NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: Robin Stuart
Date: 2024 Aug 25, 05:44 -0700
Rafael C :
You are right about this image being taken in the southern hemisphere and the bright star being Canopus. 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. The True Cross can be used along with Achernar to find south and hence every southern hemisphere Boy Scout has it drummed into them how to distinguish between the two. A key indicator for the True Cross in the presence of ε Crucis which is missing in the group.
The False Cross is about 9° long and making some very rough measurements of altitude of the pole puts it at about 40°S. This is a good match for the Mahia Peninsula Rocket Lab launch site on New Zealand's North Island.
Robin Stuart
