Crux (/krʌks/) is a constellation centred on four stars in the southern sky in a bright portion of the Milky Way. A stylized version of Crux appears on the Australian Eureka Flag. Predominating the constellation is the first-magnitude blue-white star of α Crucis (Acrux), its brightest and most southerly member. The Incas tell that the god Ataguchu, in a fit of temper, kicked the Milky Way and a fragment flew off, forming the Small Magellanic Cloud where it landed on the sky, and leaving the black mark of the Coalsack behind. Both components are hot class B stars on the verge of becoming class O. These included a knee protector and a net used to catch Palolo worms. 1 0 0. The stars of the Southern Cross, image: Alain r at wikipedia.org. Southern Cross station is a major rail terminal in Melbourne, Australia.[38]. Observers south of 34°S can see Crux at any time of year, as the constellation is circumpolar for those latitudes: it never sets below the horizon. The constellation is surrounded on three sides by the more famous Centaurus constellation which contains the closest stars to us, Rigil Kentaurus and Proxima Centauri . We have an official Southern Cross tab made by UG professional guitarists. In the Southern Hemisphere, the Southern Cross is frequently used for navigation in much the same way that Polaris is used in the Northern Hemisphere. In the equatorial coordinate system, the right ascension coordinates of these borders lie between 11h 56.13m and 12h 57.45m , while the declination coordinates are between −55.68° and −64.70°. The star is a rapid rotator, with a projected rotational velocity of 210 km/s. Two of the brightest stars that form the cross, Alpha Crucis and Beta Crucis, are among the brightest stars in the sky and easily visible from the southern hemisphere. The closest … It has an absolute magnitude of -4.14. Bm. 12 14 6. There are several other naked-eye stars within the borders of Crux, especially: Unusually, a total of 15 of the 23 brightest stars in Crux are spectrally blue-white B-type stars. As the Southern Cross dominates Crux constellation, it is often confused for the constellation itself, which contains more than five stars. Image: ESO/S. It was named by 16th-cenury European explorers, who recognised the shape of a cross. [48] The Bakairi people of Brazil had a sprawling constellation representing a bird snare. "Vaai 'i na fetu o lo'u a agiagia ai: Brunier. The Crux also contains the dark Nebula, … The Incas knew it as “Chakana,” meaning “stair,” and it played an important part in Incan mysticism, symbolizing the three tiers of the world: the heavens, the world of the living, and the underworld. Argentine gauchos are documented as using Crux for night orientation in the Pampas and Patagonia. Faras sketched and described the constellation (calling it "Las Guardas") in a letter written on the beaches of Brazil on 1 May 1500 to the Portuguese monarch. The four main stars of the famous Southern Cross constellation are Acrux (Alpha Crucis), bottom; Becrux (Beta Crucis), left; Gacrux (Gamma Crucis), top; and Delta Crucis, right. 4. Epsilon Crucis is also known as Intrometida, or “the intrusive one” in Portuguese. Their rhea is attacked by two dogs, represented by bright stars in Centaurus and Circinus. A. Oranges Mandarins. The Southern Cross. Alpha and Beta Centauri are sometimes called the Pointers, or the Southern Pointers, to differentiate them from the two stars in the Big Dipper. Standard tuning, and simple strumming. The STAR program allows you to secure your place in a Southern Cross University degree before your Year 12 results are even released. The Southern Cross is the smallest and one of the eighty eight known constellations in the galaxy. So distinctive and evocative is the Southern Cross that the national flags of Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and Samoa all include a representation of it. The Southern Cross was visible in the northern hemisphere about 5,000 years ago, including most of North America, as well as Babylonia and Greece. The five stars that form the Southern Cross are represented on the flags of Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, and Brazil. The Southern Celestial Pole can also be located by drawing a line between the stars Alpha and Beta Centauri in Centaurus constellation, and finding the point where this line intersects with the one from Alpha to Gamma Crucis. Due to precession, Crux will move closer to the South Pole in the next millennia, up to 67 degrees south declination for the middle of the constellation. Projecting a line from γ to α Crucis (the foot of the crucifix) approximately 4.