your discoveries! You’ve advanced the breadth of human knowledge and made the galaxy just a little bit more connected!
That being said, the last two weeks were simply a practice run for this leg of the journey. The next two weeks will see you traveling 12,000 LY south and east towards the edge of one of the spiral arms of the Milky Way. The true Explorers among you will be chomping at the bit for all the exploration you’ll be able to accomplish over the next two weeks! There are no POIs for this leg, as no one has really explored out here. We are truly in uncharted space here, folks.
We suggest that if you find any particularly unique systems that you bring them to the attention of Expedition Leadership and we can help get them submitted to EDSM as POIs.
Over the next two weeks we genuinely do not know what you’ll experience as nobody really comes out here. Make the most of it, Explorers! Let’s see what we can find out here and talk about it over a campfire at the next meetup!!
As a standard warning, stars are still fairly sparse out here. It is not hard to get stuck. If you are uncomfortable navigating these regions of space please do not feel bad to either hanging out near the FCs or traveling on them.
We will see you all again in two weeks!!
And like always, Expedition Leadership wishes you all safe travels and many unique finds!!
The 2nd planet shares the orbit with planet 1. That wouldn’t be unusual if it were a binary planetary system. Instead planet 2 is on the lagrange point L4 or L5 of planet 1 which makes it a trojan.
The fact that their orbits should be stable and planet 2 is in fact on L4 or L5 was proven by flying next to planet 1 and checking the distance to planet 2. The small planet on L4/L5, the star and the large planet form an equilateral triangle which is easy to validate. The measured distance from planet 1 to 2 was within acceptable range to fulfill this requirement.
Cygni X-3 was an experience! Undocking from MoDeans right in the middle of two black holes was easily the most disorienting and terrifying thing I’ve ever seen in Elite: Dangerous! Expedition Leadership sincerely hopes everyone enjoyed (and enjoys) their time at Cygni X-3!
Moving forward, we are officially on the back half. We are steaming towards WP 11 this week, Dueteros. As a reminder, due to the long distance between Cygni X-3 and Dueteros, there will be no Meetup this week.
Stars are still a little sparse out here and it’s still not difficult to become stranded. So please, stick near the FCs unless you are very comfortable navigating The Black.
As always, Expedition Leadership wishes you safe and fortunate Exploration this week!
This week is the turnaround, CMDRs! We’re a looooooong way from home and the question can be asked if we’re really still in the Milky Way! This week, though, we turn back for home and the comfort of our own beds and the luxury of Schwann Port’s bar! From here on, the Milky Way gets a little closer and a little more familiar. Stars become more more prevalent and space becomes much easier to navigate. But be wary, Explorers, should you glance backwards once we’ve made the turn you’ll see no stars. Only the vasting darkness. At Star One there are no more stars Westward, we’ve reached The Edge, the Place where there are No More Stars. A kind of place that causes irreparable space madness. Take care!
This weeks journey will be very different than previous weeks, so it’s imperative that you read this announcement and ask questions in ls3-lounge.
First up, you’ll notice that we have two WPs this week, 10 and 11. WP 10 is none other than the legendary and uniquely rare Cygni X-3. However, given several unforeseen factors, Expedition Leadership have opted to make this a short turn around. We will not have a meetup at Cygni X-3, but will instead host an FC shuttle service back and forth for the next several weeks.
Reminder: It is not possible to reach Cygni X-3 in your Ship, you MUST utilize the FC Shuttles.
Once you’re finished in Cygni X-3, you’ll then proceed directly (or indirectly) to Deuteros, where we will all meetup again in two weeks’ time.
Over the next two weeks, you’ll be one of an elite few to reach the Cygni X-3 system, experience a long 8k LY jaunt to and beyond the Western Meridian from SOL. At Deuteros, we will be nearly 30k LY due west of SOL. More importantly, though, about 29,700k LY due west of Hajangai. Due to the distance between Cygni X-3 and Deuteros, we will not have a meetup next week.
