ABSTRACT
Centaurus is a particularly large and important constellation, containing a variety of interesting objects - and of course the two Pointers to the Cross, Alpha and Beta Centauri, which are shown towards the bottom of the photograph. Beta Centauri, known sometimes as Agena or as Hadar, is a normal B-type star, 10,000 times as powerful as the Sun. It has a fourth-magnitude companion at a separation of rather over a second of arc; the brilliance of the primary makes it rather elusive. The rest of Centaurus, including the brighter open clusters C97 and C100 is shown in Map 23, together with the whole of Crux. In 1006 a brilliant supernova blazed out near Kappa Lupi and apparently equalled the quarter-moon, in which case it was the brightest supernova on record. The Mira variable R Normae is seen to the right of Eta, but was well below maximum at the time of the photograph and is not too easy to identify.
