Editing Crux (section)

===Use in navigation===
[[Image:Pole01-eng.svg|thumb|right|upright=1.2|Locating the south celestial pole]]
In the [[Southern Hemisphere]], the Southern Cross is frequently used for [[Celestial Navigation|navigation]] in much the same way that [[Polaris]] is used in the [[Northern Hemisphere]]. Projecting a line from [[Gacrux|γ]] to [[Acrux|α Crucis]] (the foot of the crucifix) approximately {{frac|4|1|2}} times beyond gives a point close to the Southern Celestial Pole{{sfn|Ridpath|Tirion|2017|pp=134–135}} which is also, coincidentally, where it intersects a perpendicular line taken southwards from the east–west axis of [[Alpha Centauri]] to [[Beta Centauri]], which are stars at an alike declination to Crux and of a similar width as the cross, but higher magnitude.<ref name= Grainger>{{cite book |title = Don't die in the Bundu| first1 = DH| last1 = Grainger| year = 1969| location = Cape Town| isbn = 0-86978-056-5| pages = 84–86| edition = 8th}}</ref>  [[Argentina|Argentine]] [[gaucho]]s are documented as using Crux for night orientation in the [[Pampa]]s and [[Patagonia]].

Alpha and Beta Centauri are of similar declinations (thus distance from the pole) and are often referred as the "Southern Pointers" or just "The Pointers", allowing people to easily identify the Southern Cross, the constellation of Crux.  Very few bright stars lie between Crux and the pole itself, although the constellation [[Musca]] is fairly easily recognised immediately south of Crux.<ref name= Grainger/>