The Unknown Constellations: A Novel

In the Shadows of the Mosquito Constellation

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Psi Cassiopeiae is a triple star light-years from Earth. The primary is an orange-hued giant star of magnitude 4. It has around times the Sun's diameter and 17 times its mass, having begun life 45 times as massive as the Sun. Rho Cassiopeiae is about 10, light-years from Earth. Cassiopeia includes V Cassiopeiae , a second example of the extremely rare yellow hypergiants, which is around , times as luminous as the Sun and 14 times as massive, [27] as well as 6 Cassiopeiae which is a hotter white hypergiant. AO Cassiopeiae is a binary system composed of an O8 main sequence star and an O9.

Tycho Brahe's supernova was visible within Cassiopeia, and the star Tycho G is suspected of being the donor of the material that triggered that explosion. A rich section of the Milky Way runs through Cassiopeia, stretching from Perseus towards Cygnus , and it contains a number of open clusters , young luminous galactic disc stars, and nebulae. The Heart Nebula and the Soul Nebula are two neighboring emission nebulae about 7, light-years away. M52, once described as a "kidney-shaped" cluster, contains approximately stars and is light-years from Earth. Its most prominent member is an orange-hued star of magnitude 8.

M is far poorer than M52, with only about 25 stars included. It is also more distant, at light-years from Earth. Its most prominent member is actually a closer, superimposed double star; it consists of a 7th-magnitude primary and 10th-magnitude secondary. NGC is looser, and its brightest member is Phi Cassiopeiae , a white-hued supergiant star of magnitude 5.

The stars of NGC , arrayed in chains, are approximately 10, light-years from Earth.

NGC is both closer, at light-years from Earth, and larger, at 0. There are two supernova remnants in Cassiopeia. The first, designated 3C 10 or just Tycho's Supernova Remnant , is the aftermath of the supernova called Tycho's Star. It was observed in by Tycho Brahe and now exists as a bright object in the radio spectrum.

It is the remnant of a supernova that took place approximately years ago as observed now from Earth; it is 10, light-years away , [34] and has the distinction of being the strongest radio source observable outside the Solar System. It was perhaps observed as a faint star in by John Flamsteed. It was also the subject of the first image returned by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory in the late s.

NGC is another open cluster in Cassiopeia, also called the E. Cluster, the Owl Cluster, and Caldwell The cluster was discovered in by William Herschel. It has an overall magnitude of 6. However, its most prominent member, the double star Phi Cassiopeiae , is far closer — between and light-years away. It is concentrated towards its center and detached from the star field.

It contains more than stars, which vary widely in brightness. Two members of the Local Group of galaxies are in Cassiopeia. NGC is a magnitude 9.

Slightly dimmer and more distant NGC is a magnitude 9. Though they do not appear in Andromeda , both dwarf galaxies are gravitationally bound to the far larger Andromeda Galaxy. The December Phi Cassiopeiids are a recently discovered early December meteor shower that radiates from Cassiopeia. Phi Cassiopeiids are very slow, with an entry velocity of approximately The shower's parent body is a Jupiter family comet , though its specific identity is unknown.

In the Cosmology of Tolkien's legendarium , Cassiopeia has been equated with the elvish constellation Wilwarin, the butterfly. In the science fiction novel Star , French author C. Defontenay wrote of 9-foot tall blue-haired immortal humanoids that inhabited Psi Cassiopeia. In the original Battlestar Galactica television series, one of the supporting female characters was named after the constellation.

In the film Omen III: The Final Conflict starring Sam Neill After the alignment of stars in Cassiopeia on March 24, , generating what is described as a second Star of Bethlehem, Damien realizes it is a sign of the Second Coming and orders his followers to kill all boys born in England on the morning of March 24, to prevent the Christ Child's return to power. Eleanor Arroway has the following line of dialogue: And Cassiopeia A gives off a whole lot of radio signals. I listen to them a lot. It's a remnant of a supernova. In the episode of The X-Files , " Patient X ", guest starring Veronica Cartwright , Cartwright's character Cassandra Spender , an alien abductee, leaves fingerprints on a window corresponding to the constellation Cassiopeia, a reference to the character's name as well as an implied origin for the aliens who abducted her.

The character uses a wheelchair, as a reference to the mythical figure Cassiopeia , who was confined to her throne. In the film Serendipity starring John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale , Cusack tells Beckinsale about the constellation Cassiopeia the night they meet one another after noticing that the freckles on her forearm match the constellation's pattern exactly. In the film "The Edge" , Anthony Hopkins Character points to Cassiopeia and mentions the two stars forming the last line in the W point to the north. In Sara Bareilles ' album The Blessed Unrest , the 7th track is titled "Cassiopeia" and is lyrically and metaphorically about the stars.

