How do you find the Southern Cross?

Find two very bright stars close together, the Pointers (Alpha and Beta Centauri). Follow the line between them away from Alpha; the first compact group of four bright stars in a kite shape is the Southern Cross, Crux. It is the smallest of the 88 constellations, so it looks smaller than people expect.

Step by step

1. Look south after dark. In southern autumn and winter evenings (April to August) the Cross stands high.
2. Find the Pointers: two bright stars, one yellowish (Alpha Centauri), one blue-white (Beta).
3. Follow them to the Cross. Its brightest stars are Acrux at the foot, Gacrux at the top, Mimosa on the left arm and Imai on the right. A fifth, fainter star sits off centre.
4. Next to the Cross on dark nights you’ll see the Coalsack, a dark cloud in the Milky Way.

The False Cross

A bigger, fainter cross made of stars in Carina and Vela fools many beginners. Two checks:

	Southern Cross	False Cross
Size	Small	Noticeably larger
Pointers nearby	Yes	No
Fifth star	Yes, faint	No

Using it to find south

Extend the long axis (Gacrux to Acrux) about four and a half times. That point is close to the south celestial pole; drop straight down to the horizon for south. There’s no bright pole star in the south, so this is the usual method.

From the northern hemisphere

From places south of about 25° north, such as Hawaii, the Cross appears low on the southern horizon in spring evenings. From Europe and most of the US it never rises.

Sky Map (my app) shows Crux and the Pointers in the live AR view; point the phone south and they’re labelled. For the northern equivalent, see how to find the North Star. More in the Sky Map guides.