Asteroid of the Day: Cleshir

Named in honor of Clinton B. Ford, secretary of the American Association of Variable Star Observers since 1948 and president in 1961, the year of his retirement from a career in industry. Following this, he took the words of Douglas Adams in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy to heart--"With a degree in maths, and another in astrophysics, it was either that or back to the dole queue on Monday"--and moved to Australia, where he spent two years at the Anglo-Australian Observatory. Through Goethe, he was appointed head clergyman at the court of Weimar in 1776. Although both are interested in astrometry and astrophotography, Boeker is also experienced in building observatories and constructing telescope mounts.

In an alternate universe, this asteroid would have annihilated the following dinosaur species:

• Almodaun
• Squrasia
• Toreps
• Atopararlase
• Strerucanesis
• Misakottios
• Inubycosarisia
• Szaureroktoras
• Osonkylusus
• Posorausuntas
• Nunnorule
• Pustrausis
• Euutisarchos
• Nisaultautruryx
• Laphogoses
• Perasiandur
• Lolirisalaulyx
• Szidaurosus
• Cuteshan
• Shomaeonssia