Some well-known and high profile groups such as the Astronomical League have created observing programs specifically intended to encourage amateur astronomers to observe asterisms and some amateur astronomers have invested large amounts of energy and enthusiasm in looking for asterisms to add to the ever-growing catalogue of these objects. It is disappointing that some researchers have perhaps taken themselves and their desire to find new objects rather too seriously. Amateur astronomy is supposed to be fun and those people seeking to impose a rigid framework on what constitutes an asterism worthy of "catalogue status" need to remind themselves that any catalogue they create is entirely unofficial. As my contribution to the genre I wrote a piece of software that allows me to hunt for asterisms. The minimum number of stars to be in the asterism, the minimum brightness of the stars making up the "design" and the angular size of the asterism can all be pre-selected. The astrometric (positional) and photometric data used by the software was obtained from the UCAC4 catalogue. Over 3,500 asterisms are included in this collection. Some are unquestionably more visually attractive than others but any one of them will make an interesting diversion from the endlessly recycled objects that alternative publications continue to list!
Author: Martin P. Nicholson Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform Published: 11/02/2014 Pages: 112 Binding Type: Paperback Weight: 0.61lbs Size: 11.00h x 8.50w x 0.23d ISBN: 9781503074613
About the Author Martin Nicholson (born 1954) was educated at St Albans School in Hertfordshire and then at Nottingham University. After a brief spell working in the food industry Martin became a college lecturer initially based in Somerset and later in Northamptonshire before retiring from the post as Director of Information Technology at Guilsborough School in 2005. Although he had a successful career as a teacher he is probably best known for the 30 years+ he served as a school governor and for the extensive work he carried out in the field of amateur astronomy. Martin was one of the first amateur astronomers to see the potential of remote access astronomy and it is testimony to his determination that what was initially regarded with great scepticism by the astronomical establishment has now become standard practice for most serious enthusiasts. The same could be said for his work in astronomical data mining.
