Crux

English name Southern Cross

Major
stars alpha Crucis Acrux magn. 0,9 RA: 12h 26m 35.96s Dec: -63° 05' 56.5"
beta Crucis Mimosa magn. 1,4 RA: 12h 47m 43.30s Dec: -59° 41' 19.3"
gamma Crucis Gacrux magn. 1,6 RA: 12h 31m 09.95s Dec: -57° 06' 47.0"
delta Crucis magn. 3,1 RA: 12h 15m 08.69s Dec: -58° 44' 55.8"

Description Crux is the smallest constellation of the whole sky, but it is also one of the most famous and characteristic. It is between Centaurus' legs.
Acrux, the principal star of the constellation, is the fourteenth star in order of brightness: it is a double formed by two white-blue components, of magnitude 1,4 and 1,9. Another couple of white-blue stars, though less shining, is my Crucis.
Around kappa Crucis there is NGC 4755, an open cluster called Jewel Box Cluster, because its group of sparkling stars remembers the shine of a casket of jewels.

Mythology
and history The Greeks too knew the Southern Cross, but they considered its stars as share of the Centaurus' hind legs. It was probably the Italian navigator Andrea Corsali who described it for the first time, in 1516: Crux, he wrote, is so fair and beautiful that no other heavenly sign can be compared to it. The cross was used by the sailors to individualize the South Pole and the astronomers considered it as a distinct constellation beginning from the end of the XVI century.

English name	Southern Cross

Major stars	alpha Crucis	Acrux	magn. 0,9	RA: 12h 26m 35.96s	Dec: -63° 05' 56.5"
	beta Crucis	Mimosa	magn. 1,4	RA: 12h 47m 43.30s	Dec: -59° 41' 19.3"
	gamma Crucis	Gacrux	magn. 1,6	RA: 12h 31m 09.95s	Dec: -57° 06' 47.0"
	delta Crucis		magn. 3,1	RA: 12h 15m 08.69s	Dec: -58° 44' 55.8"

Description	Crux is the smallest constellation of the whole sky, but it is also one of the most famous and characteristic. It is between Centaurus' legs. Acrux, the principal star of the constellation, is the fourteenth star in order of brightness: it is a double formed by two white-blue components, of magnitude 1,4 and 1,9. Another couple of white-blue stars, though less shining, is my Crucis. Around kappa Crucis there is NGC 4755, an open cluster called Jewel Box Cluster, because its group of sparkling stars remembers the shine of a casket of jewels.

Mythology and history	The Greeks too knew the Southern Cross, but they considered its stars as share of the Centaurus' hind legs. It was probably the Italian navigator Andrea Corsali who described it for the first time, in 1516: Crux, he wrote, is so fair and beautiful that no other heavenly sign can be compared to it. The cross was used by the sailors to individualize the South Pole and the astronomers considered it as a distinct constellation beginning from the end of the XVI century.

Crux

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