Clifford Cunningham

Clifford J. Cunningham is a Canadian-Scottish professional astronomer and author of numerous books on asteroids. In 2014 he discovered a previously unrecognised allusion to the aurora borealis in Milton's Paradise Lost. In 2020 he published evidence that Manilius, not Hipparchus, developed the numerical stellar magnitude system. His seventh asteroid book was published in 2021. In development is an edited book on history of astronomy in the 18th century, which will be published by Bloomsbury; and a chapter on the science fiction aspects of asteroid and cometary impacts, for an edited book entitled Cosmic Apocalypse. In development is a book to be published in 2031, on the centenary of the international Eros Parallax Project.

Awards and honors

In 1990, the Mars-crossing asteroid 4276 Clifford, discovered by American astronomer Edward Bowell in 1981, was named in his honor. The official was published by the Minor Planet Center on 10 April 1990 .