27 June: Ganymede

On this date in 1996 Galileo, NASA’s Jupiter probe, passed within 524 miles of its moon Ganymede. 10 things you might not know about Ganymede.

1. It was named after a beautiful boy in Greek mythology who was carried off by Zeus disguised as an eagle. He became the cup bearer to the gods. Zeus, of course, is the Greek equivalent of the Roman god Jupiter.

2. Ganymede was discovered by Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei on Jan. 7, 1610, along with three other large moons. This was the first time any planet other than Earth was found to have a moon.

3. The diameter of Ganymede is 3,270 miles (5,260 kilometres), which means it is the biggest moon in the solar system and is actually bigger than Mercury and Pluto.

4. It is 665,000 miles (1,070,000 kilometres) from Jupiter and takes about a week to orbit the planet. It’s tidally locked with Jupiter, so the same side always faces the planet; and it’s in what’s called an orbital resonance with Io and Europa. Every time Ganymede orbits Jupiter once, Europa orbits twice, and Io orbits four times. It’s this which has caused these moons to maintain eccentric orbits.

5. Ganymede is the only moon known to have its own magnetic field.

6. There may be more water on Ganymede than on Earth. NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has found evidence that there could be a massive underground saltwater ocean on Ganymede which is ten times deeper than the oceans on Earth. This ocean is covered by a 95-mile (150-kilometer) crust of ice. Since scientists believe it was the interaction of salt water and rock which first caused the appearance of life, and there’s also a small amount of Oxygen in the atmosphere.

7. Daytime surface temperatures on Ganymede range from -297 to -171 degrees Fahrenheit (90 to 160 Kelvin). It takes sunlight 43 minutes to reach it.

8. Surface features on Ganymede are named after Near Eastern, Middle Eastern and Egyptian deities.

9. It has inspired a number of science fiction writers and has appeared in books and TV shows including The Expanse and Red Dwarf. Arthur C Clarke was inspired by images from Voyager 2 of grooved ridges cutting across parts of Ganymede, and created Ganymede City for his novel 3001: The Final Odyssey. Robert A Heinlein used Ganymede as a setting, too, in Farmer in the Sky.

10. There is a spacecraft from Earth on its way to Ganymede as I write. It’s called The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE), and it was launched on 14 April 2023. It’s expected to enter orbit around Ganymede in 2032, and crash land on the moon in 2034.

I also write novels and short stories. If you like superheroes, psychic detectives and general weirdness you might enjoy them. 

Check out my works of fiction at https://juliehowlinauthor.wordpress.com/my-books/

9 April: Astronauts Day

Today is Astronauts Day because the first 7 US astronauts were selected on this date in 1959. 10 things you might not know about astronauts.

1. The word astronaut comes from Greek words meaning “star” and “sailor”.

2. In Russia, people who travel to space are typically known as cosmonauts (from the Russian "kosmos" meaning "space". Chinese space travellers use the term taikonaut (from the Mandarin word for "space").

3. Since it started, NASA has selected 370 astronaut candidates: 299 men, 61 women; 212 military, 138 civilians; 191 pilots, 159 non-pilots. As of November 2024, there were 47 active astronauts and 12 management astronauts.

4. In 2020, eighteen astronauts (fourteen men and four women) had died during space flights. 13 were American, four were Russian (Soviet Union), and one was Israeli. 11 men had died training for spaceflight: eight Americans and three Russians. Six were in crashes of training jet aircraft, one drowned during water recovery training, and four due to fires in pure oxygen environments.

5. There are also a number of health risks associated with spending time in space. These include decompression sickness, barotrauma, immunodeficiencies, loss of bone and muscle, loss of eyesight, sleep disturbances and radiation injury.

6. In NASA’s early days, astronaut selection was limited to military pilots, often test pilots. There was also a height restriction – height had to be below 5 feet 11 inches. By 1964 the emphasis had changed to academic qualifications in the natural sciences, medicine, or engineering fields.

