How can you use Southern Cross to find direction?

How can you use Southern Cross to find direction?

Imagine a line joining the 2 stars at the ‘head’ and the ‘foot’ of the cross. Extend the line out another 4 lengths from the foot of the cross to the south celestial pole. Then look straight down from the south celestial pole to the horizon. You’ve found south!

How do you spot the Southern Cross?

To see the Southern Cross, one must be in the southern hemisphere, or at least as far south as 25°N, where the asterism is visible just above the southern horizon. In tropical latitudes, the stars can be seen from April to June.

Can the Southern Cross be seen?

At 35 degrees south latitude and all latitudes farther south, you can see the Southern Cross at any hour of the night all year around. In that part of the Southern Hemisphere, the Southern Cross is circumpolar, which means it circles the sky close to the celestial pole and is always above the horizon.

How do you read south from the Southern Cross?

Draw an imaginary line from the top of the cross to the bottom and extend it 4.5 times. Drop a vertical line from this point, which is the South Celestial Pole (SCP), to the horizon – that place is due south.

Can the Southern Cross be seen from Hawaii?

Hawaii is the only place in the 50 states where the Southern Cross, formally known as Crux, is visible in the night sky. This beautiful gem is probably the most famous constellation in the southern hemisphere, and also home to a beautiful star cluster called the “Jewel Box” named for its brilliantly colored stars.

Can you see the Southern Cross all year round?

Crux is easily visible from the southern hemisphere at practically any time of year. It is also visible near the horizon from tropical latitudes of the northern hemisphere for a few hours every night during the northern winter and spring.

Can you see the Southern Cross from Costa Rica?

Astronomy buffs will know that these months during Costa Rica’s dry season offer incredible opportunities to see in cloudless skies the constellations of the Southern Cross, Omega Centauri, the Magellanic Clouds, the Eta Carinae Nebula, and countless other spectacles in the Milky Way.

How do you determine south?

South will be halfway between 12 o’clock and the hour hand. In the Southern Hemisphere, align 12 o’clock on the watch with the sun, and the midway point between that and the hour hand will point north. When you are facing north, east is on your right and west is on your left.

Is the Southern Cross always in the South?

Where is the Southern Cross? Crux is so close to the South Celestial Pole that it is almost always visible in the Southern Hemisphere (it’s not visible in the late spring evenings from locations north of 30 degrees ie above Sydney).

Is the Southern Cross always visible in Australia?

Its position near the South Celestial Pole means the Southern Cross is almost always visible from anywhere in Australia, and because the long line of the cross points south it has always been a favourite for navigating – or just for showing off on camping trips. Learn how to use the Southern Cross to find south.

How do you use the Southern Cross to find the south?

Another slighty trickier, but more accurate, way of finding south is to use the Southern Cross and the pointer stars from the neighboring constellation Centaurus. Draw a line through the 2 stars at the “head” and the “foot” of the cross and extend it to the dark patch of the sky the same way as in the first method (Line 1).

How do you use the Southern Cross as a navigational aid?

Fortunately, the Southern Cross acts as a navigational aid. There are various ways to find the direction due south using the Southern Cross as a guide. For example, a line drawn from the star Gacrux through the star Acrux points in the general direction of the south celestial pole (the point in the sky directly above the Earth’s south pole).

How do you find the south in geography?

How do you find south? The first step is to identify the Southern Cross – it is a compact group of bright stars close together in the sky with the two Pointer stars always pointing to them from nearby. Then extend the main axis of the Cross from and in the direction of its brightest star by four and a half times its length.

When is the best time to see the Southern Cross?

You can see the Southern Cross at other times of the year, but not at such a convenient time. In middle March, for instance, you have to wait till about 1 a.m. to catch the Southern Cross at its highest point in the sky. In December and January you have to catch Crux before dawn.