During the making of The Blessed Unrest, she was given a book about astronomy. She found herself fascinated reading about the different constellations, especially Cassiopeia, as well as the topic of supernovas, the incredibly bright bursts of light that stars give off when they explode. Inspired, she penned this song imagining Cassiopeia as a human, and falling in love with another star.

Cassiopeia (constellation)

The idea of being a star and so far away from everything around you," she told Radio. Bosc even comes to the fore in his own story, describing how he conducted some of his research and printing, for example, an e-mail exchange with the son one of the passengers: It makes for a novel that veers far if only occasionally into the personal and documentary -- similar to Laurent Binet's HHhH and apparently a popular approach in current French not-quite- fiction.

With its short chapters, crash and aftermath drama, and colorful cast of characters, Constellation is certainly an engaging, lively read, and Bosc has gathered an often fascinating set of facts and speculation. Occupying an odd space between factual and fiction, with Bosc not committing fully to either, it nevertheless remains somewhat unsatisfying and, despite being an effective historic- plane-crash-story, feels a bit pointless. Bosc presents his story well -- the events and people are described well -- but it also feels rather casual, magazine-story-writing and not really a full-fledged novel or complete documentary account.

There's a lot of fine writing here, but little sense of imagination. It does make good reading, but feels a bit of a cheat, the novelist clinging closely -- almost entirely -- to facts for the entire work, but still claiming the liberties of the fiction-writer where it's convenient. Orthofer , 11 May I would have love to have a little more of the magic that is hinted at throughout the book, but I am so excited to read the second book as the ending of this book is a very interesting one.

There is mystery woven throughout the plot and I cannot wait to see where the story takes us next. Jul 29, Erin Farmer rated it did not like it. Great idea, poorly executed This book was recommended to me on several platforms based off of books I have recently read. I was very excited to find a new YA fantasy. Within the first few chapters there were several grammatical errors; missing words, out of place words and unfinished thoughts. I would be surprised if they even used as editor.

This does not get any better throughout the novel. Halfway through i wanted to quit out of frustration due to errors. The main character has no development a Great idea, poorly executed This book was recommended to me on several platforms based off of books I have recently read.

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The main character has no development and appears to think having a temper tantrum will make everything go her way. In that respect, she is very much a 15 year old. Her thoughts are simple and her views of other characters are based on their looks, which left me wondering how the author plans to develop any character relationships. Essentially there are too many errors and terrible introductions to both character, places and events for me to want to continue with this series.

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Dec 19, Art. Thank you to the author for sending me an Arc! Jul 09, Bianca Yumul rated it really liked it. Got this advance reader's copy from the author for free! I really like how the book was well written. I appreciate the vast use of descriptions that were not too overwhelming. As for the story, the ending was a really cliff hanger, and I was like "That's it?

I was waiting for more!

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The thrill of wanting to know this secret that's to be happening in the town keeps me on my toes that I immediately finished the bo Got this advance reader's copy from the author for free! The thrill of wanting to know this secret that's to be happening in the town keeps me on my toes that I immediately finished the book in only a day.

I would have given this book 5 stars if only there's more story in the first book. I feel like this book is too introductory.

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The climax was even so-so. I feel that more will be in store in the next books and that's what I was most looking forward to. Oct 04, Angela rated it it was amazing Shelves: I liked her style a lot, the way the book is written brings you there, you cannot wait to turn the other page, you do not want the story to finish, you want to understand what will happen after.

I was curious about the plot development, and I am curious to see how the series will end. Unfortunately there are only 2 books for the moment and it looks like there is no information about the third. Overall a good reading if you do not want to sleep. So this is an intriguing story. The characters a well written and believable but I felt that the writer spent too much time trying to lead us on this mysterious jorney and not enough true story was told. It's plain she can write we and leaves you feeling for these poor tortured people but the story just needs a bit more well story..

I think this book was really good, I just want to give a little warning. Ethan rated it it was amazing Apr 27, Crystal rated it liked it Jul 30, Andrea rated it it was amazing Dec 25, Willow Scarlett rated it it was amazing Jun 18, Erica rated it it was amazing May 11, Samantha rated it it was amazing Apr 27, Linda Mer rated it it was amazing Jan 07, Brooke Morgan rated it it was amazing May 10, Joanna rated it it was amazing Apr 28, Eden Coffey rated it it was amazing Dec 01, Tina Brown rated it it was amazing Jun 03, Sarah rated it it was amazing Dec 26, There are no discussion topics on this book yet.

Mia Tavor has had a successful career in political and security research.

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