7. Training to be an astronaut takes 20 months. They are required to accumulate a number of flight hours in high-performance jet aircraft and must learn how to pilot a Space Shuttle. They train for weightlessness and space walks in water and in an aircraft. They all undergo some medical training. Astronauts aspiring to work on the International Space Station must also learn Russian so they can understand the manuals on the Russian side, and communicate with Russian ground control in an emergency.

8. Between 1986 and 2007, Cosmonaut survival kits included shotguns. No, not for shooting aliens! It was in case, on re-entry to Earth, they landed in some remote wilderness and might have to fend off a hungry bear.

9. Astronauts can grow up to 3% taller while spending time in microgravity. When they return to earth, their height returns to normal after a few months.

10. If you define an astronaut as anyone who has been in space, including space tourists, the astronaut is Oliver Daemen, who was 18 years and 11 months old when he made a suborbital spaceflight on Blue Origin. The oldest is William Shatner, who did the same at the age of 90.

I also write novels and short stories. If you like superheroes, psychic detectives and general weirdness you might enjoy them. 

Check out my works of fiction at https://juliehowlinauthor.wordpress.com/my-books/

31 January: Apollo 14

On this date in 1971, Apollo 14 launched. 10 facts about this mission.

1. This was the eighth time humans flew in the Apollo program and the third time astronauts landed on the Moon. The astronauts landed on the Moon on 5 February.

2. The primary objectives of Apollo 14 were to explore the Fra Mauro region, which was what Apollo 13 was supposed to do, and to set up scientific experiments including a seismometer to measure "moonquakes" and study the Moon's interior and instruments to measure solar wind, the Moon's atmosphere and its magnetic field.

3. The Lunar Module was called Antares and the Command Module, Kitty Hawk.

4. Apollo 14’s crew were: Alan B. Shepard Jr., Commander; Edgar D. Mitchell, Lunar Module Pilot; and Stuart A. Roosa, Command Module Pilot. Shepherd had been the first American in space and was also the oldest person to walk on the Moon, at the age of 47.

5. Stuart Roosa took hundreds of tree seeds along. The seeds orbited the Moon with him in Kitty Hawk. Back on Earth, the seeds were planted in locations around the world and the resulting trees are known as “Moon Trees”.

6. The astronauts collected 93.2 pounds (42.3 kg) of Moon rocks and soil. One of the rocks they brought back was "Big Bertha" and was one of the largest Moon rocks brought back to Earth.

7. This mission was the first to use a Modularized Equipment Transporter (MET), nicknamed the “rickshaw”, which had wheels and resembled a wheelbarrow.

8. Another innovation was distinguishing marks on an astronaut’s space suit. It had been hard to tell which Apollo 12 astronaut was which in the hundreds of photographs taken on the Moon’s surface, so NASA decided that Shepard would wear a space suit with Red stripes at the knees and shoulders and a red stripe on the helmet. Had Apollo 13 reached the Moon, they would have used the same system.

9. In was on this mission that Golf was first played on the Moon, by Alan Shepherd. He hit two balls using a specially adapted club. The first golf ball travelled about 200 yards, the second about 400 yards.

10. Apollo 14 splashed down on 9 February after a mission which had lasted 9 Days, 0 Hours, 1 Minute and 57 Seconds.

I also write novels and short stories. If you like superheroes, psychic detectives and general weirdness you might enjoy them. 

Check out my works of fiction at https://juliehowlinauthor.wordpress.com/my-books/

25 October: Sunspots

On this date in 1789 Heinrich Schwabe, German astronomer who discovered the 11 year sunspot cycle was born. 10 facts about sunspots:

1. A sunspot is an area of the Sun which appears darker than the surrounding surface of the Sun. A typical spot consists of a dark region called the umbra, surrounded by a lighter region known as the penumbra.

2. They are cooler than the rest of the sun’s surface. The surface of the sun is is about 10,000 degrees F (5,538 degrees C). The umbra is about 6,300 degrees F (3482 degrees C).

