Beta Crucis

As things quieted down, people could linger longer and some folk got to see a bit extra--pull up a chair and watch the Moon at 300x drifting through the eyepiece, or spy the blood-red carbon star; Espin 365, next to beta Crucis. By 23h00, when dew forced them to stop, at least 150 people got their first look through a telescope.

Lying near Beta Crucis in the Southern Cross, its brightest member is 6th-magnitude Kappa Crucis, which is why it's also known in some circles as the Kappis Crucis cluster.

The other four are Alpha and Beta ([beta]) Centauri and Alpha and Beta Crucis.

Near Beta Crucis lie two outstanding treats for binoculars and small telescopes.

As our chart indicates, Musca's two brightest stars, Alpha and Beta, present an alignment (albeit very much shorter) that I find not too dissimilar to that of Alpha and Beta Crucis. Shining at magnitude 2.7 and 3.0, respectively, these stars of Musca are also believed to be members of Sco-Cen.