[5][6] In 1932, the name was instead recorded as "Corona Austrina" when the IAU's commission on notation approved a list of four-letter abbreviations for the constellations.

[4] Corona Australis is a small constellation bordered by Sagittarius to the north, Scorpius to the west, Telescopium to the south, and Ara to the southwest.

[9] The official constellation boundaries, as set by Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte in 1930, are defined by a polygon of four segments (illustrated in infobox).

[14] While not a bright constellation, Corona Australis is nonetheless distinctive due to its easily identifiable pattern of stars,[15] which has been described as horseshoe-[16] or oval-shaped.

Mu Coronae Australis, a yellow star of spectral type G5.5III and apparent magnitude 5.21,[18] was labelled by Johann Elert Bode and retained by Benjamin Gould, who deemed it bright enough to warrant naming.

[21] Also called simply "Meridiana",[1] it is a white main sequence star located 125 light years away from Earth,[15] with an apparent magnitude of 4.10 and spectral type A2Va.

[28][29] Epsilon Coronae Australis is an eclipsing binary belonging to a class of stars known as W Ursae Majoris variables.

[33] Kappa Coronae Australis is an easily resolved optical double—the components are of apparent magnitudes 6.3 and 5.6 and are about 1000 and 150 light years away respectively.

[26] Zeta Coronae Australis is a rapidly rotating main sequence star with an apparent magnitude of 4.8, 221.7 light years from Earth.

[37] Theta Coronae Australis lies further to the west, a yellow giant of spectral type G8III and apparent magnitude 4.62.

[38] Corona Australis harbours RX J1856.5-3754, an isolated neutron star that is thought to lie 140 (±40) parsecs, or 460 (±130) light years, away, with a diameter of 14 km.

Illuminated by a number of embedded reflection nebulae[25] the cloud fans out from Epsilon Coronae Australis eastward along the constellation border with Sagittarius.

It contains 7000 M☉,[25] Herbig–Haro objects (protostars) and some very young stars,[41] being one of the closest star-forming regions, 430 light years (130 parsecs) to the Solar System,[42] at the surface of the Local Bubble.

[43] Between Epsilon and Gamma Coronae Australis the cloud consists of the particular dark nebula and star forming region Bernes 157.

[49] The largest young stars in the region, R, S, T, TY and VV Coronae Australis, are all ejecting jets of material which cause surrounding dust and gas to coalesce and form Herbig–Haro objects, many of which have been identified nearby.

[51] IC 1297 is a planetary nebula of apparent magnitude 10.7, which appears as a green-hued roundish object in higher-powered amateur instruments.

[56] IC 4808 is a galaxy of apparent magnitude 12.9 located on the border of Corona Australis with the neighbouring constellation of Telescopium and 3.9 degrees west-southwest of Beta Sagittarii.

[58] NGC 6541 appears 13.1 arcminutes in diameter and is somewhat resolvable in large amateur instruments; a 12-inch telescope reveals approximately 100 stars but the core remains unresolved.

[67] In the 3rd century BC, the Greek didactic poet Aratus wrote of, but did not name the constellation,[68] instead calling the two crowns Στεφάνοι (Stephanoi).

[69] Ascribing 13 stars to the constellation,[10] he named it Στεφάνος νοτιος (Stephanos notios), "Southern Wreath", while other authors associated it with either Sagittarius (having fallen off his head) or Centaurus; with the former, it was called Corona Sagittarii.

[72] The 18th-century French astronomer Jérôme Lalande gave it the names Sertum Australe ("Southern Garland")[70][72] and Orbiculus Capitis, while German poet and author Philippus Caesius called it Corolla ("Little Crown") or Spira Australis ("Southern Coil"), and linked it with the Crown of Eternal Life from the New Testament.

Juno convinced Stimula to ask Jupiter to appear in his full splendor, which the mortal woman could not handle, causing her to burn.

After Bacchus, Stimula's unborn child, became an adult and the god of wine, he honored his deceased mother by placing a wreath in the sky.

[73] In Chinese astronomy, the stars of Corona Australis are located within the Black Tortoise of the North (北方玄武, Běi Fāng Xuán Wǔ).

However, precession over time has meant that the "Heavenly River" (Milky Way) became the more accurate marker to the ancient Chinese and hence supplanted the turtle in this role.

[77] The Aranda people of Central Australia saw Corona Australis as a coolamon carrying a baby, which was accidentally dropped to earth by a group of sky-women dancing in the Milky Way.

Scorpius's tail represents a suckerfish, while Eta Sagittarii and Theta Corona Australis mark the bottom of the canoe.