3. Scientists don’t know what causes sunspots but generally believe it’s something to do with the sun’s magnetic field. It has been observed that the magnetic fields of sunspots are higher than that of the sun in general. The magnetic field of a sunspot is about 2,500 times stronger than that of the Earth. Sunspots tend to occur in pairs that have magnetic fields pointing in opposite directions.

4. They vary in size. In order to be visible without a Telescope a sunspot would have to be twice the size of Earth. In 1947 the largest group on record, was the size of 141 Earths.

5. They can last anything from a few hours to several months.

6. The earliest known records of sunspots come from China. They get a mention in the I Ching, which dates back to before 800BC. There, they were described as “a dou and mei” in the sun, meaning a small obscuration. In 364 BC an astronomer called Gan De observed them deliberately and by 28 BC, Chinese astronomers were regularly recording sunspot observations in official imperial records.

7. In Europe the earliest recorded observations were by ancient Greek scholar Theophrastus in about 300BC. The earliest known drawings of sunspots were created in 1128 by a monk called John of Worcester. Sunspots were first observed by telescope in 1610 by English astronomer Thomas Harriot.

8. William Herschel came up with a theory that there was a causal link between sunspot activity and the price of Wheat in England. Needless to say, subsequent studies have failed to find any connection between the two at all.

9. The number of sunspots follows a cyclical period of about 11 years, something Heinrich Schwabe first noticed in 1843. This is usually pretty consistent although there was a period between 1645 and 1715 when there were hardly any sunspots at all. This period is known as the 'Maunder Minimum’, after the British astronomer who discovered it from the records in 1890.

10. According to the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), if you could cut out a standard sunspot from the sun and place it in the night sky, it would appear as bright as a full Moon.

NEW!!

Beta

(Combat Team Series #2)

Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?

Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.

Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream. 

Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.

Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.

Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.

Paperback

E book

28 August: Enceladus

On this date in 1789 Sir William Herschel discovered Saturn's moon Enceladus. 10 facts about Enceladus:

1. He discovered it the first time he used his 1.2 m (47 in) 40-foot Telescope, then the largest in the world, at Observatory House in Slough, England.

2. At about 500 kilometres (310 miles) in diameter, Enceladus is the sixth-largest moon of Saturn and the 19th-largest in the Solar System.

3. It is one seventh the diameter of our own Moon.

4. It orbits Saturn every 32.9 hours.

5. It orbits Saturn at 238,000 km (148,000 miles) from the planet's centre and 180,000 km (110,000 miles) from its cloud tops, between the orbits of Mimas and Tethys.

6. Its orbit is within the densest part of Saturn's E ring, the outermost of the major rings. It fact, Saturn’s E Ring has been found to be made up of particles from Enceladus. This was confirmed by the space probe Cassini when it flew past in 2005 and sent back pictures of geyser-like jets of icy particles rising from Enceladus's south polar region.

7. Enceladus is mostly covered by fresh, clean ice, making it one of the most reflective bodies of the Solar System.

8. A wobble in its orbit suggests there might be an ocean under the ice which could be about 26 to 31 kilometres (16 to 19 miles) deep. The oceans on Earth, by comparison are about 3.7km deep.

9. Enceladus featured in the 2016 short story The Water Walls of Enceladus by Mercurio D. Rivera.

10. Enceladus is named after the giant Enceladus of Greek mythology.

The first in a new series! It has invading aliens, gladiator-style contests, rivalry and romance.

The six richest people in Britain decide to hold a contest to settle the question of which of them is most successful. It will be a gladiator style contest with each entrant fielding a team of ten super-powered combatants. Entrepreneur Llew Powell sets out to put together his team, which includes his former lover, an employee of his company with a fascinating hobby, two refugees from another dimension (a lonely giant and a drunken sailor), two sisters bound together by a promise, a diminutive doctor, a former Tibetan monk initiate and two androids with a history. As the team train together, alliances form, friendships and more develop, while others find the past is not easy to leave behind.

Meanwhile, a ruthless race of aliens has its eyes on the Earth. Already abducting and enslaving humans, they work towards the final invasion which would destroy life on Earth as we know it. Powell’s group, Combat Team Alpha, stumble upon one of the wormholes the aliens use to travel to Earth and witness for themselves the horrors in store if the aliens aren’t stopped. Barely escaping with their lives, they realise there are more important things to worry about than a fighting competition.

