The Cross and the Fly
Image Credit: Allen Versfeld (Canon EOS 1100D, f/5.6, 4sec, ISO800, 55mm)
I went out tonight to try to capture Comet PANSTARRS one more time, but the clouds began rolling in (from the West, where the comet was, naturally) just as it began getting dark. Happily, though, as I was packing away the camera, I looked South and saw Crux poking through some clouds and looking very photogenic. So I took a picture, did some light processing to remove noise and change the colour balance away from the light polluted orange. Enjoy!
The main attraction here is The Southern Cross (or Crux, to use its formal name), but to the right is the fainter constellation Musca (The Fly). Like most of the less glamorous southern constellations, Musca is made of relatively faint stars, but the four brightest are visible as a sort of squashed kite, somewhat smaller than the Southern Cross.