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Southern Cross

January 12, 2005

When I was young I had a book on Astronomy that I used to read all the time. It was one of those hardcover picture books that had lots of pictures and dubious information. For example, I remember reading it one time with my Dad and coming across a caption that said "The sun is over 100 times bigger than Planet Earth". This is plainly absurd because anyone who's ever looked at it knows the sun is far smaller than the Earth. If you hold your hand up in front of it you can cover the whole thing easily.

Anyway, I remember reading in this book about a constellation called the "Southern Cross" that is only visible from south of the Equator. I would sit in my room and wonder if I would ever get a chance to see the light from these exotic stars with my own eyes.

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