Need help identifying an object

[Andrew Gaspurr]

Hi folks,
I am currently appr. halfway between Inhabited Space and the Elephant's Trunk Nebula. For some time now I have spotted a very bright object adjacent (in graphical terms) to some nebulas but so far I failed to pinpoint the thing on the Galaxy Map.

So I thought I'd ask if anybody can help me identifying the object by means of some screenshots:



From right to left: Iris Nebula, Elephant's Trunk Nebula, Cave Nebula (small at the window's bottom), "Big Bright Unknown Object"
I know it's hard to track an object that way but I don't know how else to describe it. The object first came to my attention when I was already some 800 LY away from Alioth. Therefore I exclude any one of the surrounding galaxies that are part of the Galaxy Map 360 degrees "wallpaper". At first I thought it could be a supernova remnant, planetary nebula or maybe a pulsar or something. But a high-resolution screenshot revealed the following details:



It is nearly completely emitting bright white light so it can't be a nebula. It appears as if the object would indeed be an extra-galactic object with its own small satellites. It would explain why I have not been able to find the thing looking for a star or planetary nebula on the Galaxy map. But even then, what object would it be? It's not one of the Sagittarius Dwarf or Canis Major Dwarf galaxies as they are somewhere else.

Does anybody of you explorers know what in the name of science that thing is?

[Avago-Earo]

Wish I was 'sciency' enough. Don't think my idea would work ie mass ejection from a black hole and the lensing effect

I'll get my coat!

[Loriath]

Saw lots of these while exploring.

You are looking at a bright cluster of stars. Its not a single object, but Many bright stars that appear a LOT closer than they are.

If you open the galaxy map from your location, uncheck both Fastest and Economical travel, the blue lines will disappear so you can orient yourself into the general direction and you should see them better but you will have to sort of look through your current positional marker to see them. I suggest zooming in as close to the marker as you can as you rotate to the general area.

[AndyFM]

Found something similar, and after a bit of (read, on and off for about half an hour) galaxy map manipulation, I figured out that mine is probably the NGC 7822 Nebula.

Screenshot_0049.jpg (130.5 KiB) Viewed 4016 times

[Nanosmo]

Yeah, clusters of stars. Of course they aren't even close to one another but looks like it from that view point.

I wish we where able to select a star from the cockpit and plan a route without going to the galaxy map.

[Flip]

Or select a star from the cockpit and find it selected in the galaxy map.

[Andrew Gaspurr]

Yes, the "object" I am looking for is indeed NGC 7822 and its star nursery. Oh well, guess I'll not be home for another while then...

[Andrew Gaspurr]

I came closer this day and started to explore the cluster:

[Malphator]

I came closer this day and started to explore the cluster:

That's awesome!


I gotta agree with others, too. Having to bounce between the skybox and the galaxy map is a PITA. Some sort of HUD/UI functionality is definitely necessary.