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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