Leo the
Lion
One
of the few constellations that looks like the figure it is supposed
to represent in this case a crouching lion. The Lion’s head is
outlined by a sickle shape or backwards question mark
at the bottom of
which is the bright star
Regulus.
This
is the lion that is slain by the hero Hercules as the first of his 12
labours.
Leo
is a large and bright constellation in the spring sky with many stars
and galaxies of interest.
Alpha
or Regulus which means ‘Prince or Little King, lies 79 light years
away, it has a brightness of magnitude 1.4 Regulus is a B8 class
star with a surface temperature 12,000’C, much hotter than our
Sun at 5,800’C.
Beta
or Denebola which means ‘Tail of the Lion’ with a brightness of
magnitude 2.1 Its an A3 class star lying at a distance of 36 light
years.
Gamma
or Algeiba which means ‘Lions Mane’, is an orange class K0 giant
star with a magnitude of 2.1 and is 130 light years away.
Delta
or Zosma which means ‘Girdle or hip’ is an A4 class star lying at
a distance of 58 light years, Zosma has a magnitude of 2.6.
Wolf
359 is one of the nearest stars to the Sun; only the Alpha Centauri
system (including Proxima Centauri), Barnard's Star and the brown
dwarfs Luhman 16 and WISE 0855−0714 are known to be closer. Its
only 7.3 light years away, Wolf 359 is a red dwarf of class M6 with a
temperature of around 2,000’C. It is so faint it only has a
magnitude of 13.5 meaning a large telescope is needed to find the
star.
Wolf
359 has been mentioned in several science fiction works
The
Dark Side of the Sun (1976), a
novel
by Terry Pratchett.
There
are four messier galaxies in Leo M65,M66,M95 and M96 all require
telescopes to be seen.
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