Crux

From Slackerpedia Galactica

Crux Constellation Starchart

Crux, commonly known as the Southern Cross (a.k.a. Arux Australis), is the smallest of the 88 modern constellations (covering 0.16% of the night sky).

The constellation is often used, with "The Pointers", Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri, to determine the south as there is no southern pole star. However, one must be careful as some people often mistake the diamond shaped constellation Vela for the kite shaped Crux. Because of this Vela has been called the "False cross".

Crux has the distinction of formerly being observable from Greece as recently as 1000 B.C. It moved south (due to precession of the Earth) and now can no longer be seen from Greece. The ancient Greeks had assigned the stars of Crux to the constellation Centaurus. But then they lost the stars to the horizon and they were not seen again by western civilization until 16th century European explorers headed south. At this point Christianity had taken hold and it was renamed Crux in honor of Jesus' cross.

Civilizations native to the southern hemisphere have associated the cross with a bird's foot print, a house or a pair of brothers next to a river (the Milky Way - which flows through Crux).

Crux is denoted on the Australian (above) and New Zealand national flags.

External Links

• Around the Southern Cross - A guide and history to Crux
• Wikipedia