The brightest star in the constellation Crux (Southern Cross), located in the southern celestial hemisphere.
From Arabic 'an-Najm' (the star) combined with the constellation name Crux (Latin for cross). The name evolved from historical astronomical cataloging and became standardized in modern stellar nomenclature.
Acrux is actually not one star but a binary star system where two massive blue stars orbit each other—ancient navigators thought they were looking at one star, but modern telescopes reveal they're an intimate cosmic pair!
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