With a surface area of 947 square degrees, Leo is the 12th largest constellation in terms of size. It can be viewed at latitudes between +90 and -65 and is situated in the northern hemisphere’s second quadrant (NQ2). Cancer, Coma Berenices, Crater, Hydra, Leo Minor, Lynx, Sextans, Ursa Major, and Virgo are the nearby constellations.
Messier 65 (M65, NGC 3623), Messier 66 (M66, NGC 3627), Messier 95 (M95, NGC 3351), Messier 96 (M96, NGC 3368), and Messier 105 are among the five Messier objects in Leo (M105, NGC 3379). 11 of its stars have identified planets.
Along with Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Virgo, Libra, Scorpius, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, and Pisces, Leo is a member of the Zodiac family of constellations.
Regulus, Alpha Leonis, the brightest star in Leo, has an apparent magnitude of 1.35.
One of the fifteen equatorial constellations is Leo. There are 13 identified stars there. Adhafera, Algieba, Alterf, Chertan, Denebola, Dingolay, Formosa, Moriah, Rasalas, Regulus, Sagarmatha, Subra, and Zosma are the proper names of stars that have been formally recognized by the International Astronomical Union (IAU).
The constellation is connected to two meteor showers. The bright star Gamma Leonis is close to the radiant of the Leonids, which typically peak on November 1718 every year. A brief shower called the January Leonids peaks between January 1 and January 7.
In This Article...
What prominent stars make up the constellation Leo?
Numerous bright stars may be found in Leo, the majority of which were known to the ancients. Let’s examine the main stars in the constellation Leo in more detail.
Regulus
The brightest star in the Leo constellation is Regulus, often known as Alpha Leonis (magnitude 1.40). It is astonishingly 150 times brighter and enormously 75 times larger than the Sun! Are you serious? Regulus rotates far more quickly than the Sun, with a period of 15.9 hours. The distance between Regulus and Earth is 83 light years. The Latin name Regulus, which means “prince,” became an anomaly while the bulk of Leo’s dazzling stars were given Arabic names. By the way, the distinguished Polish scientist Nicolaus Copernicus gave this star its name.
Denebola
At the other end of the constellation from Regulus lies Beta Leonis, also known as Denebola (magnitude 2.14). Its meaning is “lion’s tail.” Denebola, the second bright star in Leo, is 36 light years away from the Earth. This star is 12 times brighter and 75% more massive than the Sun, with a radius that is 173 percent greater. Strong infrared excesses on Denebola point to the possibility of a circumstellar dust disk in its orbit.
Algieba
A binary star system (a double star) called Gamma Leonis, also known as Algieba (magnitude 2.08), is situated around 130 light years from Earth. Its binary star is a yellowish G-type giant, while its primary star is an orange-red K-type giant. Algieba, the star’s traditional name, is Arabic meaning “forehead.” Interesting fact: A planet has recently been found to be present on Algieba A’s main star.
Zosma
58 light-years away from Earth, Zosma, also known as Delta Leonis, is a blue-white star with a magnitude of 2.56. Around twice as massive and radial as the Sun is Zosma. Ancient Greek called the structure on the lion’s hip a “girdle,” hence the name “zosma.”
Algenubi
Ras Elased Australis is another name for Algenubi, also known as Epsilon Leonis (magnitude 2.98). Both names refer to the lion’s head’s southern star. This yellow massive star is 251 light years away from Earth. Algenubi is far bigger and brighter than the Sun, with a radius 21 times greater than solar and a brightness 288 times higher.
Adhafera
Adhafera, commonly known as Zeta Leonis, is an optical triple star with a magnitude of 3.33. A white giant 260 light-years away from Earth is called Adhafera. The tertiary star, 35 Leonis, is to the north of the main star, and the secondary star, 39 Leonis, lies to the south. The Arabic word for braid is the source of the traditional name Adhafera.
