43 ms·

I’ve never been in the southern hemisphere and have always wondered how easy it is to find the Southern Cross.

• yakireev 3y ago
  This was the first thing I did when I landed in the South. Answer: very easy. You know the shape from the flags and logos, you can't miss it. Magellanic clouds are harder to see, and require a place with little or no light pollution, but they're there too. Fun fact: in Chile they sell tours to look at the sky - in Atacama desert, where light pollution is very low. A bus brings you to the desert and you look up. They also provide a tour guide who knows the sky and has a laser pointer (yes, strong laser pointers can be used to point to objects in sky). Sounds ridiculous, but is 100% worth the money. The view of Milky Way in its full unpolluted southern glory is breathtaking. A go-to joke of the tour guides. Question: "So, you are in Chile and there's no polar star. How do you tell where's north?". Answer, after some ideas from tourists: "See the mountains over there? That's east. Like I said, you're in Chile."