Crux constellation
Latin Crux, genitive Crux, abbreviation Cru
North up, east to the left, as you see the sky. The lines are a common figure; the stars are from the catalogue.
The myth
The Southern Cross, the smallest of all constellations and the best known of the southern sky: it appears on the flags of Australia, New Zealand and Brazil. For the Greeks its stars belonged to the Centaur; European seafarers made it a constellation of its own in the 16th century. Extend its long bar a little more than four times and you reach the south celestial pole, and so due south. It cannot be seen from Europe.
When can Crux be seen?
It stands highest around 10 pm in April. It can be seen from everywhere south of 20°N, and it never sets south of 33°S.
The brightest stars
| Star | Designation | Magnitude | Colour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mimosa | β Cru | 1.25 | bluish |
| Acrux | α1 Cru | 1.33 | bluish |
| Gacrux | γ Cru | 1.63 | reddish |
| – | α2 Cru | 1.73 | bluish |
| Imai | δ Cru | 2.80 | bluish |
| Ginan | ε Cru | 3.59 | reddish |
| – | μ1 Cru | 4.03 | bluish |
| – | ζ Cru | 4.04 | bluish |
The smaller the number, the brighter: below 1 are the brightest stars of the sky, 4 is hard to see under a city sky. Greek letters after Johann Bayer (1603).