Iota Leonis
At only 79 light years away from the Sun, the triple star system Iota Leonis (magnitude 4.00) is getting closer to the Sun at a speed of 10 km/s.
Wolf 359
We put Wolf 359 in our list even though it is not the brightest star (magnitude 13.54), as it is one of the stars closest to Earth at only 7.8 light years distant. Red dwarf Wolf 359 received its name from German astronomer Max Wolf, who recorded the star as entry number 359 after measuring its proper motion for the first time in 1917.
Leo still has available stars that might be yours! Would you like to christen this potent constellation’s star with your own name?
What star in Leo is the brightest?
The brightest star, Regulus (Latin for “little king; also known as Alpha Leonis), has a magnitude of 1.35. Leo is the radiant, or point of apparent origin, for the November meteor shower known as the Leonids. The Sickle is an asterism formed by many of the stars in Leo.
Leo is what Greek deity?
The lion is represented by the zodiac sign Leo, which is linked to the Nemean lion from Greek mythology and the first of Heracles’ twelve labors.
Ancient Greeks and astrology
Along with all the other constellations of the zodiac, the constellation of Leo was originally recorded by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the second century.
The ancient Greek astrologers were fascinated by the enigmatic night sky and contributed significantly to our current understanding of the size and form of the Earth, the moon, constellation positions and motions, planet orbital trajectories, and relationships with the stars in their vicinity.
They were able to use this knowledge to create what we now refer to as horoscopes: thorough predictions.
Leo, by what god?
Leo: Apollo, the Sun and Light God Apollo is the god of the sun, light, art, literature, music, and learning. According to mythology, Apollo was renowned for amusing Olympus by playing music on his golden lyre. Like Apollo, Leo is the sign of the comedian.
Regulus Leonis (Alpha Leonis)
The brightest star in Leo and the 22nd brightest star in the entire sky is Regulus, Alpha Leonis. It is roughly 77 light years away and has an apparent magnitude of 1.35.
Two sets of stars make up the four-star constellation Regulus. A spectroscopic binary system called Regulus A is made up of a blue-white main sequence star of the spectral class B7 V and an unresolved companion star that is thought to be a white dwarf. Every 40 days or thereabouts, the two stars complete an orbit around their shared mass.
A common proper motion is shared by Regulus B and Regulus C. They are 177 arc seconds away from Regulus A in angular terms. With apparent magnitudes of 8.14 and 13.5, they are main sequence stars that are fainter. The companion of Regulus B, a K2V star, is thought to be a red dwarf with the spectral class M4V. The distance between the two stars is approximately 100 astronomical units, and their orbital period is 2,000 years.
Regulus A’s main star is a young star that is only a few million years old and is 3.5 times as massive as the Sun. With a revolution period of about 15.9 hours, the star rotates incredibly quickly. Its form is oblate as a result. The centripetal force produced by the star’s gravity would not be sufficient to hold the star together if it were rotating 16 percent more quickly.
The bright star that is closest to the ecliptic is Alpha Leonis. It is so frequently obscured by the Moon and infrequently by Mercury and Venus.
Regulus is most visible in the northern hemisphere in the evenings of late winter and early spring. The star can only be seen for a month on each side of August 22 since it is too close to the Sun throughout the rest of the year.
Regulus, the name of the star, is Latin for “small king” or “prince.” The meaning of the star’s Greek name, Basiliscos, was the same. The star’s Arabic name, Qalb al-Asad, translates to “the heart of the lion.”
Denebola Leonis (Beta Leonis)
The 61st brightest star in the sky, Denebola is the second-brightest star in the constellation of Leo. It has the stellar classification A3 V and is a main sequence star. It is roughly 35.9 light years away from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 2.113. Without binoculars, the star is clearly visible.
Denebola is 12 times more bright, has 173 percent of the solar radius, and has 75% more mass than the Sun. It is categorized as a Delta Scuti variable, which indicates that over the course of a few hours, its brightness changes slightly. About ten times every day, Denebola displays changes in luminosity of 0.025 magnitudes.
