Southern Cross
From the Wakatobi Dive Resort, at six degrees south latitude, the Southern Cross becomes a familiar sight in the night sky. Here it is clearly embedded in the Milky Way, and is found most easily using the two "pointer" stars (at the upper edge of the cloud) that point to the star at the top of the cross (in the hole in the cloud). The stars in the cross (starting from the bottom and moving clockwise) are Alpha Crucis, Beta Crucis, Gamma Crucis and Delta Crucis. Gamma has a distinct reddish hue, while the others are distinctly blue. A line drawn from Gamma through Alpha points (very close) to the south pole.
From this latitude the Big Dipper was visible, but Polaris, the north star, was below the horizon.
Thanks to James Deverich for technical support and hospitality.
Southern Cross
From the Wakatobi Dive Resort, at six degrees south latitude, the Southern Cross becomes a familiar sight in the night sky. Here it is clearly embedded in the Milky Way, and is found most easily using the two "pointer" stars (at the upper edge of the cloud) that point to the star at the top of the cross (in the hole in the cloud). The stars in the cross (starting from the bottom and moving clockwise) are Alpha Crucis, Beta Crucis, Gamma Crucis and Delta Crucis. Gamma has a distinct reddish hue, while the others are distinctly blue. A line drawn from Gamma through Alpha points (very close) to the south pole.
From this latitude the Big Dipper was visible, but Polaris, the north star, was below the horizon.
Thanks to James Deverich for technical support and hospitality.