I started a new game as the Mimot and my starting galaxy has a black ring hiding the outer cells of the galaxy.  I can send a ship into the black ring, but I lose the ability to select the ship when I do.  I can hover over it to display what it is, but I cannot select it.  In the first screen snapshot below you can see the probe named Theia that is just into the black ring.  The second screen snapshot is zoomed out so you can see that the black ring completely surrounds the galaxy.  Is this a new feature or a bug?  If it is a feature, you should probably explain what the black area is.  Just thought you should know.