A relatively new star is Beta Leonis. It is thought to be younger than 400 million years. Denebola, like Regulus, rotates quickly, giving it an oblate shape with a bulge near the equator. The estimated rotational speed of the star is 128 km/s.
A circumstellar debris disk of dust may be present in Denebola’s orbit because of its significant infrared excess.
The star is a member of the stellar association known as the IC 2391 supercluster, whose stars all move through space in a similar manner but are not gravitationally connected. The stars in the open cluster IC 2391, also called the Omicron Velorum Cluster and located in the constellation Vela, as well as Alpha Pictoris in the constellation Pictor, Beta Canis Minoris in the constellation Canis Minor, and other stars all belong to this association.
The Arabic word anab al-asad, which means “the lion’s tail,” is where the name Denebola originates.
Algieba Leonis (Gamma Leonis)
A double star in Leo is called Gamma Leonis. Algieba or Al Gieba, its traditional name, is derived from the Arabic word al-Jabhah, which means “the forehead. Juba, the star’s Latin name, is also occasionally used.
A huge star with the spectral type K1-IIIbCN0.5 plus a fainter companion star with the spectral type G7IIICN-I make up Algieba. The brighter giant has an apparent magnitude of 2.28 and is 180 times as luminous than the Sun. The G7 class star is 50 times brighter than the Sun, has a visual magnitude of 3.51 and is 10 times as massive as the Sun. The two stars’ 500-year-long orbits around one another. In November 2009, a planet was found in the main star’s orbit.
The Gamma Leonis system is 130 light years away from the Sun and has a total apparent magnitude of 1.98. Under ideal viewing conditions, it is simple to observe through a small telescope and appears as a bright double star with components that are orange red and greenish yellow.
Zosma Leonis (Delta Leonis)
Another quick rotator in Leo is Zosma, Delta Leonis, which has a predicted spinning speed of 180 km/s. Zosma has an equatorial bulge and an oblate form, just like Regulus and Denebola.
Located 58.4 light years away from Earth, Zosma is a white main sequence star of the spectral classification A4 V. It is 2.56 visible magnitudes in size.
A little bigger and hotter than the Sun is Delta Leonis. It is roughly 15 times as luminous than the Sun and has a radius that is 214 percent that of the Sun. It will develop into a red behemoth in around 600 million years.
The majority of Ursa Major’s brightest stars belong to the Ursa Major Moving Group, a collection of stars that are thought to have a common origin and travel through space.
The traditional name for the star, Zosma, is derived from the Greek language and means “the girdle.” On the lion’s hip is where Zosma is.
Chort Leonis (Theta Leonis)
Another white main sequence star is Theta Leonis. Its mass is 2.5 times that of the Sun and it falls under the star classification A2 V. The naked eye can make out the star. It is roughly 165 light years away from the solar system and has an apparent magnitude of 3.324.
Theta Leonis is substantially more recent than the Sun, with an estimated age of 550 million years. It displays an excessive infrared emission, which points to the presence of a circumstellar dust disk. The anticipated rotational velocity of the star is 23 km/s, which is comparatively fast.
The star is occasionally referred to by its traditional names, Chort, Coxa, and Chertan. Chort is derived from the Arabic word al-khart, which means “little rib.” Coxa is a Latin word for “hip” (from the Arabic al-khartn, meaning “two small ribs).
Al Minliar Leonis (Kappa Leonis)
About 210 light years from our solar system, Kappa Leonis is a double star with an apparent magnitude of 4.46. Al Minliar, its traditional name, is derived from the Arabic phrase Minkhir al-Asad, which means “the lion’s muzzle.” The star is classified as K2III stellar.
Alterf Leonis (Lambda Leonis)
About 336 light years away from the Sun, Lambda Leonis is a K5-class star. The apparent magnitude of it is 4.32. The Arabic word a-arf, which means “the vision,” is where the star’s traditional name Alterf originates (of the lion).
