Southern cross.

Took a walk of several hundred meters down the farm road, away from the cottage to see if I could get a clear shot of the moon rising. While I waited for the moon to rise I tried to photograph the Southern Cross. In the Southern Hemisphere this collection of stars does the same function of the Pole star in the Northern Hemisphere, it always points south. At this time of the year the Southern Cross lies low on the horizon, and as summer progresses will go lower still until only the pointers are visible from where I live. During the winter months the cross sits high in the sky and is very visible.

Click to enlarge. 

The Southern cross almost at the bottom edge of the photo, the two pointers are the two bright stars, slightly to the left of center. They point south and to the cross itself.

I cropped out most of the other stars in this picture from the photo above to make it easier to see the Southern Cross.

While I was concentrating on taking these photos I almost missed the moon rising behind me.

The moon just peeping over the horizon on the left of the photo.

The moon above the horizon.