Southern Cross in the Pacific Ocean

The main bright stars in the constellation form a cross, which is drawn downward from a vertical position of the cross until a point about four times the length of this vertical position is the south celestial pole. Observed at low latitudes in the northern hemisphere, the intersection of this extension line and the horizon is basically due south. Zheng He, a navigator in the 0/4th century A.D./KLOC, used this constellation to navigate during his seven voyages to the Western Ocean. In Ptolemy's time in ancient Greece, it could be seen in the Mediterranean and was regarded as the foot of a centaur. Due to precession, in modern times, this part of the starry sky has moved south and can no longer be seen in most parts of the northern hemisphere. So it was not until the17th century that European astronomers took it out of Centauri as an independent constellation. Ancient astronomers seem to think that the stars in the Southern Cross are part of Centauri, and they are surrounded by Centauri in three directions. The Victorian scholar Laren drew people's attention to the early traditional evidence about the cross in his catalogue. 1 1 century, the ancient Arab astrologer Al? Bernie noticed that a southern constellation called Sura could be seen from 30 degrees north latitude in India. As Allen pointed out, this may provide us with the design of Dante's Divine Comedy.

(/kloc-early 4th century). When he entered the southern hemisphere through the entrance of purgatory, Dante declared, "I focused on the other pole, and I saw/only four stars that primitive people had seen" (purgatory 1: 22 ~ 24). Now the Southern Cross is out of sight in the northern hemisphere. The "first man" refers to the first Christian, because the cross can be seen in Jerusalem in the Christian era. Dante is clearly aware of the influence of precession. He refers to the godless era after the death of Christ, when the Southern Cross has gradually disappeared at this latitude. The Southern Cross is not regarded as a cross in all cultures. In central Australia, these stars are called "talons".