Two Clouds and a Cross

Abstract

This chapter concentrates on three celestial objects that are particularly conspicuous from southern latitudes - the two Clouds of Magellan and the Southern Cross. Whilst the former are galaxies and the latter is just a chance collection of stars, their names have a historical connection to a single man, Ferdinand Magellan, the Portuguese explorer who was part of the expedition that first circumnavigated the Earth between 1519 and 1522. Long before his arrival, however, the peoples of the South Pacific had been gazing up at these wonders of the night sky and, as we will see, given them a plethora of names which reflected how they thought they came into existence.