Gacrux or Gamma Cruxis, the top star in the Southern Cross, Crux, a reddish star and a fine double, but not resolved here at this scale. This is a stack of 4 x 5-minute exposures with the Canon 6D at ISO 1600 and through the 106mm Astro-Physics Traveler telescope, from Tibuc Cottage April 10, 2016 on a partly hazy night.
An observer gazes at a target in the southern Milky Way in Carina, at the OzSky Star Party in Australia, April 2016. The Southern Cross, Crux, and the dark Coal Sack Nebula are at top. Alpha and Beta Centauri are below, made fuzzy by high haze moving in on the last night of the star party. This is a single untracked 10-second exposure with the 35mm lens at f/2 and Canon 6D at ISO 6400.
A 3-panel mosaic of the Southern Cross, Crux, shot April 5, 2016 from Tibuc Cottage, Coonabarabran, NSW, Australia. Acrux, Alpha Cruxis, is the star at bottom and Becrux, Beta Cruxis, is the star at left, with the Jewel Box Cluster, NGC 4755, just to the left of Becrux. Gacrux is at top and Delta Cruxis is at right. The star cluster NGC 4349 is above Alpha Cruxis. The bright red nebula in the dark Coal Sack is Gum 46. The rich cluster to the right of Becrux is Harvard 7. The dark nebulosity at lower left is the Coal Sack. The small cluster embedded in the Coal Sack to the left of Acrux is NGC 4609, what I call the Coal Dust Cluster. Slight haze or high cloud added the natural star glows here. This is a moasic of 3 panels, each a stack of 4 x 4-minute exposures with the Borg 77mm f/4 astrograph and filter-modified Canon 5D MkII at ISO 1600. Stacked and stitched in Photoshop.
