✨ Constellation
Crux
The Southern Cross: the smallest constellation, and the most famous in southern skies.
- Name means
- The Cross
- Best seen
- May evenings
- Where to see it
- The southern half of Earth, and low in the sky from the northern tropics
- Brightest star
- Acrux
- Stars in the pattern
- 4
Did you know?
- It appears on the flags of Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Papua New Guinea and Samoa.
- Its long arm points roughly towards the south pole of the sky, which helps people find south.
More NASA photos of CruxStraight from NASA’s image library, in the app
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All of night sky
Orion
The Hunter, with three bright stars in a row for his belt.
Ursa Major
The Great Bear, home of the Big Dipper.
Ursa Minor
The Little Bear, with Polaris at the tip of its tail.
Cassiopeia
A bright W of five stars, named after a boastful queen.
Scorpius
The Scorpion, with red Antares at its heart.
Leo
The Lion, whose head is a backwards question mark of stars.