Gary De Stefanis, Age 11, of Utica, N. Y., for his question:

How many stars are in the Southern Cross?

The constellation Crux, which we call the Southern Cross, appears against the ghostly background of the Pale Milky Way. Telescope pictures show that the milky haze is made from swarms of distant stars too dim for eyes to see separately. Telescope pictures also reveal a dozen or more bright, nearer stars in the region of the Crux.

The sharpest eyes, however, can detect only four or at most five stars in the Southern Cross. As the name suggests, one bright star is placed at each of the four points of a cross. The longest shaft of the cross points to a spot near the south celestial pole.