Centaurus, the centaur

Centaurus is a large southern constellation that wraps around the Southern Cross. It holds two of the sky's standouts: Alpha Centauri, the nearest star system, and Omega Centauri, the brightest globular cluster.

Where is it from where I am?

How to spot it: Alpha and Beta Centauri, the two bright Pointers to the Southern Cross. Source (opens in a new tab)

The wise centaur

The constellation is the centaur Chiron (opens in a new tab), a teacher of hunting, medicine and music, unlike the wild centaurs of myth. It is the ninth largest constellation; the Southern Cross lies under its hind quarters.

The Pointers

Its two brightest stars, Alpha and Beta Centauri, sit side by side and point to the Southern Cross (opens in a new tab). Alpha is the nearest star system to the Sun.

Omega Centauri

Ptolemy catalogued a star here that was not a star at all (opens in a new tab). Omega Centauri is a globular cluster of around 10 million stars, 17,000 light-years away, and at magnitude 3.7 easily seen without a telescope. It is visible only from low northern latitudes and southward.

Where on Earth, and when

The whole key pattern rises from anywhere south of about 29°N.

North of about 53°N, none of it rises.

South of about 53°S, the whole key pattern never sets.

Its middle climbs at least 20° high, the finder's threshold for a suggestion, from anywhere south of about 18°N.

It is highest in the evening sky, at about 9 p.m. local time, in mid-June, from either hemisphere, wherever it rises. With daylight saving time, that is nearer 10 p.m. on the clock.

Worked out by this site from the Bright Star Catalogue, for a flat, clear horizon. Hills, buildings, haze and city light all cut into this; the air also lifts objects near the horizon by about half a degree. For your own place and night, use the sky finder.