NavList:

Robin Stuart, you wrote:
"However the group of stars you identified as the Southern Cross is actually the asterism in Carina known as the False Cross. It's close to but slightly larger than the True Cross which is hidden in the clouds near the centre of the image. It's an easy and common misidentification. "

One of my primary goals posting this image was to open a door to the southern hemisphere for us northerners and more importantly for those NavList members who have called the southern skies home. So I'm glad you got in on this, Robin!

And the navigation lesson? Yep, that cross of pyrite! It's an easy misidentification until you have done it once, I would say. After that, the distinction is clear. For me, it's really the asymmetry of the proper "Crux" cross that stands out. Acrux, Becrux (Mimosa), and Gacrux are very bright, distinctly brighter than the fourth, delta Crucis (Imai). The stars of the "False Cross" are more nearly identical in brightness.

Here's a Stellarium-generated image identifying the navigation stars in the rocket launch photo. Clearly, the Southern Cross (the real Crux) and alpha and beta Centauri (Hadar and Rigil Kentaurus) are lost in the clouds. Otherwise the image would be easily "solved". And Atria is almost directly behind the glare of the rocket launch itself. If you look carefully, the LMC (Large Magellanic Cloud) is plainly visible in the original photo about half-way from Canopus to the rocket trail.

Frank Reed

PS: New Zealand's Rocket Lab is not well enough known in the northern hemisphere --and more importantly in the shadow of SpaceX and its bombastic CEO-- but if Musk-y SpaceX did not exist, Rocket Lab would be globally famous.

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