I love March as this is when the Milky Way appears higher in the sky and some of the best constellations are right overhead, and the weather is a bit more pleasant. This is an excellent time to head outside, spread a blanket on the ground and just lie there looking up. As well as some fantastic stars and constellations, you can also see satellites and if you are out long enough meteors (or what you commonly call ‘shooting stars”). These are pieces of dust and/or debris from space that burn up in Earth’s atmosphere, where they can create bright streaks across the night sky. When Earth passes through the dusty trail of a comet or asteroid’s orbit, the many streaks of light in the sky are known as a meteor shower.

Constellations represent groups of stars that have been given a name and, more recently, a border. For thousands of years, constellations have been used as a tool to share cultural stories, events and as markers.

There are 88 officially recognized constellations in the sky, and these astronomical patterns have a fascinating and long history.

Forty-eight of the constellations are known as ancient or original. They were talked about by the Greeks and probably the Babylonians, and possibly even earlier peoples. After the 15th century, with significant discoveries and worldwide navigation, the southernmost parts of the sky became known to man and had to be charted.

In 1930 the International Astronomical Union officially listed the 88 modern and ancient constellations (one of the ancient constellations was divided into 3 parts) and drew a boundary around each. The boundary edges meet, dividing Earth’s imaginary sphere, the celestial sphere, into 88 pieces. Astronomers consider any star within a constellation boundary to be part of that constellation, even if it is not part of the actual picture.

Today, the 88 western constellations help astronomers map the sky and search for astronomical objects.

High in the southern sky is the False Cross – so named as many folks, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere. It is false because the Southern Cross follows behind it to the southwest. Recall that we mentioned one ancient constellation that was split into three. The false cross used to be an integral part of the now-obsolete constellation of Argo Navis. The cross has a foot now in two camps. Two of its stars are from the Vela part of the sales, and the other two are from Carina the Keel. The third constellation originally in Argo Navis is Puppis representing the poop deck of the good ship Argo that Jason sailed in his quest for the Golden Fleece.

In this rich area of the Milky Way, there are many objects that we can easily see with our naked eye if we are in a dark place. We can see several very lovely open clusters with a pair of binoculars. The easiest one to see with your naked eye is at the top tip of the False Cross – I call it the field of baby diamonds. Its real name is NGC 2516. We can see it as a ghostly apparition about 0.5° in diameter. Although a remarkable sight through any binoculars, it is best in a small telescope showing around 100 members, with a large variation in colour and brightness, arranged around a red 8^th-magnitude central star.

Lying to the West of this cross is the second brightest star in the night sky, Alpha (α) Carinae or Canopus. Having the two brightest stars high in our southern skies is a bonus, with Sirius to the north. There was a time briefly in 1843 when Canopus lost its second place with a nova-like eruption of another star, coincidentally in the same constellation, Eta (ŋ) Carinae.

This is an excellent segway to the true jewel in Carina’s crown, the famous Eta Carinae Nebula (NGC 3372). It is awash with star clusters and nebulae. This massive star-forming region can be seen with the naked eye roughly halfway between the Southern Cross and False Cross.