The brightness of these two stars and several others in the same field is variable. T Tauri stars are in the early stages of stellar evolution and display various observable characteristics of this phase, e.g. emission at visible and infrared wavelengths due to the accretion of matter left over from their formation, as well as X-ray emission. The nebulosity seen in this picture is mostly due to reflection of the stellar light by small dust particles. The stars in the R Coronae Australis complex do not emit sufficient ultraviolet light to ionize a substantial fraction of the surrounding hydrogen, and thereby cause this gas to glow. A smaller area of the above picture, near the center.
North is up and East is left.
The observations were obtained on the night of August 30, 2000. CCD frames taken through B, V, and R filters. Four exposures of 5 min each were obtained in each filter, with the telescope pointing at slightly different positions so that the gaps among the eight individual CCD-chips of the detector can be adequately filled. All frames were carefully aligned, and the intensity levels were cut in order to achieve the proper colour balance. A logarithmic intensity scale was used to improve the dynamical range.