The Southern Cross
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																		MENU Image 1 Image 2 Image 3 Image 4 Image 5 Commentary and statistics
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	Image 2
							STAR									Magnitude							Distance, LY		BV					Solar Radii
							Alpha								0.75															13
																							321
																									-0.24
							Mimosa								1.25
																							353							11
																									-0.24
							Gamma								1.56
																							88							113
																									1.6
							Delta								2.78
																							364		-0.19					7
							Epsilon								3.56
																							228		1.394					60
								Eta							4.12
																							64		0.35					1.8
									Zeta						4.03
																							362							4
																									-0.17
							Theta								4.31
																							231		0.28					5
							Iota								4.68
																							125		-0.24					8
																															?
							Kappa								5.87								7500		0.2
						Lambda									4.59								360		-0.15					4
				Common Name: CRUX Other Names: The Southern Cross RA: 12 : 30 Dec -60 Brightest Star: Acrux 0.87 Closest Star: Eta crux 64 light years Visible from latitudes: +20 ... -90 Bordering Constellations: Musca, Centaurus, Carina Crux also known as the Southern Cross is the smallest of the constellations, however one of the most recognisable. It covers 68 square degrees in the sky. The greeks had this group of stars as part of centaurus but was named a constellation in the 16th century. With no pole star in the South, the southern cross is commonly used to locate the South Celestial Pole (SCP), A line is drawn from acux to gacrux and exteded 4.5 times that interval. Another common method uses the pointers alpha and beta centauri where a line is drawn at a right angle from midway between the 2 stars. Where the line intersects the one from the southern cross denotes the SCP. On a dark moonless night the coal sack is easily visible against the backdrop of the Milky Way. It is an area devoid of stars, in fact it is a large cloud of gas and dust obscuring more distant stars. The cloud is 5 x 7 degress across and some 555 light years distant. This will produce a family of stars one day in the future. Crux also houses the Jewel box (NGC 4755) a gorgeous open cluster. It contains a red supergiant. Acrux is a multiple star system and is a good test on the resoving power of your telescope. Two stars are B0.5. Each of these are spectroscopic binaries.There is a third more distant B4 dwarf easily separated with binoculars. Mimosa is a double, one at magnitude 1.3 and the other 11.4. Gacrux is a triple star system. The primary star is a prominent red giant at magnitude 1.6. The secondary star is magnitude 6.7 separated by 111 arc seconds. The 3rd component is 1 arcsecond away at magnitude 9.5. Open Star Clusters: The Jewel Box, NGC 4755 NGC 4103 NGC 4349 NGC 4337 NGC 4052 Globular Clusters nil Dark Nebula The Coal Sack Emission Nebula RCW 71 Planatery Nebula PK 300 - 1.1 PK 300 - 0.1 PK 299 - 1.1 PK 299 -2.1 Galaxies nil