IAU: Corona Australis

Profile / Characteristics

English translation	Latin declination and pronunciations	Size/ °²	# stars (visible)
the Southern Crown	Corona Australis – cuh-ROE-nuh aw-STRAL-iss3 Coronae Australis – cuh-ROE-nee aw-STRAL-iss3	128	45

Main Star (brightest one):

Designation	HIP number	name in IAU-CSN	brightness
α CrA	HIP 94114	Meridiana	4.09 mag (V)

Our (modern) Explanation

The asterism had always been recognized but remained unnamed until Augustean time. Only in ancient Rome of the 1st century it was named a “wreath”, parallel to CrB.

Ancient Globes

depiction of this constellation on the Farnese Globe (2nd century CE)

depiction of this constellation on the Kugel Globe (1st century BCE)

depiction of this constellation on the Mainz Globe (2nd century CE)

Farnese Globe

Kugel Globe

Mainz Globe

Ancient Lore & Meaning

Aratus

–

Reference:
English translation by Douglas Kidd (1997).
Aratus: Phaenomena, Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries, Series Number 34

Online available: translation by Mair (1921)

Pseudo-Eratosthenes

References:
French translation by:
Jordi Pàmias i Massana and Arnaud Zucker (2013). Ératosthènes de Cyrène – Catastérismes, Les Belles Lettres, Paris

English version in:
Robin Hard (2015): Eratosthenes and Hyginus Constellation Myths with Aratus’s Phaenomena, Oxford World’s Classics

Early Modern Interpretation

For modern versions of ancient lore:
Ian Ridpath’s page on this constellation

Commentary

Contemporary

As one of their first tasks in the 1920s, the newly founded International Astronomical Union (IAU) established constellation standards. The Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte was assigned to the task to define borders of constellations parallel to lines of declination and right ascension. They were accepted by the General Assembly in 1928. The standardized names and abbreviations had already been accepted in 1922 and 1925.

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