Saturday, Jun 27, 2009 at 02:36
Jedo, nearly right but no cigar,
Firstly: "Polaris" is the pole star over the North pole [sometimes called the "Dog Star"]and can't be seen by us antipodeans in the southern hemisphere . We'd need X-ray glasses, face north and stare at the ground to see it from here;).
Secondly:The one you think is Polaris is in fact one of the "Centauris" [
Alpha or Beta]
Thirdly:there is a pole star in the south [whose name escapes me] but it is so faint that it can barely be seen with the naked eye on a clear moonless night in the most remote part of the out-back. It is there, but you don't need it!
Fourthly: [This is the bit you nearly got right] To find south you'll need to do a tiny bit of geometry and "join the dots":-
To start, draw an imaginary line through the stars that make the "long" axis on the
southern cross extending from the base [if it was on the flag, it would head to the ground] about 2 and a half times the distance of the stars of the long axis.
Next draw a line between the 2 brightest stars [
Alpha & Beta Centauri] in the sky just near the
Southern Cross, at the centre of this line draw another line at right angles [90degrees] to it heading in the direction of the first line from the
Southern Cross.
Where these two lines intersect is where our very faint pole star resides and if you drop a line straight down form this point to the ground ; that will be true due south.
Failing that, use a GPS or heaven forbid, a compass! ;))
Now,where did I put my telescope?
Welldone
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