by Steve Goldberg

Asterism: A grouping of stars that form a recognizable pattern.
Constellation: Sextans
Right Ascension: 10 h, 20 m 10s
Declination: 03^o 06’ 20”
Magnitude:  10
Size: 15’ (minutes)

This grouping of 5 stars is called the “A Asterism”. It was named by Houston Astronomical Society member Bram Weisman. It is located in Sextans, between Regulus Alpha α in Leo and Alpha α Hydra.
It is located at the “point” of a triangle formed with stars Alpha α and Beta β Sextans.
The letter “A” is very distinctive. The magnification in this view is 48x. This asterism is recognized by the Astronomical League in their Asterism Observing Program. Information about that AL program can be found here:   Asterism Observing Program Bram wrote a “discovery” article in the May, 2017 Guidestar. You can see the Guidestar article here.

By: Steve Goldberg

Asterism: a grouping of stars that form a recognizable pattern.

	This grouping of 5 stars is called the “A Asterism”. It was named by Houston Astronomical Society member Bram Weisman. It is located in Sextans, between Regulus Alpha α in Leo and Alpha α Hydra.
	It is located at the “point” of a triangle formed with stars Alpha α and Beta β Sextans.
	The letter “A” is very distinctive. The magnification in this view is 48x. This asterism is recognized by the Astronomical League in their Asterism Observing Program. Information about that AL program can be found here:   Asterism Observing Program Bram wrote a “discovery” article in the May, 2017 Guidestar. You can see the Guidestar article here.

It really doesn’t matter whether you are a new astronomer who got a cool new telescope for Christmas (though it might make you the target of blame) or if you are a seasoned observer with more telescopes in your collection than you can count. By now you are getting frustrated with the weather!

Since before the New Moon in December, south east Texas has had only a few brief periods, measured in hours (not nights) that were clear enough to do astronomy. We call this condition being PHOTON STARVED!

Photon Starvation Syndrome occurs when an individual who has been regularly exposed to concentrated ancient photons (described as any photons having spent more than 8 minutes traversing outer space) is continually and rudely cut off from their source – a clear night sky. Symptoms include frequent checking of the hourly and 10-day weather forecast, repetitive and enthusiastic setup of one’s astronomy equipment followed by a frustrated take down of it only a few hours later, and involuntarily kicking the dirt while gazing disappointedly at the night sky. While uncomfortable to the individual, the toll on the sufferer’s family is much higher as they must cope with bouts of erratic behavior, emotional outbursts, and overall general grumpiness of their afflicted loved one. 

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