From: "Doug Freyburger" 

Soundy wrote:
> Doug Freyburger wrote:
>
> > But the bizzare mapping is not a problem for ships able to
> > make their own jump points - All they need do is transfer
> > from hyperspace to normal space, use their telescopes to
> > map the brighter stars in the sky, get their location in the
> > galaxy, and return to hyperspace knowing where they are.
> > It's also the task of explorer ships to do exactly that
> > repeatedly and leave stationed in hyperspace new navigational
> > beacons.
>
> That doesn't fly... if it's that easy, why was the Cortez (an
> Explorer-class ship) so concerned about getting lost in hyperspace ("A
> Distant Star")?

The geometry and eddies in hyperspace can mean 10 LY is a
month away or 10,000 LY is an hour away.  Drop out of hyperspace
a quarter of a galaxy away from a previously mapped point and
locating your position using a telescope might be a routine task,
but it could be one that takes a couple of years to locate yourself.

There's also the problem of "Oh crap, I can see the entire galaxy
from here.  Now what direction to head once we get back into
hyperspace to head back home?"  Especially knowing that the
geometry isn't linear so "go back the way you came" is often
as ineffective as the method used to explore in the first place.


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