One of the occasions on which I visited the Southern hemisphere was in 2001, "around" the Total Solar Eclipse of June 21. It was a trip I made with some other Dutch observers to Zambia and Zimbabwe. We observed the Eclips in Zambia and then went of to Zimbabwe where spent a few days in Mana Pools N.P. and where we enjoyed the clearest, darkest night one can imagine (and moonless!).

There were no real astronomical scopes at hand exept one C5 and besides a few looks through this C5 I made my own observations with my Swarovski AT80 birdwatching scope (which made overtime during the day as well as you can imagine). My fieldscope is not very suitable for observing doubles because of it's limited magnification (max. 60x) and besides that most of the time during the clear nights I concentrated on the many spectacular deepsky objects which can be seen in the area of Vela, Carina and Centaurus.

In Crux it were of course the Jewelbox Cluster (NGC4755) and the conspicuous Southern Coalsack which took first attention. But the doubles were not forgotten. I had made a list of some easy to spot-and-split doubles and indeed some of the S33-project doubles in Crux were also observed. In the end I observed four doubles in Crux on that occasion, Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Iota.

Alpha is a real showpiece for this kind of scope, and I expect for most kind of scopes.
The AB-pair could just be split, a thin dark line separating the two bright stars. On moments of less good seeing the stars touched and the pair turned into a bright, white little snowman. There is another component (C) which is easily visible, magn. 5, at a distance of  90".

The other tree pairs were far less spectacular. Iota and Gamma are "ordinary" doubles (rating 3), no problem for the Swarovski to spot and split them.

Thanks to Luis this set of Crux observation of 2 years past is presented. Travelled to New Zealand during the Northern winter of 2002 and, of course, packed a travel scope and small video camera that runs on a 9v battery. Astronuts have a different kind of camera for taking holiday snaps.  Wife and I rented a camper van in Auckland and spent a tropical holiday along the scenic beauty of the Northland region of the North Island. Many wonderful camp areas on secluded bays and forests with sunny days and dark nights. the wonder of the southern sky can not be described to a ' Northener'; it has to be seen to be believed.

General Data:
Observer: Steve Bodin
Location: 90 Mile Beach, Northland, New Zealand
Date: 11 Jan 2002, 11 pm to 2 am
Classification: rural
Conditions: temp 60F, damp
Darkness: Limit mag 6.5+
Transparency: good
Seeing:  7-8/10
Telescope: 4 inch Meade 107D on ETX Mount
Eyepieces: 24mm televue, 10mm homebuilt
Additional: B/W video camera, pf and 2x
Magnification: 42x, 100x visual, 150x, 300x video

Alpha Crux,
Jewel of the night sky, maybe the best double in the sky. Twin blue-white diamonds close and brilliant, with a small distant third companion. Not split at 42x, but easy at 100x. Video camera needed 2x barlow to get a sufficient separation for measurement, but still close. Didn't have my current integrating color camera then, only two years ago, video technology has expanded 100 fold in 2 years, could reach only mag 7 then 14 now with the 4 inch telescope. Masurement, AB 3.98 sec at 117 deg PA, AC 90.5 sec at 203 deg PA.

Gamma Crux,
Very orange primary and contrasting blue faint secondary, third fainter companion noted farther, easy at low power. The B/W portable video camera could barely see the B star and the C star was too faint. Measured AB 128.8 sec at 27 deg PA.

Mu Crux,
Two bright stars, easy at any magnification. Both noted as Blue-white in color. This would be a very fine pair for small scopes in any hemisphere, but is overshadowed by the other wonders of Crux. Measurement, 36.1 sec at 15 deg PA.

No other doubles observed in Crux as I concentrated on the famous bright pairs and all the other wonders such as the Jewel Box cluster and Coal Sack.

Eager for another Trip,
Steve Bodin