Constellation of the Month: Crux (the Southern Cross)

Crux is a striking little constellation in the celestial southern hemisphere...if you're located in a southern-enough latitude to be able to see it, that is.  I have lived most of my live in Florida, which if you happen to be in the Keys or southern Dade County is just far enough south to see Crux barely scrape the southern horizon at its apex.  Perhaps from my old house where I grew up at 26 degrees North latitude, I might have been able to see it were it not for the trees and city lights obstructing my view.  No, instead it wouldn't be until 2 AM on our cruise ship in February 2020 when it was near the Virgin Islands that I (and Melissa) saw it for our first time looking out at the beautiful seas over the rails...pretty romantic, right?  Yet I could accurately draw this constellation and its position in the sky ever since 1964, when I was first introduced to it at seven years age. The four brightest stars, two of them first-magnitude, can form either a cross if you connect just the opposite ones, or a rough diamond if you connect the adjacent ones...the former pattern is what stuck through the ages. The Coal Sack Nebula occupies a large part of Crux, along with parts of adjacent Centaurus and Musca...it's reported to be a very visible "dark" patch in the already dark sky, if you can wrap your head around that.  Anyway, someday I'd like to be south enough on a clear night to be able to clearly make out Crux...along with the many other southern celestial constellations I've known of for decades. I call Crux my "constellation of the month" for this May because it is during this month that it crosses the Meridian during the mid-evening hours...even though my only time seeing it was that February in the early morning hours. Next month I'll pick another constellation to discuss...