CORONA AUSTRALIS
Infrared view of the Coronet Cluster and associated molecular clouds in Corona Australis
Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/SST
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The Corona Australis complex is one of the nearest and most active regions of ongoing star formation. At a distance of only 130 parsecs (425 light years), it is 3.5 times closer than the larger and better-known Orion Nebula. At the center of this region is the Coronet Cluster, which contains a few dozen "young stellar objects" (YSOs) that are still embedded in their native hydrogen clouds. Cluster members span a wide range of masses and evolutionary stages: from Herbig AeBe stars (which mature into A- and B-type stars) down to lightweight brown dwarfs, and from pre-stellar cores through glowing protostars to near-main sequence objects that have already lost their circumstellar disks of gas and dust. At the heart of the Coronet Cluster is its brightest and most massive member, R Coronae Australis, which is characterized as a Herbig Ae star. Many of its neighboring YSOs emit high-speed jets of hydrogen. See also Astronomy Picture of the Day. |
X-ray image of the Coronet Cluster - courtesy NASA/CXC/SAO
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An X-ray view of the same region of the Coronet Cluster, from imaging by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. |
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