The Constellation Crux, the Southern Cross
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Crux - The Southern Cross
If you live in the Southern hemisphere, or if you are vacationing in
someplace like Hawaii, you can see a small but beautiful constellation
with the shape of a cross. Its name is Crux and it is located very close
to the constellation of
Centaurus.
The brightest star in Crux is called Acrux. Acrux is really two stars
going around (orbitting!) each other, but they are so far away that we
see them as one star.
Explorers of the Southern hemisphere used Crux to guide them when
sailing. By looking at Crux, they could figure out in which direction
to sail without getting lost.
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