Corona Australis

Corona Australis

Constellation
List of stars in Corona Australis
Abbreviation	CrA
Genitive	Coronae Australis
Pronunciation	/kəˈroʊnə ɔːˈstreɪlɪs/, genitive /kəˈroʊni/[1][2][3]
Symbolism	The Southern Crown
Right ascension	17h 58m 30.1113s–19h 19m 04.7136s[4]
Declination	−36.7785645°–−45.5163460°[4]
Area	128 sq. deg. (80th)
Main stars	6
Bayer/Flamsteed stars	14
Stars with planets	2
Stars brighter than 3.00m	0
Stars within 10.00 pc (32.62 ly)	0
Brightest star	α CrA (Meridiana) (4.10m)
Messier objects	0
Meteor showers	Corona Australids
Bordering constellations	Sagittarius Scorpius Ara Telescopium
Visible at latitudes between +40° and −90°. Best visible at 21:00 (9 p.m.) during the month of August.

Corona Australis is a constellation in the Southern Celestial Hemisphere. Its Latin name means "southern crown", and it is the southern counterpart of Corona Borealis, the northern crown. It is one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations. The Ancient Greeks saw Corona Australis as a wreath rather than a crown and associated it with Sagittarius or Centaurus. Other cultures have likened the pattern to a turtle, ostrich nest, a tent, or even a hut belonging to a rock hyrax.

Although fainter than its northern counterpart, the oval- or horseshoe-shaped pattern of its brighter stars renders it distinctive. Alpha and Beta Coronae Australis are the two brightest stars with an apparent magnitude of around 4.1. Epsilon Coronae Australis is the brightest example of a W Ursae Majoris variable in the southern sky. Lying alongside the Milky Way, Corona Australis contains one of the closest star-forming regions to the Solar System—a dusty dark nebula known as the Corona Australis Molecular Cloud, lying about 430 light years away. Within it are stars at the earliest stages of their lifespan. The variable stars R and TY Coronae Australis light up parts of the nebula, which varies in brightness accordingly.