Brazil : 03a Early issues - Republic issues

When you put your collection aside for a while, and go outside at night, you should have a look on the stars.
Depending on where you are on earth you will see the northern or the southern hemisphere.

This southern hemisphere was described in 1500 by physician-astronomer Mestre João Faras in his letter of May 1, 1500, to King Manuel I of Portugal from the newly discovered land of Brazil.
The smallest of all constellations (Crux); was than described as "Las Guardias" (the Guardians).

'las guardias' (now Southern Cross)

The constellation might be the smallest, it's one of the most important on the southern hemisphere, as it helps us to find the South.

southern hemisphere  - determinating the South

northern hemisphere - determinating the North

The Crux (Southern Cross) is the most important constellation.
If you continue the virtual line between the α-star and the γ-star, and you take the bisector between the α-star and the β-star of the Centauri constellation, the crossing of those 2 lines will indicate more or less the south. α-centauri is the nearest start to Earth, after the Sun.


For the north, you have to prolonge the last part of the 'Urs Major' (Big Dipper / Great Bear) 4 and a half times, you can find the north.

The 'southern cross' can be found in many flags of countries of the southern hemisphere:

southern cross on flags

And of course, for the purpose of this topic; also on the flag of Brazil...

can you find the southern cross on the Brazilian flag?

The reason for this article will be clear in my next post...