While researching her critically acclaimed debut novel, Bright Objects, award winning author Ruby Todd visited Siding Springs Observatory on the edge of Warrumbungle National Park, and spoke with local astronomy expert, Donna Burton, aka 'Donna the Astronomer'.

“I consulted several astronomers and visited observatories like Siding Spring.

"Learning about Australia’s now-defunct Siding Spring Survey program, which searched for near-Earth objects, was especially inspiring,” Melbourne based Ms Todd said.

The result of her research is her novel, Bright Objects, published last April, and named a Best Book of 2024 by Publishers Weekly.

It is a literary mystery following Sylvia, a young widow whose small-town life is disrupted by the arrival of a comet not seen for over 4,000 years.

Two very different men enter her life around the same time: an American astronomer and a local meditation teacher who believes the comet is a divine sign.

Sylvia has been fixated on avenging her husband’s death, but as the comet brightens and these two men influence her, she begins to question everything she thought she knew about love, justice, and reality itself.

Donna the Astronomer said she was often contacted by authors for research purposes, but Ms Todd stood out from the crowd.

“Often information is misrepresented or not used at all.

"That’s fine if it’s not used - it’s still great people are interested in science and astronomy,” Ms Burton said.

“Ruby was the first writer to actually use what I said and use it accurately.

Ruby Todd with her novel, Bright Objects.

"She was very interested in the observatory, asked really good questions and was a lovely person.

“Ruby came out for one visit and then we corresponded quite a bit after that.

“While I’ve not read it yet, I have heard good things about her book.”

Ms Todd said the real events surrounding the Heaven’s Gate sect, during the appearance of Comet Hale-Bopp in 1997, served as an early stimulus for the novel.

“It is one of many sources in a story that uses creative licence to imagine a fictional, and quite different narrative, unfolding in small-town Australia at the same point in history,” Ms Todd said.

“One of my great privileges in writing this story has been the opportunity to consult with three expert astronomers, who have assisted me to ensure that the parameters of my own fictional comet are scientifically plausible.

"At the same time, I’ve been able to explore the dark-sky region in Central-Western New South Wales known as the astronomy capital of Australia, containing Siding Spring, the internationally important observatory which has played a historic role in the discovery of comets.”

Bright Objects has received excellent reviews from well-known organisations such as The New York Times, Washington Post and Australian Book Review which said Ms Todd’s book “excels in provoking the imagination.”

Editor of the Coonamble Times and Western Plains App, Lee O’Conner read Bright Objects and said she enjoyed discovering a new Australian author.

“Bright Objects is a great read. Ruby Todd weaved a story based in a small country town without making it cliched.

"She has an original and authentic voice and while the book is not necessarily based in Coonabarabran, her descriptions kept me interested from start to finish.”