The Southern Cross

While visiting in Lima (I know the stories have to be getting old to you all) my girlfriend and I stepped outside and glanced up when be both noticed a very bright star.  Neither one of us knowing very much about astronomy, we debated whether it was a star, or a planet.  After a few minutes of debating, on which it was, we asked her mom.  She told us that it was “The Southern Cross.”  I came to find out that it is only viewable below latitude 30 in the Northern Hemisphere.  I was kind of bummed to find out that I couldn’t see it from here.  Anyways, the Southern Cross is actually a constellation, not an individual star.  Better yet, the brightest “star” in the Southern Cross, Acrux, is actually not a star…It is two stars that orbit each other too closely to be distinguished.  I thought that was interesting.  I guess it could be awhile before I see it again.