The Southern Cross by claude19

Fractal • Atmosphere/Mood • posted on Jan 14, 2009

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Description

A cause de la précession des équinoxes, la Croix du Sud était visible depuis la Méditerranée pendant l'Antiquité. Cependant, les astronomes grecs n'ont jamais considéré ses Ã©toiles autrement qu'une partie du Centaure. On attribue généralement la paternité de la Croix du Sud comme constellation indépendante à Augustin Royer en 1679. Elle était cependant reconnue sous cette forme bien auparavant. La Croix du Sud - dont le nom s'oppose à la « Croix du Nord » qui est la constellation du Cygne - est désormais l'une des constellations les plus connues de l'hémisphère sud et ses cinq étoiles les plus brillantes apparaissent sur les drapeaux de l'Australie, du Brésil, de la Papouasie-Nouvelle-Guinée et des Samoa. Quant au drapeau de la Nouvelle-Zélande, il omet juste l'étoile ε. http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croix_du_Sud Crux was visible to the Ancient Greeks, who regarded it as part of the constellation Centaurus. At the latitude of Athens in 1000 BC, Crux was clearly visible, though low in the sky.However, the precession of the equinoxes gradually lowered its stars below the European horizon, and they were eventually forgotten by the inhabitants of northern latitudes. By AD 400, most of the constellation never rose above the horizon for Athenians. The Southern Cross, appearing on a number of flags and insignia. Crux was rediscovered by Europeans during the Age of Discovery. Amerigo Vespucci mapped Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri as well as the stars of modern Crux on his expedition to South America in 1501. The separation of Crux to a separate constellation from Centaurus is generally attributed to the French astronomer Augustin Royer in 1679. Other historians attribute the invention of Crux to Petrus Plancius in 1613, noting that the constellation was later published by Jakob Bartsch in 1624.[citation needed]