Subra Leonis (Omicron Leonis)
A double star in Leo is Omicron Leonis. About 135 light years separate us from it. It occasionally goes by the traditional name Subra.
The Omicron Leonis system’s two components are members of the spectral classes F9III (a giant) and A5mV. (a main sequence star). Their total apparent magnitude is 3.53.
Al Jabbah Leonis (Eta Leonis)
White supergiant Eta Leonis belongs to the spectral class A0 Ib. It is almost 2,000 light years away from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 3.511. The star has an absolute magnitude of -5.60 and is 5,600 times more luminous than the Sun, yet seeming very faint to the unassisted eye. The star may be a partner in a binary system.
Adhafera Leonis (Zeta Leonis)
The big star Zeta Leonis is in the spectral class F0 III. The Arabic word al-afrah, which means “the curl or the braid,” is whence the traditional name Adhafera is derived.
Zeta Leonis is located 274 light years away from the solar system and has a visual magnitude of 3.33. It has 85 times the brightness of the Sun.
35 Leonis, the star’s optical companion, has an apparent magnitude of 5.90. 35 Leonis is simply a line-of-sight companion because it is barely 100 light years away from Earth and is located 325.9 arc seconds from Adhafera.
Ras Elased Borealis Leonis (Mu Leonis)
The spectral class K3 includes Mu Leonis. It is roughly 133 light years away from Earth and has a visual magnitude of 4.1. The Arabic phrase ra’s al-‘asad a-aml, which translates to “the northern (star) of the lion’s head,” is the source of the traditional names for the star, Rasalas (or Ras Elad Borealis), and Alshemali.
Ras Elased Australis Leonis (Epsilon Leonis)
A brilliant giant of the spectral class G1 II is Epsilon Leonis. It is the sixth brightest star in the constellation Leo and has a visual magnitude of 2.98. It is thought to be 162 million years old. The distance between Earth and the star is roughly 247 light years.
The Arabic phrase rs al-‘asad al-janb, which translates to “the southern star of the lion’s head,” is the source of the traditional names for the stars, Ras Elased (Australis), Asad Australis, and Algenubi.
Epsilon Leonis has 21 times the solar radius, is 4 times as massive, and is 288 times more bright than the Sun. It is categorized as a Cepheid variable and changes every few days by an amplitude of 0.3 magnitude. Cepheid variables are extremely bright stars with a direct correlation between their luminosity and pulsation period, making them crucial standard candles for determining distance scales. They are named after Delta Cephei in the Cepheus constellation.
Leonis (Rho Leonis)
Another binary star in Leo is Rho Leonis. It is about 5,000 light years away and has a visual magnitude of 3.856.
Rho Leonis has attained the supergiant stage of its evolution because it bears the stellar classification B1 lab. It is around 295,000 times more luminous and 21 times the mass of the Sun. It also has a radius that is 37 times larger.
Runaway star Rho Leonis has an odd velocity of 30 km/s as compared to the surrounding stars, which is unusual. The blue supergiant, the main component of the system, has a companion at a distance of 0.11 arc seconds from it. An apparent magnitude of 4.8 characterizes the companion star.
Leonis (Iota Leonis)
The stellar designation F3 V applies to Iota Leonis, a spectroscopic double star. It is roughly 79 light years away from the Sun and has a visual magnitude of 4.00.
It is impossible to discern the system’s components using a telescope because they are too close together.
Leonis (Sigma Leonis)
A star in the spectral class B9.5Vs, Sigma Leonis is a blue-white star. It is roughly 210 light years away and has an apparent magnitude of 4.044.
