New Player w/ Questions

Hey guys! I just picked this game up since I was hearing a lot of good things. Low and behold I'm addicted. I have some questions:

1. How the heck can I tell that I've been somewhere on a planet? I always seem to be back tracking to places I've already been to and I don't know until I actually land. Is there an easier way of doing this?
2. Missions? The mission listing agent never gives me missions. I've been warping to different galaxies to see if this would change. Farming warp cells is getting tiresome.

Thanks!!