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Story: Southern Cross

The Jewel Box

The Jewel Box

The Jewel Box lies just to the side of Beta Crucis, one of the crossbar stars of the Southern Cross. To the naked eye it is only a faint point of light, but good binoculars show a bright orange star, Kappa Crucis, set among a number of blue stars. This cluster of young stars was named in the mid-1830s by the British astronomer Sir John Herschel, who first viewed it from South Africa.

About this item

Possum Observatory
Photograph by John Drummond

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How to cite this page:

Maggy Wassilieff. 'Southern Cross', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 24-Sep-11
URL: http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/southern-cross/3/2