Use the Southern Cross to find South (Southern Hemisphere)

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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
- Find North with the North Star (Northern Hemisphere)
- Redshift
- Orbit
- Looking Back in Time
I updated this sketch for my book Big Ideas Little Pictures