The constellation Corona Borealis is an arc of stars that lies in spring and summer skies.
Corona Borealis is the constellation of the Northern Crown. It is located in the Northern Hemisphere and its counterpart, Corona Australis, lies in the Southern Hemisphere. (Australis means Southern while Borealis means Northern.)
Mythology Behind the Northern Crown
The ancient myths vary from one telling to another, but the basic facts regarding Corona Borealis surround Ariadne, daughter of King Minos of Crete, and Theseus, a man with whom she was in love. King Minos had a monster, who was called the Minotaur, and it lived within a labyrinth. Theseus was sent in to be fed to the Minotaur. Ariadne gave Theseus a spool of yarn to take in the maze with him. He unwound it as he walked through the labyrinth and was able to follow the yarn in order to get back out and escape the monster. Theseus was grateful to Ariadne, married her, and gave her a crown. But after a time he abandoned Ariadne. The gods felt pity for her and placed her crown in the heavens.
How to Find the Constellation of Corona Borealis
Corona Borealis is best seen in spring and summer skies. In the spring, it rises in the evening after the constellation Bootes and in front of Hercules. These two large constellations with bright stars sandwich in the dim arced shaped of Corona Borealis.
The Stars of Corona Borealis
There are few bright stars in the Northern Crown. The brightest, Alpha Coronae Borealis, is also known as Alphecca. Alphecca shines at magnitude 2.22. The second brightest star, Beta Coronae Borealis, has the name of Nusakan. Nusakan shines at magnitude 3.66. Nukasan and Alphecca lies a little less than three degrees apart. Nukasan lies 114 light-years away, and Alphecca lies a bit closer at 75 light-years away. A dim galaxy of magnitude 15 lies just 19 arcminutes away from Nukasan. It can only be seen with very large telescopes.
The other stars that make up the curved shape of Corona Borealis are all 3rd and 4th magnitude. Theta lies on the other side of Nukasan and Gamma and Delta lie on the other side of Alphecca. Gamma is a double star but very close and requires high magnification and steady skies to see.
Deep-Sky Objects in Corona Borealis
The Northern Crown holds no good deep-sky targets for the casual observer. Clusters and nebulae are nearly absent, and the galaxies present are extremely dim. One of the only target seasoned observers go for in this constellation is called Abell 2065. Also known as the Corona Borealis Galaxy Cluster, this grouping is found between the two brightest stars and a bit to the south. Abell 2065 contains about 400 galaxies and lies more than 1 billion light-years from Earth. Even through photographs the faint smears of the galaxies can be hard to make out.
