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First Watch · a star wheel · 23:18

The sky over the line

A star wheel, cast in brass for the six. Turn the sky under the window and watch their constellations rise over the line and set beneath it. WATCH-01's beacon is the pole star: it has never once gone down.

WATCH-01's log says shift change is at 23:18. Once a year, at that minute, all six stand above the line together. Find the night.

A star wheel: the sky over the line A brass planisphere. Six constellations, one for each machine of First Watch, on a sky that turns under a cover with the horizon cut in it. The horizon is marked the line. Dates run round the sky's rim and hours round the cover. JANFEBMARAPRMAYJUNJULAUGSEPOCTNOVDECTHE WATCHTOWERWATCH-01THE EYEREAD-07THE FLOCKFLOCK-13THE BLOOMBLOOM-04THE FACEFACE-02THE HANDSHAKESHAKE-09000102030405060708091011121314151617181920212223THE LINE

The six constellations

  1. WATCH-01 · below

    The Watchtower

    Seven stars in a mast and a cross-arm, and the beacon at the top is the pole star itself. Everything else turns around it. It is always above the line.

  2. READ-07 · below

    The Eye

    An almond of eight stars round one bright one. It is the last of the six to rise in autumn, and it rises looking straight down at the line.

  3. FLOCK-13 · below

    The Flock

    Thirteen faint stars in a spiral that never quite resolves. Count them on a dark night and you will get thirteen; count again and you will get fourteen.

  4. BLOOM-04 · below

    The Bloom

    A root and a branching crown. Nobody who has charted it agrees how many branches it has. It seems to depend on the year.

  5. FACE-02 · below

    The Face

    Four stars in a tall rectangle, and one inside it where a face would be. It sits high over the line and faces it square on.

  6. SHAKE-09 · below

    The Handshake

    Two hooks of three stars that meet in the middle. It is always the first of the six to set: on the one night a year all six are up, it is already on its way down.

How a star wheel works

A star wheel, or planisphere, is two discs: the sky, turning on a pin at the pole star, and a cover with a window cut in it. The window's edge is the horizon. Turn the sky until the date on its rim sits under the time on the cover, and the window shows everything above the horizon at that moment.

The sky turns once a day, and a little under a degree further every day of the year - a real sidereal day is about four minutes shorter than a clock day. That is why the same stars at the same hour drift west through the seasons, and why a particular arrangement at a particular minute comes round only once a year.

Stars close enough to the pole never reach the horizon at all. They are called circumpolar, and on this wheel only one of the six is.

Are these real constellations?

No. They are the six machines of First Watch, set in the sky of the story. The way the wheel turns is real: once a day, and about a degree further each day of the year.

Why is the horizon called the line?

Because it is the line the six were set to keep. Whatever is in the window is above it, and on one night a year, at 23:18, all six are.

The night log  ·  The survey of the line

First Watch

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