Recently I was lucky enough to take a winter break on the Dominican Republic on the Caribbean island of La Española. At just 18 degrees above the equator, this is by far the furthest south I’d ever ventured. On the last night of the trip we decided to stay up until 5am to catch a glimpse of the Southern Cross. Boosted by several cups of coffee to stave off the sleep depravation, it was a magical moment to finally glimpse and recognise the famous constellation. In the top image, the Carinae nebula can be seen towards the bottom right, with the Omega Centauri globular cluster visible in the top left.