Is There an official or unofficial asterism list Available?

Question

Looking for a list with both official and un-official entries. I have one with 110 items but hear there is one containing 1200+. Does anyone know about this list and where I can get a copy? Could I contribute to the list?

Thanks in advance, Mr Q

Answer 1

Asterisms have no official standing, so there is no official list of them. One of the best sources is Phil Harrington's book The Deep Sky, now out-of-print, unfortunately, as it's one of the best books on deep sky observing around.

Answer 2

I did a google search on "asterism list" and I found quite a few but as for any of them being "official" That would all depend on what your definition of official is.  In the Astronomical world----one doesn't exist  

Answer 3

by definition, there is no such thing as an official asterism.

anybody who spends any time at all under the sky is going to come up with their own asterisms. like the little arrow that points at m104, or the long skinny triangle (i've heard it called "the dividers") when you star hop to m81 and m82.

the september sky & telescope shows how they used to show sagittarius, before anybody realized it looked like a teapot.