#alpha coronae borealis

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The constellation of Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown // E. Slawik/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/M. Zamani

Click below to read some info about the mythology of the Northern Crown as well as an annotated image!

Corona Borealis, which is Latin for "northern crown," is a small constellation set down by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the 2nd century.

In Greek mythology, this crown was associated with the story of Theseus and the minotaur. Corona Borealis represents the crown given by Dionysus to Ariadne, the daughter of Minos of Crete. In one legend, Ariadne then gives the crown to Theseus to help him defeat the minotaur. He uses the crown's light to escape the labyrinth and Dionysus later sets it in the heavens.

In order of brightness, the two named stars are:

Alphecca (α Coronae Borealis), a binary star system about 75 light years from Earth. This is a close binary system, where the stars complete an orbit around each other every 17 days. The primary star is a blue-white giant star, and the secondary is a Sun-like yellow star. Its name comes from the Arabic phrase nayyir al-fakka meaning "the bright star of the broken ring of stars."

Nusakan (β Coronae Borealis) is another binary star system, this one being about 112 light years from Earth. The primary star is a blue-white giant. Its name comes from the Arabic al-nasaqān meaning "the two lines of stars."

[quiltofstars]

Alphecca, α Coronae Borealis // Robertson Miller

Alphecca (α Coronae Borealis) is a binary star system about 75 light years from Earth. The primary is a blue-white star 3 times larger than the Sun and the secondary is a Sun-like star that is 90% the size of the Sun. The name comes from the Arabic phrase nayyir al-fakka meaning "the bright (star) of the broken (ring of stars)."

[quiltofstars]

The constellation of Corona Borealis // Malcolm Park

Corona Borealis, or the "northern crown", is generally assumed to represent a crown given by the god Dionysus to Ariadne, the daughter of Minos of Crete, after she had been abandoned by the Athenian prince Theseus. She wore this crown at her wedding to Dionysus.

Read below the cut for some info about these stars and a chart to help identify them!

The stars featured, in order of brightness, are:

Alphecca (α Coronae Borealis) is named from the Arabic phrase nayyir al-fakka meaning "the bright [star] of the broken [ring of stars]". It is a binary star system, one star being a blue-white star and the other being a white star. It is about 75 light years away.

Nusakan (β Coronae Borealis) has a name that comes from the Arabic al-nasaqān meaning "the two lines [of stars]". This is another binary star system composed of two white stars. It is about 112 light years away.

γ Coronae Borealis is a binary star system composed of two blue-white stars. It is about 146 light years away.

θ Coronae Borealis is yet another binary star system of two blue-white stars. This is much further away at 380 light years.

ε Coronae Borealis is a binary star system of two red giant stars. It has a planet orbiting it, about 7 times more massive than Jupiter. The system is about 242 light years away.

δ Coronae Borealis is a solitary yellow-white giant star. It is also a variable star that changes brightness every 45 days. It is about 165 light years away.

ι Coronae Borealis is a binary star system of two white giant stars. The system is about 312 light years away.