Corona Australis is a small, faint constellation in the southern sky. Its name means “the southern crown” in Latin. It is located between the constellations Sagittarius and Scorpius.
Corona Australis is said to represent the crown worn by the centaur represented by Sagittarius by some sources, but the constellation is not really tied to any particular myth. Sometimes it is also called Corona Austrina.
Corona Australis was first catalogued by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the 2nd century, along with the constellation representing the northern crown, Corona Borealis.
FACTS, LOCATION & MAP
Corona Australis is one of the smallest constellations in the sky. Only the 80th in size, it occupies an area of 128 square degrees.
It lies in the third quadrant of the southern hemisphere (SQ3) and can be seen at latitudes between +40° and -90°. The neighboring constellations are Ara, Sagittarius, Scorpius, and Telescopium.
Corona Australis does not have any stars brighter than magnitude 3.00 or located within 10 parsecs (32.6 light years) of Earth. The brightest star in the constellation is Alpha Coronae Australis, also known as Alphekka Meridiana (Alphekka South). The nearest star is HD 166348 (spectral class K6Vk), located at a distance of 42.26 light years from Earth.
Corona Australis has two stars with known planets. One of these, HD 166724, is a K-class dwarf with a long-period, wide-orbiting planet that is considered one of the three most eccentric planets with a period larger than 5 years. The planet was discovered in 2012.
Corona Australis belongs to the Hercules family of constellations, along with Aquila, Ara, Centaurus, Corvus, Crater, Crux, Cygnus, Hercules, Hydra, Lupus, Lyra, Ophiuchus, Sagitta, Scutum, Sextans, Serpens, Triangulum Australe, and Vulpecula.
Corona Australis does not contain any Messier objects. The best known deep sky objects in the constellation are the Corona Australis Nebula and the Coronet Cluster. There is one meteor shower associated with the constellation, the Corona Austrinids.
MYTH
Corona Australis, the Southern Crown, was known by the Greeks as a wreath, not a crown. Before Ptolemy introduced its stars as a separate constellation, Corona Australis was known as a circlet of stars near the forefeet of the centaur represented by the neighbouring constellation Sagittarius.
The constellation is sometimes associated with the myth of Dionysus. In the story, Corona Australis represents the crown the god placed in the sky after freeing his mother Semele from the god of the underworld, Hades. This particular myth, however, is also sometimes associated with the Northern Crown, Corona Borealis.
Ptolemy originally assigned 13 stars to the constellation Corona Australis, but one of them was later moved to the constellation Telescopium, where it became Alpha Telescopii.
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