All Skies Encyclopaedia

The All Skies Encyclopaedia (ASE) is a collection of dictionaries on historical uranologies. It builds upon several different previous research projects: Gennady Kurtik, Susanne M Hoffmann and Wayne Horowitz created the dictionary of Mesopotamian names for stars and constellations, called "Planetarium Babylonicum 2.0". It is long known that the Mesopotamian constellations were not stable over time (e.g. as the zodiac of twelve equal sections of the ecliptic was invented in 400 BCE±10y), and Susanne M Hoffmann pointed out the changes of the ancient Greek constellations. The ASE describes and maps the historical changes and, thus, preserves the intangible astronomical heritage. Based on the Greco-Babylonian example, Susanne M Hoffmann developed similar dictionaries for other cultures: With Boshun Yang she creates "Planetarium Sinicum" that demonstrates the also ever-changing Chinese constellations, and with Roland Lafitte, Khalid Al-Ajaji and Danielle Adams, she develops the "Planetarium Arabicum" consisting of at least two versions: the indigenous Arabian and the Almagest-Arabian sky.

The modern IAU-constellations are given as the modern frame of reference and their histories explained.

Further indigenous and historical cultures will follow. Furthermore, the encyclopaedia is used (and successively enriched) by the IAU Working Group on Star Names.

http://all-skies-encyclopaedia.exopla.net

Contact: Susanne M. Hoffmann