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px;white-space:nowrap} 1⁄2 times beyond gives a point close to the Southern Celestial Pole[3] which is also, coincidentally, where intersects a perpendicular line taken southwards from the east-west axis of Alpha Centauri to Beta Centauri, which are stars at an alike declination to Crux and of a similar width as the cross, but higher magnitude. The 1952-53 NBC Television Series Victory At Sea contained a musical number entitled "Beneath the Southern Cross". 8 6 0. [6][7] Historians generally credit João Faras[a] for being the first European to depict it correctly. Its name is Latin for cross, and it is dominated by a cross-shaped or kite-like asterism that is commonly known as the Southern Cross. Several southern countries and organisations have traditionally used Crux as a national or distinctive symbol. [42], The Javanese people of Indonesia called this constellation Gubug pèncèng ("raking hut") or lumbung ("the granary"), because the shape of the constellation was like that of a raking hut. [4] Others argue that Dante's description was allegorical, and that he almost certainly did not know about the constellation. The vessel is en route to the port of Barrow Island, sailing at a speed of 16.9 knots and expected to arrive there on Dec 6, 00:00.. 3. Between the two is the even larger and dimmer Diamond Cross. 18 22 3. They also appear on the flags of the Australian state of Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory, the Northern Territory, as well as the flag of Magallanes Region of Chile, the flag of Londrina (Brazil) and several Argentine provincial flags and emblems (for example, Tierra del Fuego and Santa Cruz). 1 of 18. Observers in the tropical latitudes of the northern hemisphere can see it near the horizon in winter and spring, but only for a few hours every night. Image: Flickr. At first glance, one cannot tell that the flag features the Southern Cross since it is reversed, unlike other flags. δ Crucis (Delta Crucis), formally named Imai and sometimes known as Pálida (“the pale one” in Portuguese) has a visual magnitude of 2.79 and lies at a distance of around 345 light years from Earth. The stars of the Southern Cross – Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon Crucis – form an asterism that really looks more like a kite than a cross.Two of the brightest stars that form the cross, Alpha Crucis and Beta Crucis, are among the brightest stars in the sky and easily visible from the southern hemisphere. Acrux is located at -63° declination and can only be seen south of latitude 27°N. In "O Sweet Saint Martin's Land", the lyrics mention the Southern Cross: Thy Southern Cross the night. It was an important symbol to the Egyptians and the Aborigines among other cultures. The flag of Brazil depicts a starry sky on a circular blue background. There is no specific northern hemisphere equivalent although the constellation Cygnus comes close due to its near cross shape. As a result of precession, the Southern Cross eventually sank below the horizon for most of the northern hemisphere. Another famous sight seen from southern latitudes — though it can creep into view in tropical northern latitudes — is the Southern Cross, or Crux. 3. southern cross stars in the sky with silhouetted hill - southern cross stars stock pictures, royalty-free photos & images amazing starry night at lake rotoiti. Its stars were first catalogued separately from Centaurus by Frederick de Houtman in 1603. The cross could be seen from Athens at the time, but it was low in the sky. The Southern Cross is also included in the national anthems of Australia and Brazil. The Southern Cross is one of the most recognisable patterns of stars in the southern night sky, and forms part of the constellation Crux. D. 2. It was in this period – at some point in the 17th century – that Crux was finally separated from Centaurus. The flag of the Mercosur trading zone displays the four brightest stars. The Petersflagge flag of the German East Africa Company of 1885–1920, which included a constellation of five white five-pointed Crux "stars" on a red ground, later served as the model for symbolism associated with generic German colonial-oriented organisations: the Reichskolonialbund of 1936–1943 and the Friends of the former German Protectorates [de] (1956/1983 to the present). Cross Sky Blue. 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. 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