… Covering 68 square degrees and 0.165% of the night sky, it is the smallest of the 88 constellations. ... southern cross constellation southern cross symbol southern cross stars. While there is a star near the South Celestial Pole, Sigma Octantis, it’s too dim to do you much good for finding south. These flags, and many others such as the Eureka Flag (which came into use at the Eureka Stockade in 1854), featured stars representing the Southern Cross. Crux is backlit by the multitude of stars of the Scutum-Crux Arm (more commonly called the Scutum-Centaurus Arm) of the Milky Way. ("Look at those stars that are waving on it: Draw an imaginary line connecting the 2 stars that are a shorter distance apart. – Delta Crucis is a blue-white subgiant (B2IV) situated 360 light years distant that shines with an apparent magnitude of 2.78. In the Southern Hemisphere, start by finding the Southern Cross constellation, a collection of 4 bright stars that make a distinctive cross marking the South Pole. Within the constellation's borders, there are 49 stars brighter than or equal to apparent magnitude 6.5. In Quechua, the language of the Inca civilization, Crux is known as "Chakana", which means literally "stair" (chaka, bridge, link; hanan, high, above), but carries a deep symbolism within Quechua mysticism. Last updated Jul 02 2013. With the help of binoculars or a telescope, one can see a cluster of many blue and red stars in the Southern Cross with the bright stars more prominent and shaped like a cross. Directed by James Becket. The Southern Cross not only spins around the southern sky once a year, it also does a complete circle each 24 hours. Anyway, as many have said the Southern Cross is not a constellation, so the answer's 4 or 5 depending on which side of the ditch you are! In some strange and mysterious way, the four stars that comprise the constellation Crux — better known as the Southern Cross — have come to represent the lands that lie below the equator. The bar of the "A" consists of a line of four stars. Stars in the night sky in a constellation are grouped together to form a constellation. [47] Alpha and Beta Crucis make up one foot of the Great Rhea, a constellation encompassing Centaurus and Circinus along with the two bright stars. The flag of New Zealand resembles the flag of Australia but without the Commonwealth Star and the smaller five-pointed star of the Southern Cross. The little one is out of line and further damages the shape. Crux (Latin for cross) is not visible north of +20° in the northern hemisphere but it is circumpolar south of 34° in the southern hemisphere which means that it never sets below the horizon there. Although they look like they are close together when we view them from Earth, they are really very far apart. [43], The Southern Cross (α, β, γ and δ Crucis) together with μ Crucis is one of the asterisms used by Bugis sailors for navigation, called bintoéng bola képpang, meaning "incomplete house star"[44], The Māori name for the Southern Cross is Māhutonga and it is thought of as the anchor (Te Punga) of Tama-rereti's waka (the Milky Way), while the Pointers are its rope. Between the two is the even larger and dimmer Diamond Cross. This aquatic theme is also shared by an archaic name of the constellation in Vietnam, where it was once known as sao Cá Liệt (the ponyfish star). These included a knee protector and a net used to catch Palolo worms. Le faailoga lea o Iesu, na maliu ai mo Samoa." 1 of 27. 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