The Southern Cross holds an exalted status as a navigational aid too, which likely explains why it features so prominently on the flags of five nations - the four countries listed above, plus New Zealand. Wherever the Southern Cross is visible in the world, it is highest in the sky at midnight in early April. Adelaide, Melbourne, Hobart, Canberra and Sydney) and the entirety of New Zealand. Put simply, Crux can be seen from anywhere south of the Tropic of Cancer when best placed, and never sets at all as seen from southern Chile, Argentina, the southern tip of South Africa (inc. The Southern Cross is visible at upper culmination (i.e., above the south celestial pole) from all latitudes south of 27° North and circumpolar (never sets) from latitudes south of 33° South. Fourth-magnitude epsilon (ε) Crucis is the fainter fifth star between α and δ that features on the national flags of Australia, Brazil, Papua New Guinea and Samoa. Its four stars are, clockwise from top in the image above, Acrux (α Crucis), Mimosa (β Crucis), Gacrux (γ Crucis) and delta (δ) Crucis - the latter not having a proper name. Alpha (α) Centauri - the third-brightest nighttime star - and nearby beta (β) Centauri act as convenient pointers to the Southern Cross that all lie within a span of an outstretched hand at arm’s length.Ĭrux is so small that the field of view of a 7×50 binocular easily encompasses the entire cross- or kite-shaped asterism. Image credit: © Ade Ashford.The Southern Cross, or Crux to give it its official name, is the smallest of all the 88 constellations and an iconic feature of the antipodean sky. Click the graphic for a larger image without annotations. This is a tracked cumulative 3-minute exposure at ISO1600 with a full-spectrum Canon 450D equipped with a Samyang 85mm lens at f/2.8, taken in the heart of New Zealand’s South Island on 8 January 2016. The Southern Cross (or Crux) seen against a bright and rich backdrop of the Milky Way.
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