Doorstep Astronomy: See the Big Dipper Posted on May 12th
But for those who live in the Southern Hemisphere, it’s not the
Big Dipper that people choose as their guide to the night sky but rather,
it’s the constellation known as Crux, the Southern
Cross. Those south of the equator (where the season is now midautumn),
need only cast a glance toward the south where they’ll see the distinctive
shape of the Cross hanging well up in the sky. To some, it looks more like a
kite, though the Cross is clearly outlined by four bright stars, two of which,
Acrux and Becrux, are of the first magnitude. From top to bottom, Crux measures
just 6 degrees only a little taller than the distance between the Pointer
stars of the Big Dipper. In fact, the Southern Cross is the smallest (in area)
of all the constellations. Like the Big Dipper of the northern sky, the
Southern Cross indicates the location of the pole and as such is often utilized
by navigators. The longer bar of the Cross points almost exactly toward the
south pole of the sky which some aviators and navigators have named the
“south polar pit” because, unfortunately, it is not marked by any
bright star.