Olan Thorensen
Author of science fiction, action, crime, apocalyptic fiction
Ah...one more fact. That Orion is identifiable means that Anyar must lay on a almost straight line from Anyar, through Earth and directly toward Orion.
How far is Anyar from Earth?
And the answer is…”about” 275 lightyears.
Heather and Yozef claim they can identify Orion even if the shape isn’t quite the same. The fact that it is upside down is merely a function of the Anyar’s rotation position relative to Earth’s. Meaning it has nothing to do distances.
It also means that there don’t happen to be many stars laying near a line from Anyar to Earth, toward Orion to complicate Anyar’s star field. For example, as you move away from Earth, you’ll pass stars that would then enter Orion’s star field and make identification harder.
What about Orion’s shape? There are effects, but since Heather and Yozef are in agreement, we can assume the shape is still close enough. Orion is mainly characterized by two features. Four bright stars marking the shoulders and legs. Their names and distances from Earth are: Betelguese (left shoulder, 725 light years), Bellatrix (right shoulder, 250 LY, Saiph (left leg, 650 LY) and Rigel (right leg, 860 LY). The second feature is Orion’s belt composed of three bright stars 1200-2000 LY away. Below the belt is the Orion nebula (1300 LY). The farther away a star begins, the least distortion of shape will occur as you move directly away, with the belt and sword changing very little. The four corner stars will tend to collapse toward the center of the constellation as you move farther away. Three of them will remain close enough to the original relative positions. Bellatrix, because it is so much closer, is the most problematical since, if you can see it at all, it appears to have caved, distorting the right shoulder. However, the other three outer stars, belt, and nebula retain enough shape for a plausible identification.
After that it’s a matter of calculating how far Anyar must be from Earth for Orion to appear to have shrunk to 2/3 of its original size—274 LY, plus or minus 50 LY. Not an exact number, but still pretty good for the initial subjective identification.
The Melding Furnace first draft is finished and it's into filling in gaps and smoothing out the flow. Here's a quiz - the answers will appear in the book, but see if you can figure them out.
Heather notes that she's spotted the Orion constellation from Anyar. However, it's upside down from seeing it on Earth and it's only 2/3 the same size. From that observation, Yozef knows something of the relative positions of Earth and Anyar and figures out the approximate distance Anyar is from Earth. And the answers are...
Working on Book 10, tentatively entitled “The Melding Furnace.” While taking a break, I came across an article about a painting that had sold for $165 million dollars. The previous owner had it hanging prominently in their home for many years. An image is attached. I’m wondering if anyone can explain to me why anyone would want to stare at this every day for years, and in what universe this is actually worth $165 million dollars?
Olan
Thanks for all the best wishes on the cataract surgery. Went well. Was a weird experience.