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31 July: The Lunar Rover

On this date in 1971 Dave Scott became first person to drive a car on the Moon. 10 things you might not know about the Moon Buggy:

1. During the Apollo era of lunar exploration in the late 1960’s astronauts discovered that hiking around the Moon was more tiring and disorienting than they expected. Scientists on Earth wanted them to retrieve hundreds of pounds of moon rocks from geological sites that were very far from the Lunar Module. Fortunately, NASA engineers had a solution. They designed a lightweight, space-age dune buggy that could fold up inside the tight confines of the Lunar Module.

2. Werner Von Braun, former Nazi, and the guy behind most of the US’ rocket design programme, initially imagined a tractor trailer sized rover. That plan evolved into a pressurised cabin style vehicle that would be lifted to the Moon on its own payload-only Saturn V before budget and other considerations brought us to the design we now know.

3. The Moon-buggy was a one horse power vehicle. It had four .25-horsepower motors, one on each of the four wheels.

4. There were three moon-buggies that drove on the Moon during Apollo 15, 16 and 17. One extra was built for parts.

5. The moon-buggies and the test models were built by Boeing at a cost of $38,000,000. In today’s dollars that equates to roughly $285 million.

6. The total distance travelled by all three LRVs was about 56 miles.

7. The vital statistics of a moon buggy are as follows: Length 10 ft (3.0 m) Height 3.6 feet (1.1 m) weight 460 pounds (210 kg) on Earth 76 pounds (34 kg) on the Moon. It could carry 970 pounds (440 kg), including two astronauts, equipment, and cargo such as lunar samples.

8. It was designed for a top speed of 6 miles per hour (9.7 km/h), although it achieved a top speed of 11.2 miles per hour (18.0 km/h) during its last mission, Apollo 17.

9. The three Lunar rovers were left behind on the Moon, and so are still up there.

10. An operational constraint was that the astronauts had to be able to walk back to the Lunar Module if the LRV broke down. This was called the "Walkback Limit". Therefore, they would go to the farthest point they could and work their way back to minimise the amount of walking they’d have to do. This constraint was relaxed during Apollo 17, as the LRV and the space suits had proved reliable.

The first in a new series! It has invading aliens, gladiator-style contests, rivalry and romance.

The six richest people in Britain decide to hold a contest to settle the question of which of them is most successful. It will be a gladiator style contest with each entrant fielding a team of ten super-powered combatants. Entrepreneur Llew Powell sets out to put together his team, which includes his former lover, an employee of his company with a fascinating hobby, two refugees from another dimension (a lonely giant and a drunken sailor), two sisters bound together by a promise, a diminutive doctor, a former Tibetan monk initiate and two androids with a history. As the team train together, alliances form, friendships and more develop, while others find the past is not easy to leave behind.

Meanwhile, a ruthless race of aliens has its eyes on the Earth. Already abducting and enslaving humans, they work towards the final invasion which would destroy life on Earth as we know it. Powell’s group, Combat Team Alpha, stumble upon one of the wormholes the aliens use to travel to Earth and witness for themselves the horrors in store if the aliens aren’t stopped. Barely escaping with their lives, they realise there are more important things to worry about than a fighting competition.

Get it in paperback

Get it for your kindle

12 March: The Milky Way

Today is National Milky Way Day. Here are 10 facts about our galaxy:

1. The Milky Way seems like a funny name for a galaxy. It got its name back in ancient times, before Telescopes were invented. Without a telescope, all the stars blur together into a white streak across the sky which the Romans called the via lactea, or "road made of Milk".

2. Greek mythology went a step further and came up with a theory as to its origins. They stuck with the milk theme – mother’s milk, to be exact. The story goes that in an attempt to make his son by a human woman, Hercales, immortal, his father placed him on Hera’s breast while she was asleep in the hope that drinking her milk would grant him eternal life. Hera woke up to find she was nursing a strange baby and pushed it away. The milk she spilled in the process became the Milky Way.

