GAMMA CRUX aka GACRUX

STAR IN CRUX (THE SOUTHERN CROSS)

(ra: 12h 32' 40"/ dec -57º 15')

CLICK THE IMAGE FOR A HIGH RESOLUTION VIEW

February 2026, Home Backyard in Martinez, Buenos Aires, Argentina

DATA

TYPE: Star

Visual Brightness: 1.59

APPARENT DIAMETER: 113 solar masses

DISTANCE: 88 light years

IMAGE INFORMATION

SCOPE: 6" ORION OPTICS UK (Ultra Grade Optics) w/Sky Watcher Coma Corrector (0.9x) working at at f4.5

CAMERA: QHY 183 MONO

MOUNT: SKYWATCHER NEQ6, OAG with QHY 5II Mono

FILTERS:  OPTOLONG LRGB Set

SKY CONDITIONS: Urban Skies. Bortle 9

EXPOSURES: LRGB (15,15,15,15) - all channels bin 1x1

OBJECT DESCRIPTION AND IMAGE SESSION

Gamma Crucis is a cool red giant star. It may have as much as three times the Solar mass, 113 times its diameter and about 140 the Solar brightness. The star is the third-brightest star in Crux (the Southern Cross) and one of the brightest stars in the nighttime sky. Its +6.4 magnitude white companion star lies about 2 arc minutes away at an angle of 128 degrees from the main star, and can be observed with binoculars. But it is only an optical companion, which is about 400 light years distant from Earth. The color of Gamma Crucis A is a prominent reddish-orange, well in keeping with its spectral classification.