While perhaps not quite as well known as its star-formation cousin Orion,
the Corona Australis region (containing, at its heart, the Coronet
cluster) is one of the nearest and most active regions of ongoing star
formation. At only about 420 light-years away, the Coronet is over three
times closer than the Orion nebula is to Earth. The Coronet contains a
loose cluster of a few dozen young stars with a wide range of masses and
at various stages of evolution, giving astronomers an opportunity to
observe embryonic stars simultaneously in several wavelengths.
This composite image shows the Coronet in X-rays from Chandra (purple) and
infrared from Spitzer (orange, green, and cyan). The Spitzer data show
young stars plus diffuse emission from dust. Due to the host of young
stars in different life stages in the Coronet, astronomers can use these
data to pinpoint details of how the youngest stars evolve.