3. Galileo Galilei first resolved the band of light into individual stars with his telescope in 1610.

4. Caer Gwydion ("The fortress of Gwydion") is the traditional Welsh name for the Milky Way.

5. The Milky Way is approximately 14 billion years old.

6. It’s approximately 100,000 light-years in diameter. The bulge in the middle is about 10,000 light-years thick and the spiral arms are about 1,000 light-years thick.

7. Everything in it rotates around the centre, including our Solar System. It takes 250 million years for our Sun to make one revolution around the Milky Way.

8. About 10-15% of the Milky Way’s visible matter is made of dust and gas, with the rest being stars. It is estimated to contain 100–400 billion of them.

9. The Milky Way has a supermassive Black Hole in the middle called Sagittarius A*. This black hole has an estimated diameter of 14 million miles.

10. Our solar system is 26,000 light-years from the centre of the Galaxy.

16 February: Miranda, Moon of Uranus

On this date in 1948 Miranda, a moon of Uranus, was discovered. 10 things you might not know about Miranda:

1. Miranda was discovered by Gerard Kuiper on 16 February 1948 at McDonald Observatory in Texas using the McDonald Observatory's 82-inch (2,080 mm) Otto Struve Telescope.

2. The moon was named for the character Miranda in Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest. All the moons discovered before it were named after Fairies. Miranda was the first moon to be named after a human.

3. It’s also known as Uranus V.

4. It is the smallest (470 km in diameter) and the innermost (129,000 km from the planet surface) of the moons of Uranus.

5. Its orbital period is 34 hours, and, like our own moon it is tidally locked with the planet, meaning the same side is always facing the planet.

6. Pretty much everything we know about Miranda comes from the flyby of Uranus made by Voyager 2 on 25 January 1986.

7. Miranda is the least dense of Uranus's round satellites, which suggests a composition of more than 60% water ice. It has been speculated that methane, ammonia, carbon monoxide or nitrogen may also exist there in small concentrations.

8. All the main geographical features of Miranda are named after people or places in Shakespeare plays.

9. Verona Rupes, named for the Italian city where the plot of Romeo and Juliet takes place, is the highest cliff in the solar system, 5 to 10 km (6.2 miles) high.

10. It also has some rather rare features called coronae. The only other body in the solar system known to have them is Venus. They are oval shaped features thought to be caused by the swelling up of warm materials underneath.

31 January: Animals in Space Day

Today is Animals in Space Day. A wide variety of animals have been launched into space, including Monkeys and apes, Dogs, Cats, tortoises, Mice, Rats, Rabbits, fish, Frogs, Spiders, quail eggs, and insects. On Animals in Space Day, here are some notable animal space travellers:

1. The first animals sent into space were fruit flies aboard an American rocket on 20 February 1947 from White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. The fruit flies were recovered alive.

2. Albert II, a rhesus monkey, became the first monkey, first primate, and first mammal in space on 14 June 1949. Sadly, a parachute failure meant he didn't survive the experience.

3. On 22 July 1951, the Soviet Union launched the dogs Tsygan and Dezik into space. These two dogs were the first living higher organisms successfully recovered from a spaceflight.

4. On 3 November 1957, the second-ever orbiting spacecraft carried the first animal into orbit, the dog Laika, launched aboard the Soviet Sputnik 2 spacecraft (nicknamed 'Muttnik' in the West). Laika died during the flight, as was expected because the technology to return spacecraft from orbit had not yet been developed.

5. The first rabbit in space was Marfusha, on board a Soviet R2 rocket in July 1959.

6. France launched a cat called Félicette into space on 18 October 1963. Félicette was recovered alive after a 15-minute flight and a descent by parachute.

7. On 14 September 1968 the Soviet Union launched Zond 5, containing the first tortoises in space, which were also the first animals in deep space and the first to orbit the Moon.