This week is officially the halfway mark of Lost Souls 3. I want to sincerely thank all who have made it out here. You truly are the lifeblood of this expedition and without your efforts, CMDRs, there would be no Lost Souls. Please take a moment to reflect on your accomplishments and congratulate yourselves for sticking with our humble event.
I would also like to issue a personal thanks to the entire Exepdition Leadership Team who’ve kept the lights on and the shuttles cruising on time through the long distances and made every effort to make this a pleasant expedition for us all. Sincerely, thank you.
Cygnus X-3 is one of the stronger binary X-ray sources in the sky. Classified as a microquasar, it is believed to be a compact object in a binary system which is pulling in a stream of gas from an ordinary star companion. It is observed in X rays, gamma rays, infrared, and radio, with an orbital periodicity of approximately 4.8 h, among the shortest known at the time of its discovery.
Due to its remote location the system is impossible to reach by ship.
Boy howdy the air is getting fairly thin out here, isn’t it? The views are getting more and more spectacular, though! As we reach the edge of the Milky Way we encourage everyone to tighten formation a bit and fly a little closer to the FCs. As we said last week, the next several weeks pose a real danger for Explorers. More importantly, some of you may not be able to reach the next two POIs on your own. FCs will be offering regular ferry trips but once they’ve moved on, the window of opportunity will close. Sell your data when you can and get ready to use those G3 Jumponium Boosts, this week is a real tester!
This week we will see a brilliant Trinity, visit yet another DSSA Fleet Carrier en route to the last Waypoint on this leg of Lost Souls 3 that you can reach with your ship, Star One!
I will issue a travel advisory for Star One: It is VERY difficult to get to. It is possible to reach, but will require many G3 Jumponium Boosts if your ship has less than 65LY Jump Range. Please be careful and if you find yourself in trouble do not hesitate to ask for help!
The upcoming weeks will be a little lighter on travel, by the way, as next week we will be heading to Cygni X-3. Cygni X-3 is only accessible via Fleet Carriers, please pay attention to the Announcements Channel as we will be offering ferry services back and forth.
Located at the intersection of the Angustia region and the desolate Outer/Norma arm rest the Angustia Trinity, a system with three O-class giant stars and an O-Main Sequence star [O9 IIIA, O9 IIIA, O7 VA, and O0 VZ]. The O9 IIIA stars are the largest designation for an O-class star. While a system with three O-giants is rare even near the core, a high mass system such as this located in the Outer Arm is incredibly rare. Furthermore, the system is equidistant from Colonia and Sol, marking an equilateral triangle between inhabited space – lending its lore as the Angustia Trinity.
Approaching Angustia Trinity requires a deep descent into the bottom of the outer edges of the Milky Way. There are few stars around here, only the occasional A-class illuminating the celestial sky. As such, Angustia Trinity can be seen from thousands of light years away. The view is majestic, as the path to Angustia Trinity aligns with the Andromeda galaxy, the Triangulum galaxy, and the Magellanic clouds. Explorers be weary, however, as plotting a course to this system without the aid of a Fleet Carrier can be arduous, as the path is often convoluted because of the sparsity of systems in this area.
DSSA Andromeda Calling orbits a pair of Earth-like worlds located near the western edge of the galaxy. Travelers on their way to their way to the historic locations “Manifest Destiny (Western Meridian)” or Star One can use her as an expedition base before tackling the routes to these systems.
Information about Jumponium sources can be found in the visitor’s brochure.
DSSA Andromeda Calling currently hosts the Explorer’s Legacy ‘Achievement’.
This system is the closest point in the Galaxy to the huge Andromeda Spiral, our nearest galactic neighbour apart from satellites like the Magellanic Clouds. It was reached in August 3302.
Byaa Thoi GC-D d12-0, known in some old Earth legends as Star One, is the first and last star beyond which there are no other stars for over 2 million light years. It lies 41,753.2 light years from Sagittarius A*, as remote again from the Formidine Rift as that is from the Galactic Hub.
