Orion Lost

Product Information

Just for interest, if you’ve ever seen any of the wonderful images of a gas cloud in space known as the Horsehead Nebula, then it sits in this part of the sky, just below the Belt star Alnitak – although you would need a big telescope to see it. Mintaka Credit: Pete Lawrence ACCUSATION NATION (+0.5) - Rivals are separate from enemies mainly because they fall on the same side of the overall conflict, while enemies are on opposing sides. So to have one accuse the other of being not a rival, but an enemy? Bold moves indeed.

This is a stunning but neglected planetary nebula shining at mag. 11.8. In smaller telescopes it looks like a green star at low magnification, so larger telescopes really do it justice and bring out its true nature. Through a 14-inch Newtonian it appears as a small green disc. Can you spot vdB 49, a reflection nebula in Orion generated by giant star Omega Orionis? Credit: Dan Crowson, Missouri, USA. Equipment: SBIG ST-8300M, Astro-Tech AT90DT I totally see some star wars and star trek influence in here, but also something completely new and interesting to follow. They're a billion miles from home. They're stranded on a crippled star ship. They can't wake the crew… The seventh magnitude companion (C) is another spectroscopic binary comprising an A-type primary and B-type companion in a 30-day orbit. Observing Orion with the naked eyeVihaan, the self-confident son of ship’s actual captain, is appointed Beth’s deputy, and this leads to a nice line in entertaining friction. Lucille, a shy French girl, Lauryn, an 11-year-old tech guru, Mikkel, a sensible Scandinavian boy, and Arnold, Vihaan’s right-hand man, have to learn to work together and pool their skills to navigate their way to safety. This is a challenging, but thoroughly gripping, space adventure for children of 10+ which raises some excellent discussion points around leadership, ethics and colonisation. For example, if you wanted to evoke the harsh iciness of winter observing you might shoot Orion over an isolated, leafless tree in a barren landscape, and process in such as way as to create a hard contrast between land and sky. Select your focal length or a prime lens Look for the contrast in colour between most of the stars and the two which mark the join between the vertical and horizontal components of the ‘7’. This pair is double star Struve 844 and looks orange compared to the white and blue-white colour of the others. The brightest star in the top of the ‘3’ is double star Struve 848, with mag. 6.9 and 7.8 components separated by 2.6 arcseconds. Photographs of the Orion constellation

Now for something different. NGC 1662 is a lovely mag. 6.4 open cluster forming a right-angle triangle with mag. 4.6 Pi 1 (π 1) Orionis and mag. 4.4 Pi 2 (π 2) Orionis, the two stars at the top of Orion’s Shield. Pi 1 Orionis sits in the right angle. This is another overlooked target, said to resemble a Klingon Bird of Prey from Star Trek. Step forward and join their hallowed ranks, Alastair Chisholm. The writing and plot of Orion Lost are a masterclass in how to create suspense. The enclosed setting of a space ship (as fans of the 1979 movie classic Alien know well) is a perfect place to build up tension if the storyteller knows what he is doing. When we first meet Beth she is setting out on a seven month journey to help colonise a new planet, never to see Earth again. Do you think this is something humans will end up doing? Would you like to move to a new planet? I read this whole book in one day and I don't regret a thing. I'm thinking this might just be my new favorite book.There's a clear heritage here to things like Firefly, Star Wars and Star Trek, but what really appealed was how Chisholm handled his characters. They're real people, flawed and fascinating and this is a story that you don't want to put down. I had no expectations about this when I started it, but then I really couldn't put it down. It's a big, powerful, hooky read. A small group of teenagers is left unaffected; a smart bunch, whose responsibility it suddenly is to work out what happened, and to get the ship to safety.