Corona Borealis - The Northern Crown

Learn about the constellation Corona Borealis - The Northern Crown, location, facts, mythology, meteor showers and deep space objects.

Corona Borealis is a small northern constellation whose main stars form a semicircular arc.

Location: Northern Summer 16h RA 30° Dec

Corona Borealis contains no bright deep sky objects. It has no first-magnitude stars. Its brightest star, α CrB (also known as Gemma) is of magnitude 2.2 (slightly variable) and is considered a member of the diffuse Ursa Major Moving Group.

Corona Borealis Mythology

Corona Borealis was sometimes considered to represent a crown that was given by Dionysus to Ariadne, the daughter of Minos of Crete.

Corona Borealis Deep Space Objects

Corona Borealis contains few galaxies observable with amateur telescopes. NGC 6085 and 6086 are a faint spiral and elliptical galaxy respectively close enough to each other to be seen in the same visual field through a telescope.