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Star Lore Crux Early Observations and Modern Day Use

Andrea Corsali

Crux is a constellation in the southern sky. Its name is Latin for cross. The constellation cannot be seen in Europe and only in the southern parts of Asia.

Greek Mythology Ptolemy did his observations in one of the southernmost spots of the antique world - Alexandria. From there, he very well observed the stars of the Cross, but considered them only an asterism, forming a part of the hind legs of Centaurus. By 400 AD, due to the effects of precession, the Cross drifted out of view from anywhere in Europe or the Mediterranean. It would take one thousand years, before European sailors would spot it again. Source:Ian Ridpath, Wikipedia

Crux at the hind legs of Centaurus in a colored copy of Uranometria, 1641

The Age of Discovery Starting in 1415, under the supervision of Prince Henry the Navigator, Portugese ships ventured south along the African coast, reaching the Senegal River and Cap Vert in 1444. In 1455, Venetian captain Alvise Cadamosto set sail for West Africa on a caravel supplied by Prince Henry. While the incentive of his voyage was inhuman and questionable (he traded Iberian horses for slaves), his contribution to navigation, especially his descriptions of the West African coast turned out to be invaluable. In 1455, on exiting the Gambia River, Cadamosto made a first notion of the constellation, which he called Carro dell'ostro (The Southern Chariot). However, his observation was not precise enough to put the stars on a map. The first correct and detailed description of the constellation is credited to Joćo Faras, an astronomer who accompanied Pedro Cabral on the 1500 voyage that led to the discovery of Brazil. In May 1500, one of the ships of Cabral's fleet returned to Portugal to inform the monarchs about the Brazilian land claim. The ship also carried Faras' accurate sketch of the southern skies.

Mestre Joćo at the Brazilian coast Source: Recanto das Letras Sketch by Joćo Faras letter of May 1, 1500 Source: Wikipedia

Joćo's sketch included the Southern Cross, which he called Las Guardas (The Guardians), a constellation called La Bosa, consisting mostly of stars that are located in Apus and Triangulum Australe and the celestial South Pole (El Polo Antartyco), which he placed between the stars χ Octantis and μ Hydrae. Florentine explorer Amerigo Vespucci may have observed the Southern Cross at about the same time as Joćo, on his second voyage in 1499-1500, but his letter to Lorenzo de' Medici got lost and wasn't re-discovered until 1745; thus Vespucci could only rely on his memory in his account of the Cross and (for the first time in Europe) the Coalsack Nebula. According to Ian Ridpath, the most accurate early description of the Southern Cross came in 1515 from Italian explorer Andrea Corsali, who undertook several voyages to India on Portugese ships on behalf of the Medici family. Corsali described the asterism as "so fair and beautiful that no other heavenly sign may be compared to it". Corsali's precise measurements enabled sailors to use the constellation for Navigation by pinpointing the south celestial pole. Sailors soon started calling the four brightest stars Acrux, Becrux, Gacrux and Decrux for Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta Crux. (Why β Crucis later received the name Mimosa is not clear. Most likely it was named after the Flower of the same name.

Amerigo Vespucci mapping the Southern Cross Etching by Jan Collaert, 1591 Source: Wikimedia Corsali's letter to the Medici family Print by Johannes Stephanus Papiensis, December 1516 Source: Swiss Review Art

In 1589, the new constellation was presented visually for the first time on a celestial globe made by Dutch cartographer Floris van Langren. The globe showed the Southern Cross, the Magellanic Clouds (though without a lable) and a Triangulus Antarcticus. That is not the later Triangulum Australe but rather a group of stars south of Argo Navis, observed by Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci whose records, unfortunately, got lost. The globe and others like it were initiated by Dutch cartographer Petrus Plancius, who was one of the most notable people in the development of modern constellations. In 1603, on his initiative, Crux, the Southern Cross, was listed as a separate constellation in the Uranometria. Sources: Wikipedia, Ian Ridpath

Crux and Triangulus Antarcticus on van Langren's celestial globe Source: Royal Museum Greenwich

