Coroa Austral
Southern Crown (Coronae Austrini)
Corona Australis, the Southern Crown, is a small but ancient constellation lying just south of Sagittarius. It has been recognized since antiquity as a circlet of stars forming a crown or wreath. Though faint, it lies in a beautiful region of the Milky Way and contains the Corona Australis molecular cloud, an active star-forming region.
📜 Mitologia
Corona Australis was known to ancient Greek astronomers, though it was considered too far south for a proper myth. Some classical sources associate it with the crown that Dionysus placed among the stars after receiving it from his mother Semele. Others suggest it represents a laurel wreath awarded to a hero. Its resemblance to Corona Borealis (the Northern Crown) is deliberate - they are celestial counterparts representing crowns in opposite hemispheres.
💡 Fatos curiosos
- ✦The Corona Australis molecular cloud is one of the nearest star-forming regions at about 430 light-years
- ✦The reflection nebula NGC 6729 illuminates part of this cloud and is associated with the variable star R CrA
- ✦Corona Australis is one of the 48 constellations listed by Ptolemy in the 2nd century CE