CORONA AUSTRALIS

The Southern Crown

Corona Australis - Alexander Jamieson - 1822

At the feet (hooves) of Sagittarius lies a crown of leaves. It is generally accepted that it is the crown of Sagittarius. In the second century AD, Ptolemy named it the Southern Wreath. Now known as the Southern Crown, Corona Australis is a small but distinctive semicircle of stars, similar in shape, though not so bright, as the Northern Crown, Corona Borealis. In deference to the Northern Crown's brightest star, Alphecca, the Southern Crown's alpha star is named Alfecca Meridiana.

Sitting right on the edge of the Milky Way, the star fields surrounding Corona Australis are rich with star clusters and nebulae. One area of high interest includes the closely bound group of bright emission nebulae, lit up by the radiant light of newly formed stars inside them. It is an area of dark dust, superheated gas, million mph shockwaves, and intense star formation.

In June, 2010, the European Southern Observatory in Chile targeted this area with their 8.2 meter Very Large Telescope (VLT), 2,600 meters high in the Andes, and produced the following stunning photos. The first is a wide field photo of the area in the graphic above, which dramatically shows the wispy tendrils and dark patches of interstellar dust. The dark, elongated patch near the center of the photo stretches more than eight light years long.

The next image zooms in for a closer look at the region containing the emission nebulae NGC 6726/6727, NGC 6729, and IC4812. It is one of the closest stellar nurseries to Earth, just over 400 light years away.

Finally, a detailed close-up view inside NGC 6729, showing intense activity, with billowing streams and swirling eddies of dust clouds, buffeted by the shockwaves and gravitational fields generated by the violent birth of thousands of stars.

Alphabetical Links to the Constellations

ANDROMEDA AQUARIUS AQUILA ARIES AURIGA BOOTES CAMELOPARDALIS CANCER CANES VENATICI CANIS MAJOR CANIS MINOR CAPRICORNUS CARINA CASSIOPEIA CENTAURUS CEPHEUS CETUS COLUMBA COMA BERENICES CORONA AUSTRALIS CORONA BOREALIS CORVUS CRATER CRUX CYGNUS DELPHINUS DORADO DRACO EQUULEUS ERIDANUS FORNAX GEMINI HERCULES HYDRA LACERTA LEO LEO MINOR LEPUS LIBRA LUPUS LYNX LYRA MONOCEROS OPHIUCHUS ORION PEGASUS PERSEUS PISCES PISCIS AUSTRALIS PUPPIS SAGITTA SAGITTARIUS SCORPIUS SCULPTOR SCUTUM SERPENS SEXTANS TAURUS TUCANA URSA MAJOR URSA MINOR VIRGO VULPECULA