# What Is This Constellation, Visible From The Southern Hemisphere? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 25, 2022, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-constellation-visible-from-the-southern-hemisphere/972208 "2022-09-25T15:12:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-constellation-visible-from-the-southern-hemisphere/972208/1 "2022-09-25T15:12:16Z")
Look above and to the right of the Moon in [this video](https://youtu.be/Ag-909TI-XY?t=638). It’s obviously Australia or New Zealand (from the guy’s accent), but I don’t know when (in the year) the video was taken or which direction the camera was facing. Is that cluster of stars the Southern Cross? I thought the SC took up considerably more space in the sky than that. If not, then what is it? ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-constellation-visible-from-the-southern-hemisphere/972208/2 "2022-09-25T15:14:33Z")
That is the sting in Scorpio’s tail. The moon cannot get that close to the Sounthern Cross. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-constellation-visible-from-the-southern-hemisphere/972208/3 "2022-09-25T15:19:21Z")
Of course, any constellation the Moon can be in must be one that’s visible from most of the Earth. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-constellation-visible-from-the-southern-hemisphere/972208/4 "2022-09-25T16:07:23Z")
Indeed. Moreover, the moon, planets and Sun run around the ecliptic, which essentially by definition holds the Zodiacal constellations. However I’m not so sure it is Scorpio now. Looked like it viewed on my phone. But not right. It will be one of the constellations along the ecliptic and likely one of the zodiac. The Southern Cross isn’t actually all that big. Compared to other the well known ones, like say, Scorpio or Orion. Probably about three times bigger than the false cross in the video. It is totally overcast right now otherwise I’d give a proper idea. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-constellation-visible-from-the-southern-hemisphere/972208/5 "2022-09-25T17:03:34Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > Moreover, the moon, planets and Sun run around the ecliptic, which essentially by definition holds the Zodiacal constellations. … and Ophiuchus. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-constellation-visible-from-the-southern-hemisphere/972208/6 "2022-09-25T17:07:49Z")
Now that I think about it (and having looked up Ophiuchus), that constellation in that video does, indeed, look like Ophiuchus. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-constellation-visible-from-the-southern-hemisphere/972208/7 "2022-09-25T17:17:14Z")
The stars in that video are fake. They are moving too fast, and are visible next to the Moon, which is not itself moving at all. That indicates that the stars have been added in post-production - perhaps from a planetarium program of some sort, but they are not real, so trying to identify them is a pointless exercise. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-constellation-visible-from-the-southern-hemisphere/972208/8 "2022-09-25T17:21:54Z")
It may be fake, but I think it’s supposed to be Pleiades. [![](https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/e/ec/Find-the-Pleiades-Star-Cluster-Step-1-Version-2.jpg/aid246469-v4-728px-Find-the-Pleiades-Star-Cluster-Step-1-Version-2.jpg.webp) ](https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/e/ec/Find-the-Pleiades-Star-Cluster-Step-1-Version-2.jpg/aid246469-v4-728px-Find-the-Pleiades-Star-Cluster-Step-1-Version-2.jpg.webp) ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-constellation-visible-from-the-southern-hemisphere/972208/9 "2022-09-25T21:02:30Z")
Yes, it is a totally fake video. And that small group of stars is The Pleides, also known as the Seven Sisters, also known as the stars on the Subaru logo. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-constellation-visible-from-the-southern-hemisphere/972208/10 "2022-09-26T00:33:09Z")
And it is the Southern Cross. Another clue it is fake. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-constellation-visible-from-the-southern-hemisphere/972208/11 "2022-09-26T13:10:35Z")
OK, found it. The video isn’t totally fake, just been a bit liberal with photography and time. The small cluster to the right of the moon is of course the Plieades. What that makes the psuedo-cross in question is part of the Perseus constellation Two of the stars actually have names, Menkib and Atik aka \xi and \omicron Perseus. The rest of the stars that run across the horizon are also part of Perseus. I assume that the videographer, realising that there wasn’t much chance of any stars being recorded left the same camera/tripod setup and simply took a very long exposure sequence to use. Probably waiting first for the moon to rise out of the shot. The moon is behaving pretty much as one would expect it to in shot as it is occluded. The stars however are clearly not part of that shot. As noted, they move against the background vastly too quickly. Moreover one can see them disappear before the figure of the bloke with the cutters actually occludes them. Even worse, he forgot one star, [which shines through his ankle.](https://youtu.be/Ag-909TI-XY?t=641) I would imagine the star shot was composited into the basic shot fairly easily. The only slight of hand is that the stars are probably an hour later than the base shot, and exposed for the star field. The two stars on the far left probably appear because the cloud dissipated between the base shot and the star shot. But the actual star field is reasonable. The relative location of the moon is pretty reasonable. The Ecliptic runs close to the stars in the field in the right place. Given the date of the video this is a perfectly reasonable evening view of the sky as visible here in Oz at this time of year. Persues will lie on the horizon exactly as shown in the video as it rises - something it is doing as I type this in the late evening. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2022, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-constellation-visible-from-the-southern-hemisphere/972208/12 "2022-09-27T20:21:19Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > But the actual star field is reasonable. The relative location of the moon is pretty reasonable. The Ecliptic runs close to the stars in the field in the right place. Given the date of the video this is a perfectly reasonable evening view of the sky as visible here in Oz at this time of year. True, but in no real situation could the Moon remain in a particular location in the sky while the stars move behind it, so it is a mock-up displaying an unphysical set of circumstances.