Becrux

Becrux (β Cru / β Crucis / Beta Crucis) is the second brightest star in the constellation Crux and one of the one of the brightest stars in the nighttime sky.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Since Beta Crucis is at roughly −60° declination, it is only visible south of the Tropic of Cancer and therefore didn't receive an ancient traditional name; "Becrux" is simply a combination of the "Be" in Beta plus Crux. Sometimes it is also called Mimosa.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Beta Crucis is located approximately 353 light years from Earth's Solar System.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Apparent Visual Brightness (Sirius A = 1): 0.084
• Spectral type: B0.5 III
• Radial velocity: 20 km/s
• Proper Motion: 0.05 arcsecs/year
• Apparent Visual Magnitude: 1.25
• Absolute Visual Magnitude: -3.92
• Luminosity: 34,000 Solar Luminosities

Beta: The word beta has numerous meanings....

Constellation: A constellation is a group of stars visibly related to each other in a particular configuration. In three-dimensional space, most of the stars we see have little relation to one another, but can appear to be grouped on the celestial sphere of the night sky. Humans excel at finding patterns and throu...

Crux: Crux, being Latin for cross, commonly known as the Southern Cross (in contrast to the Northern Cross), is the smallest of the 88 modern constellations, but nevertheless one of the most famous. It is surrounded on three sides by the constellation Centaurus while to the south lies the Fly (Musca)....