Crux

Crux star chart (IAU and Sky & Telescope magazine, Roger Sinnott & Rick Fienberg).

One of the 88 IAU constellations.

Etymology and History

The Greek constellation ...

Origin of Constellation

Almagest

In Ptolemy's Almagest, the stars of Crux form the hind leg of Centaurus.

id	Greek (Heiberg 1898)	English (Toomer 1984)	ident.
31	ὁ ἐπὶ τῆς ἀγκύλης τοῦ δεξιοῦ ποδός	The star on the knee-bend of the right [bind] leg	γ Cru
32	ὁ ἐν τῷ σφυρῷ τοῦ αὐτοῦ ποδός	The star in the hock of the same leg	β Cru
33	ὁ ὑπὸ τὴν ἀγκύληη τοῦ ἀριστεροῦ ποδός	The star under the knee-bend of the left [hind] leg	δ Cru
34	ὁ ἐπὶ τοῦ βατραχίου τοῦ αὐτοῦ ποδός	The star on the frag of the hoof an the same leg	α Cru
37	ὁ ἐκτὸς ὑπὸ τὸν δεξιὸν ὀπισθόποδα	The star outside, under the right hind leg	μ Cru

Transfer and Transformation of the Constellation

• 

  Crux, The Cross, carefully drawn across the hind legs of The Centaur in Bayer (1603).

Crux, The Cross, carefully drawn across the hind legs of The Centaur in Bayer (1603).

References

• References (general)
• References (Babylonian)
• References (ancient Greco-Roman)
• References (medieval)