China In Chinese, Southern Cross is written 南 十 字 座 According to Ian Ridpath, "...Chinese astronomers worked at a similar latitude to Ptolemy, so they were able to see the same stars as he did, including those of Crux. However, the effect of precession gradually carried this part of the southern sky below their horizon about 1500 years ago, as it did for European astronomers. The stars we know as Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta Crucis were once part of the constellation Kulou, which represented a military depot. In their book The Chinese Sky During the Han, Sun and Kistemaker show these four stars forming a diamond-shaped tower at the southern end of the depot. Later, though, this feature was placed farther north among the stars of Centaurus. Source: Ian Ridpath

Wikipedia places the stars in an asterism called Shķzģjią which literally means "Cross" in the Southern Asterisms. The sky around the south celestial pole cannot be seen from China and was therefore not included in the Three Enclosures and Twenty-Eight Mansions system. In 1601, Italian Jesuite priest Matteo Ricci was the first European to enter the Forbidden City of Beijing on an invitation by emperor Wanli. He became the emperor's court advisor in matters of astronomy and calendrical science. Ricci introduced Chinese scientist Xu Guangqi to the constellations of the southern skies as they were observed by European explorers. Starting in 1629, Xu Guangqi introduced 23 new asterisms from European star charts into the system of Chinese astronomy. They became known as the Southern Asterisms. Source: Wikipedia

Matteo Ricci with Xu Guangqi Source: Wikimedia

Vietnam In ancient Vietnam, the Southern Cross was called sao Cį Liệt - the ponyfish star. Source: Wikipedia

Ponyfish; Wikipedia

Modern Day Music Southern Cross is a song written in 1981 by Stephen Stills, Rick Curtis, and Michael Curtis and performed by the rock band Crosby, Stills & Nash. The single was a success on the charts, reaching #18 on the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks in late November and early December 1982. Sources :Wikipedia, Youtube

The Southern Cross in Flags and Symbols

Five countries and a large number of states, provinces and regions, not to mention military units, sportsclubs, cities and fraternities carry the southern cross in their flag. To save space, we have limited our collection to Contries and major subdivisions of countries, such as states or provinces. For the complete picture, we recommend Wikipedia's site Flags depicting the Southern Cross, which has no less than 77 flags on display.

Papua New Guinea

	Gulf Province Papua New Guinea	New Ireland Province Papua New Guinea	Simbu Province Papua New Guinea	Western Province Papua New Guinea

	Australia	Victoria Australian Province	Capital Territory Australian Territory	Northern Territory Australian Territory

	Cocos Islands External Australian Territory	Christmas Island External Australian Territory	New Zealand	Samoa

	Brazil	Paranį Brazilian State	Santa Cruz Argentinian Province	Tierra del Fuego Argentinian Province

	Coquimbo Chilean Region	Los Lagos Chilean Region	Magallanes Chilean Region	Colonia Department in Uruguay

	Mocovķ Pueblo Indiginous Nation in Argentina

http://www.vyablog.com/2019/06/blog-post.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Marine_Division The Southern Cross is mentioned in the national anthems of Brazil, Australia and Samoa.

A stylized version of the cross is part of Brazil's Coat of Arms, which also appears on Brazilian passports The Portugese word Cruz is the root of the name of a former Brazilian currency, the cruzeiro. The Southern Cross is part of the "tails" side of Brazilian coins.

Shield of Brazilian Coat of Arms

Brazilian Passport

Brazilian 1 Real Coin

The center of the Brazilian flag presents the night sky as it would have been on November 15, 1889 at 08:30 over Rio de Janeiro. Each star corresponds to a Brazilian Federate Unit, sized in proportion relative to its geographic size. Acrux* (α Cru) symbolizes the state of Sćo Paulo, Mimosa (β Cru) symbolizes the state of Rio de Janeiro, Gacrux (γ Cru) symbolizes the state of Bahia, Imai (δ Cru) symbolizes the state of Minas Gerais and Ginan (ε Cru) symbolizes the state of Espķrito Santo.

* Official Brazilian documents use the old Portugese name Estrela de Magalhćes for Alpha Crucis, instead of Acrux. Sources: Wikipedia, Flags of the World - Astronomy of the Brazilian Flag

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