19 July: Sirius

The ancient Egyptians celebrated the Rising of Sirius at about this time of year, as it coincided with the flooding of the Nile. Here are 10 things you might not know about this star:

1. It is 8.6 light years from Earth and therefore one of our nearest neighbours.

2. The name means "glowing" in Greek.

3. It is twice as massive as the Sun and twenty times brighter, so it’s the brightest star in the night sky. Only a few planets, the full moon and the International Space Station outshine this star. And it’s getting brighter. Over the next 60,000 years, Sirius will move closer to us and will therefore get a little brighter, before it starts to move away. Then it will get fainter and in 210,000 years, its title as the brightest star visible from Earth will be stolen by Vega.

4. It’s also known as The Dog Star, because it’s part of the constellation Canis Major, "the greater dog." This is also where the expression “Dog Days” comes from, referring to the period of the year when Sirius rises in conjunction with the sun. Interestingly, many ancient civilizations also associated Sirius with Dogs or Wolves. The Chaldeans called it the "Dog Star that Leads"; in ancient China, it was a heavenly wolf; in Assyria and Akkadia, it was called the "Dog of the Sun”; Native Americans referred to it as a “dog that follows mountain sheep” or the “Wolf Star”; and the Alaskan Inuit of the Bering Strait called it “Moon Dog”.

5. Ancient peoples also often blamed it for the heat of summer. In ancient Greece, it was said to cause “plants to wilt, men to weaken, and women to become aroused.” Weather conditions at this time would mean Sirius was seen to twinkle more and the Greeks thought this had something to do with its bad influence. Anyone suffering its effects was said to be "star-struck".

6. It’s actually two stars, Sirius A and Sirius B. Sirius B was discovered in 1862, after it was speculated in 1844 that Sirius might have a friend. Sirius B is a white dwarf 10,000-times dimmer than Sirius so not as easy to see. Astronomers couldn't estimate its mass until 2005, thanks to data from the Hubble Space Telescope. The distance between the two varies between 8.2 and 31.5 astronomical units as they orbit each other every 50 years. Sirius B has been affectionately dubbed “The Pup”. There’s speculation that there could even be a third star in the system, but there’s no evidence to confirm this. Yet.

7. According to a controversial book by Robert Temple, The Sirius Mystery, the Dogon, an ancient African tribe from Mali, knew that Sirius was a binary star, even though it’s impossible to know this without the use of a Telescope.

8. Sirius is one of the 27 stars on the Brazil flag, representing the state of Mato Grosso.

9. Does it have planets? It’s a fairly young star, as astronomers don’t think it all that likely. Certainly, none have been discovered as yet.

10. How do you find it? First locate the constellation of Orion. Follow the line of the three stars of Orion’s belt downwards to the left and there it is.

Character birthday

Buccaneer, a tall, thin pirate from Classica, Infinitus. He hails from the land of Soaring, where people are naturally much taller and slimmer. He left home in search of adventure and for a while was a sideshow with a travelling circus before joining a group of bandits, where he learned to use firearms. When he grew bored of that life, too, he joined the crew of a pirate ship, which sailed for Bird Island. Hence he was one of many who were pulled through a wormhole to Earth caused by a nuclear test. Here, he joined with the group which called themselves The Desperadoes.

Over the Rainbow

'We're not in Trinity anymore,' says Leonard Marx, quoting a line from an old Innovian  movie. The moon is different; the planes flying overhead are different. Nobody has any idea where they are or if it's possible to get home. 

In this strange new world, people from the highly technical Innovia and the less advanced Classica must co-operate in order to survive. In addition, travel through the inter-dimensional wormhole has given some people unusual and unexpected powers.

Innovia mourns the loss of its superhero, Power Blaster, last seen carrying a nuclear bomb to the upper atmosphere away from the inhabited Bird Island. They don't believe he could possibly have survived.  Power Blaster has survived, but is close to death and stranded in the new dimension. He is nursed back to health by a Classican woman, Elena. She has no idea who he is, only that she is falling in love with the handsome stranger.  

Shanna sets out to discover what happened to Nathan Tate, who didn't return from his hiking holiday, not knowing her life is about to be turned inside out and upside down. 

Meanwhile, Desi Troyes, the man responsible for the catastrophe, is at large on the new world, plotting how he can transfer his plans for world domination to the planet he now finds himself on - Earth. 

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