8. The first spiders in space were garden spiders called Arabella and Anita, sent to Skylab in 1973.

9. In 1975 ten Newts were sent into space with part of their front limbs amputated. This was in order to study how their limbs regenerated in space which would help understand how humans might recover from space injuries.

10. Probably the most intrepid animal space travellers, however, are tardigrades, also known as water bears. In September 2007, European Space Agency discovered that these creatures were able to survive 10 days of exposure to open space with only their natural protection. There have even been tardigrades on the moon; in 2019 the Israeli spacecraft Beresheet crashed into the Moon during a failed landing attempt. With several thousand tardigrades on board. Initial reports suggested they could have survived the crash landing.

26 November: The Curiosity Rover

The Curiosity Rover was launched on this date in 2011. Here are 10 things you might not know about it:

1. It’s about the size of a small SUV, or if you prefer, 2.9 m (9 ft 6 in) long by 2.7 m (8 ft 10 in) wide by 2.2 m (7 ft 3 in) in height.

2. It weighs 899 kg (1,982 lbs in Earth gravity; 743 lbs in Mars gravity).

3. Its official name is The Mars Science Laboratory.

4. However, NASA held a contest for students to give it a nickname. The name Curiosity was put forward by Clara Ma, aged 12, from Kansas. Her entry was chosen after she wrote: “Curiosity is an everlasting flame that burns in everyone's mind. It makes me get out of bed in the morning and wonder what surprises life will throw at me that day. Curiosity is such a powerful force. Without it, we wouldn't be who we are today. Curiosity is the passion that drives us through our everyday lives. We have become explorers and scientists with our need to ask questions and to wonder.” Her prize was a trip to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, where she signed her name directly onto the rover as it was being assembled.

5. Curiosity landed on Aeolis Palus inside Gale crater on Mars on August 6, 2012, and as it did, it tested a completely new landing method. The spacecraft descended on a parachute, then during the final seconds before landing, the landing system fired rockets to allow it to hover while a tether lowered Curiosity to the surface. The rover landed on its wheels, the tether was cut, and the landing system flew off to crash-land a safe distance away. NASA doesn't know the location of the jetpack lander.

6. It carries an array of scientific instruments including 17 cameras, a laser which can vaporise rock, a drill, a wire brush for cleaning rocks. It also has on board a microchip containing the names of 1.2 million people who sent their names in to NASA from 2009 to 2011.

7. The iPhone 4S has four times the processing power of Curiosity.

8. Its mission is to seek out signs that life could have existed on Mars at some stage. It hunts for special rocks that formed in water and/or have signs of organics.

9. Curiosity’s power system has far exceeded its operational lifespan. It was meant to last for one Martian year or 687 Earth days. It has been going for more than eight Earth years.

10. On August 6, 2013, Curiosity audibly played "Happy Birthday to you" in honour of the first anniversary of its Martian landing. It was the first time a song was played on another planet and the first time music was transmitted between two planets.

Character birthday

Sylvia Brightman, political aide to Innovian president Jack Ward, with whom she is having a secret affair. She is recognisable by her platinum white hair, cut in a severe style. Power Blaster, Multi-Girl and Burdock have all worked for her. She appears in Secrets and Skies.

Secrets and Skies

Jack Ward, President of Innovia, owes his life twice over to the enigmatic superhero, dubbed Power Blaster by the press. No-one knows who Power Blaster is or where he comes from - and he wants it to stay that way.

Scientist Desi Troyes has developed a nuclear bomb to counter the ever present threat of an asteroid hitting the planet. When Ward signs the order giving the go ahead for a nuclear test on the remote Bird Island, he has no inkling of Troyes' real agenda, and that he has signed the death warrants of millions of people.

Although the island should have been evacuated, there are people still there: some from the distant continent of Classica; protesters opposed to the bomb test; and Innovians who will not, or cannot, use their communication devices.

Power Blaster knows he must stop the bomb from hitting the island. He also knows it may be the last thing he ever does.

Meanwhile in Innovia, Ward and his staff gather to watch the broadcast of the test. Nobody, not even Troyes himself, has any idea what is about to happen.

Available from Amazon or Amazon Kindle

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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