It is easy to enjoy the view of the Orion Nebula alone, but a host of astronomical treasures awaits those willing to look a little closer. And the other thing that I usually tell people when I recommend Orion Lost is that it has what are – and I say this with no hyperbole – some of the best twists I have ever read in a submission. And not just one twist! There are *multiple* moments in the story that come as such brilliant, unexpected surprises that (apologies for a second overused cliche) when I first read them I did actual gasps-out-loud. They are the sort of brilliantly devised, rug-pulling reveals that as a reader you’d normally be delighted to find once in a book – and Alastair delivers at least three of them. And then you get down to the bottom and you slow down, you stop and everybody is like "That was brilliant. Let's do it again." The emission nebulosity described as Barnard’s Loop is well known among astrophotographers, yet part of its section above and slightly east of M78 can be traced with a 6-inch Dobsonian. This faint, ‘milky’ patch curves and ends close to mag. 9.0 open cluster NGC 2112. Low magnification is best for the loop. Once you’ve thought about what atmosphere you want to capture with your image, you can select the focal length you’ll be shooting at.

You get strapped in and off you go... and you're all fine. Everything's fine. Then you start to go up and you go "woahhh", and everybody starts laughing nervously and "Oh, here we go..." And you go up and up and up and everybody's starting to get a bit tense and you go up and up and up and up and up until you are right at the top and then you are looking down over and you are thinking "Wow. I'm really high up. I'm not sure about this at all." They're a billion miles from home. They're stranded on a crippled star ship. They can't wake the crew… I did feel sorry for what her fear was. And yes, she endangered things, but I can imagine that she just wanted to show that she could lead. That she was strong.GETTING THE FAMILY INVOLVED (+0.5) - "I understand you've already met my son" ends me every time. Like how do you even respond to that? Is it enthusiastic or a vague warning? Both? I swear once the family gets dragged into rivalries they get 10x better. To compose your nightscape you can take short, very-high ISO test exposures to show you the balance and positioning of foreground and sky, and any structures or landscape features in frame.

I said I read this in one day and that was because I could not stop reading until I finished. The story is fast-paced and never gets boring. The ending is also perfect for tying the book together in a satisfying way while also leaving openings for a sequel (PLEASE). Today the shortlists for the 2021 Waterstones Children’s Book Prize have been announced, and I am absolutely delighted that Orion Lost, the debut novel by Alastair Chisholm, has been recognised in the Younger Readers category. There are lots of twists and turns, secrets being revealed, and I just loved them all. At times I thought I knew what was going on.. but then something else would happen and I wouldn’t know what to think. It was fantastic. Great job to the author. It definitely kept me on my toes.

About Alastair Chisholm

FIRST IMPRESSION, BEST IMPRESSION (+1) - The first impression sets the tone, you know? So when the first impression is Like That, it's obvious you're in for a good time. And my second tip all about how you can go about taking the ideas that you've got and turning them into a story.

Chisholm is a Scottish software designer and puzzle writer, and the plot of his novel shows that logical brain at work. All the action and characterisation fit together perfectly in a plot that will keep readers on their toes until that terrific twist at the end. There's a lot of books I've read in 2020 that I wanted to like way more than I actually did, and unfortunately I nearly ended up in a reading slump with this book. The concept of kids having to pilot a spaceship while their parents are asleep (similar to the cryogenic sleep trope) due to "an event" is interesting, but this story relied a little to heavily on too-familiar tropes.Orion Lost is set in space which is an unusual setting for a children’s book. Have you read a book set in space before? Did you like the setting? Mercury’s the fastest. Closest to the Sun, it reaches speeds of 200,000km an hour, as it completes it orbit in just 88 days. For help with settings and technical specifications, read our guide on how to use a DSLR camera. Step-by-step Make a conceptual plan The stars in our final object appear to form the number ‘37’ or perhaps less attractively, a shopping trolley! Listed at mag. 5.9, a small scope will show NGC 2169, containing 16 stars in a 5 arcsecond area. The count increases to around 20 cluster members through a 300mm telescope. How do you take these ideas and give them space to breathe and give yourself a plan of how to work them out?

The 14th magnitude companion (B) is a cool star, about 70% the size of our Sun and around 40% as luminous.When shooting, keep the lens aperture wide open (lowest f-stop), though some lenses will perform better when reduced a few stops. Experiment with the ISO and exposure length until you’re happy with the look. 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. This is a solid 5-star book. It is real sci-fi, not the quasi sci-fi some authors give us (and that's across the age range). We're in space with a colony ship heading to a planet that is being terraformed. There are aliens in space who are scary. The colony ship does Jumps, so we have induced Sleep. Then we have an Event and everybody is supposed to go into Sleep for the Jump, but when the six kids are woken up, they're the only ones able to be resuscitated (as it were), and one of them is appointed Acting Captain. We read about Jumps, that people have to Sleep so their mind doesn’t scramble, we learn about baddies, and about Videshi (love that name btw), it was all so well written that I just disappeared in the book and was part of the crew. Try to use the foreground – trees, buildings, etc – to lead the viewer’s eye toward Orion. Sometimes clouds can be used as a framing device too, and thin cloud can even ‘bloat’ and enhance the colours of bright stars. Set exposure length, aperture and ISO