Pattern Asterisms: A New Way to Chart the Stars

Orion is a familiar constellation. He even looks like a hunter – at least it’s easy to visualize his belt and sword.

Since the very beginning of astronomy, people have looked up at the night sky and constructed patterns out of the almost random scattering of stars. The fact that the constellations are still used today reflects their usefulness in identifying bright stars in the rotating dome of the sky.

But why stop there?

What applies to big groups of stars can also be applied to smaller ones – so here is a set of memorable mini-constellations to help astronomers identify and remember stars in typical binocular or low-magnification telescopic fields. Size, stellar magnitudes, and coordinates are provided, along with north direction, star-hopping instructions and Sky Atlas 2000 references.

Not only is this book a new and effective aid to navigating the night sky, it’s also the basis of a great group activity for star parties – guessing and visualizing entirely new star patterns!