Top of the Galaxy and other news

Hello everyone,

There may be lots of screenshots tonight ...

There's one. I followed the speed run to the galactic centre with a trip to the top of the galaxy. There will be a certain amount of cheating* going on with how it shows the galaxy but it does still look pretty.

*(that isn't several billion entities being simulated, that's a skybox generated from a prediction, the skybox background is then oriented according to how the camera is looking at it) TLDR - looks pretty.

I think I've caught a cold ... hopefully not anything more sinister than that. I have no idea how catching a cold could happen, although I definitely have the sneezing, runny nose and blocked ears. Odd. Could be hay fever, probably is hay fever because I'm very susceptible to that and can't take anything for it for various reasons.

Looking forwards to watching Le Mans this weekend, although I won't try staying up for the whole 24 hours. Same with Nurburgring the week after. I like to watch teams that are a little way down the field, or teams that have suffered some kind of misfortune and are fighting back. That's usually far more interesting than boringness that can happen up front.

I need to get out and about some too, despite the hayfever and apparent cold. But I won't be going anywhere while I have cold symptoms (I have supplies until at least the weekend, am ok).

Apart from that, I'm managing hands issues again ... The internet spaceships seem to be reasonably neutral with it but more traditional first person shooter type games may be causing issues. So no more Final Fantasy XIV yet but I did have a look at The Outer Worlds.

I'm not sure about this one, it isn't holding me in like I thought it would. I'm actually feeling like diving into a fresh Mass Effect Andromeda playthrough instead (that'll be Fuzzyfreaks and her return to Mass Effect) and there's also the Deus Ex Adam Jensen games (Human Revolution, Mankind Divided).

But there's also the internet spaceships. Depending on how I play, these are better and worse for my hands. I didn't cause that dent by the way, it was there before I landed, not when I landed.

Honest.

Time to come back down though and that was another pointer from Kamd, a moon with just the right amount of inclination in orbit above its parent planet to really show off those rings. Also geysers ...

And what I could only describe as pipe trees. Tight landing too ...

On to a system called the Eye of Fire, with lovely copper coloured gas giants and rings. But ... there was more ...

I travelled round a little more until the planet was giving me an eclipse and there's a second gas giant there that can be seen through the rings.

Moving on again though and nebulae are pretty. As must be the view from this science station :

At some point, I'll watch the movie The Black Hole again which has the research ship Cygnus perched on the edge of a black hole. It's a Disney scifi movie from December 1979 and as such, there's a lot of silly about it. But I can remember enjoying watching it.

My stopping point for the evening was a place called the Dryau Awesomes ... There's a white dwarf star shining out there and in the lower centre right, you'll see the telltale whorl of a black hole lensing the background.

But that's not where the Awesomes come from :

That's a bit close isn't it ...

There's a fleet carrier nestled in there too, the Buurian Anchorage. I stopped off here to repair the hyperdrive and hand in my exploration data before attempting what's said to be a very hazardous landing. I think I was ok, although landing on that smaller planet there so close to the big one could be a bit hairy.

There we are, perched on a ledge looking at the big planet.

But I moved on a bit from there because I wanted a picture with the star in the background.

Back later in the week. It's been good to see the galactic news service make a return as well. It's back with a bang ... literally ... as several space stations have been attacked.

It's a good alternate world to fly around in, definitely a rather pretty escape from what's happening in this one !

Stay safe everyone, be well.