Red dwarf Wolf 359 has the stellar designation M6.5Ve. It is only 7.78 light years away and has an apparent magnitude of 13.54. Wolf 359 is only seen through a huge telescope despite being close to the Sun. It is one of the weakest stars ever found and one of the lowest mass stars. It possesses only 16 percent of the Sun’s radius, 8 percent of the Sun’s mass, and emits only around 0.1 percent of the Sun’s energy. The star is thought to be less than a billion years old. Its appropriate motion is rather high.
Due of the magnetic activity on its surface, Wolf 359 is categorized as a flare star, which can experience huge surges in light for several minutes. Strong bursts of gamma and X-ray radiation are released by the star’s outbursts.
One of the stars closest to the Sun is Wolf 359. Only Barnard’s Star in Ophiuchus and Alpha Centauri in the constellation Centaurus are closer. The star is frequently mentioned in fiction because of how close it is to Earth. The Battle of Wolf 359, in which the Borg, under the command of the assimilated Captain Picard, destroyed the Starfleet ships, left only a few survivors, including Benjamin Sisko, the future captain of Deep Space Nine, and is well known to Star Trek fans, took place there. Additionally, the celebrity was famously highlighted in a The Outer Limits episode.
Icarus (MACS J1149 Lensed Star 1)
Only Earendel (WHL0137-LS) in the constellation Cetus is further away than Icarus, the second-most distant solitary star identified to date. Icarus is a spectrally class B blue supergiant that is 14.4 billion light-years away from the Earth. With a distance of 28 billion light-years, Earendel is almost twice as far away.
Gliese 436
Another red dwarf that can be seen somewhat near to the Sun is Gliese 436. It is 33.1 light years away and has a visual magnitude of 10.67. It is in the M2.5 V spectral class.
Gliese 436b, an extrasolar planet, was found in the star’s orbit in 2004, and UCF-1.01’s existence was verified in 2012.
CW Leonis (IRC + 10216)
A carbon star called CW Leonis is encased in a substantial layer of dust. From the Sun, it is located between 390 and 490 light years away. American astrophysicist Eric Brecklin and his team of astronomers made the initial discovery of the star in 1969.
CW Leonis is blowing off its outer layer at a late point in its growth and will eventually turn into a white dwarf. About 69,000 years have passed since the formation of the carbon-rich gaseous envelope, and the star is rapidly losing mass. At least 1.4 solar masses of material are thought to have been ejected into its expanded envelope.
Over a period of 649 days, the star displays changes in brightness. Its luminance is nominally 11,300 times more than that of the Sun, although it can range from 6,250 to 15,800 times greater throughout the length of a pulsation cycle. As a result, its apparent magnitude changes as well, falling between 1.19 and 10.96.
R Leonis
Red giant star R Leonis has the spectral class M8IIIe. It is a Mira variable with a visible magnitude range of 4.4 to 11.3 with a period of 312 days. Mira variables are pulsating variable stars with pulsation durations longer than 100 days, a highly red color, and an advanced stage of evolution. Within a few million years, they expel their outer envelopes to create planetary nebulae and turn into white dwarfs.
About 370 light years separate the solar system from R Leonis. Without binoculars, it can be seen when it is at its brightest, and a 7 cm or larger telescope is required to see it when it is at its dimmest. Radius of R Leonis is 320350 times that of the sun.
Why is a lion the symbol for Leo?
Primal, creative energy seems to be abundant in Leos. This symbol represents the fire that burns within each of us.
The sun, who rules Leo, imparts the following wisdom on this flamboyant sign: The sun is a symbol for the energy, force, and vital life force that propels the other planets in astrology. The sun beams upon everything, whereas the moon merely lights a little portion of the world, giving us life and light in the process.
Leo is known for its attentiveness, visibility, fearlessness, generosity, and creative impulses because, like the sun that dominates it, it wants to see and be seen.
Lions are the monarchs of the jungle and are recognized for their strong courage and inherent regality, making them an apt emblem for Leo. For this zodiac sign, it’s all about receiving and giving light and vitality.
In our yearly astrology forecast, find out more about what Leo can expect in 2022.