| The Southern Celestial Pole lies in Octans, just as the Northern Celestial Pole lies in Ursa Minor.
Unlike Polaris in the north, though, no bright star lies near the Southern Pole.
This hasn't prevented the star Sigma Octantis being
rather optimistically named 'Polaris Australis' or 'The Southern Pole Star',
but it is in fact only magnitude +5.5, and almost invisible to the naked eye.
|

Octans' place in the galaxy. Because Octans contains the Southern Celestial Pole, this
diagram also shows the Earth's orientation with respect to the galaxy as a whole.
|