The Southern Cross, or Crux 2 Apr 2022

Capture

Sony a7iii 105mm f/4, 5/2 sec, ISO3200 stacked in DeepSky Stacker

Date

2 April 2022

Location

Camden, NSW

Original

4449 × 3858 px

The Southern Cross, or Crux 2 Apr 2022 is the smallest of the 88 modern constellations but is a prominent, iconic asterism in the Southern Hemisphere, easily recognised. Centered on four main bright stars arranged in a cross shape — Acrux, Mimosa, Gacrux and Imai, Crux lies in one of the richest parts of the Milky Way. Even small binoculars reveal dense star fields, clusters, and dark nebulae around it. You can use the Southern Cross to determine how dark your skies are. Poor skies - you can only see 4 main bright stars of the cross, Moderate skies - can see ε Crucis, Dark skies - can see 6-10 stars within and immediately surrounding the cross shape.

See it in the miscellaneous gallery