Use the Southern Cross to find South (Southern Hemisphere)

How to find south using the Southern Cross and The Pointers in the Southern hemisphere using the stars and the night sky
  • Prints

👇 Get new sketches each week

Navigating by the stars is both lovely and handy.

Unlike the Northern Hemisphere, where you can find Polaris, the North Star, to know which way is north, there's no obvious star that indicates south in the Southern Hemisphere. Instead, you have to use two handy indicators: the Southern Cross—easily spotted, fortunately—and two stars known as The Pointers. Find where these intersect, as in the sketch, and you’ve found due south.

Or, if you prefer, you can follow the direction the Southern Cross is pointing for a distance equal to 4.5 times the length of the constellation to arrive at the spot.

Incidentally, I wondered about reliable methods of finding south in the Northern Hemisphere and north in the Southern Hemisphere. The simple answer is to find north or south and turn around.

Related Ideas to Use the Southern Cross to Find South

I updated this sketch for my book Big Ideas Little Pictures

Published
Buy Me A Coffee