Southern Cross

The southern hemisphere sky is strange. I got to be quite good at identifying the constellations as a youngster: first Boy Scouts and then the Astronomy Club at State U - yes I was a geek, why do you ask?

Then came the trip to Johannesburg, and suddenly there were no familiar constellations. I wish I had had this picture (from Astronomy Picture of the Day) - there's a lot worth seeing.

There's the Southern Cross, made famous by the Crosby, Stills, and Nash song in the 1980s. There's Alpha Centauri, the closest star after the Sun, and the brightest star in the southern sky. For Science Fiction geeks, there's the Coal Sack, center stage for Niven and Pournelle's space opera The Mote In God's Eye.

This is quite an amazing picture, and several times larger if you click through to AOPD.

Yes, I'm still a geek. Why do you ask?