Leo Constellation: The Ultimate Guide

The ancient Egyptians had the constellation of Leo in a position of high relevance compared to other constellations because the Sun shone in front of this constellation just at the time of the annual flooding of the Nile River. The water of the Nile was the vital element of this agricultural nation, and its rise and fall meant everything to them.

In Greek culture, the Lion symbolizes the Nemean Lion, son of Typhon and Echidna, an animal with invulnerable skin that ravaged the fields and villages, devouring the people and cattle it found in its path.

The myth tells that the first task of Hercules was to kill the Lion.

The Lion had a cave with two entrances; Hercules plugged one to prevent the Lion from fleeing and entered through the other, surprising him. Embracing him with all his strength, he managed to drown and defeat the Lion and then skin it with his claws.

Leo has been one of the most crucial constellations throughout history. It appears in the region where the Sun rises when spring begins in the earth's northern hemisphere.

It also served the sailors as a guide in the sky to return to their lands since it occupied an ample space in the night sky by having a large size concerning other stars.

In the twentieth century, Leo still belongs to the zodiac constellations. Its limits have not been modified for decades, so it is considered one of the oldest and most essential constellations at a cultural and historical level.

It has several galaxies in the process of merging with other galaxies, as well as variable stars, binary stars, and other deep-sky bodies.

Leo is the twelfth largest constellation of all, with an area of 947 square degrees in total.

It is in the second quadrant of the northern hemisphere, which is written as (NQ2) and is visible at latitudes between + 90 ° and -65 °.

This means we can see the constellation in the night sky from almost every part of the world. The only exception is Antarctica.

Leo is visible from North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia.

Leo is a seasonal constellation, only visible in some seasons. The best season to see Leo's constellation is at the vernal equinox (in the northern hemisphere) between May and April.

To find Leo, you first have to locate the Big Dipper and position yourself on the last two stars of the dipper; these are Alkaid and Mizar.

If you draw a parallel line between these stars, you will point to the North Star to the north and the constellation Leo to the south.

The bordering constellations of Leo are Cancer, Coma Berenices, Crater, Hydra, Leo Minor, Lynx, Sextans, Ursa Major, and Virgo.

Leo also belongs to 12 zodiacal constellations alongside Gemini, Taurus, Cancer, Aries, Virgo, Libra, Scorpius, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces.

The two brightest stars in Leo are Regulus and Denebola. It also has 13 stars with proper names officially approved by the International Astronomical Union (IAU); Adhafera, Algieba, Alterf, Chertan, Denebola, etc. Dingolay, Formosa, Moriah, Rasalas, Regulus, Sagarmatha, Subra, and Zosma.

Leo contains five Messier objects: Messier 65 (NGC 3623), Messier 66 (NGC 3627), Messier 95 (NGC 3351), Messier 96 (NGC 3368) and Messier 105 (NGC 3379). It also has 11 stars with known planets.

Regulus, also known as Alpha Leonis, is Leo's brightest star and the 22nd brightest star in the sky.

It is located approximately 77 light-years away and has a visible magnitude of 1.35.

Regulus is a quadruple star composed of two pairs of stars. Regulus A: a spectroscopic binary star, its main component is a blue-white main-sequence star, and the second component is a companion star, a white dwarf.

Regulus B and Regulus C are at an angular distance of 177 arc seconds from Regulus A. Both are main-sequence stars with an apparent magnitude of 8.14 and slightly fainter 13.5.

Regulus B is a K2V star and is likely to have as its companion a red dwarf of the spectral type M4V. The two stars have a separation of 100 astronomical units and an orbital period of 2000 years.

Being the 61st brightest star in the sky, Denebola is the second brightest star in Leo.

It is located 35.9 light-years from the solar system, has an apparent magnitude of 2.1, and is a main-sequence star with the stellar classification A3 V. It is easily possible to see without binoculars.

Denebola has 173% of the Sun's radius, 75% more of its mass, and is 12 times more luminous. It has the stellar classification of the variable Delta Scuti, which means its brightness varies a little about ten times a day.

The estimated age of Beta Leonis is less than 400 million years, so it is a very young star, and like Regulus, Denebola rotates very fast on its axis at 128 km / s. This causes it to have a padded shape at the poles, with a bulge at the equator.

Denebola also has a substantial excess of infrared signals, indicating that it could have a circumstellar dust disk.

Gamma Leonis is a binary star composed of a giant star with the spectral classification K1-IIIbCN0.5 and a fainter star belonging to the spectral class G7IIICN-I.

The brightest component is 180 times brighter than the Sun and has an apparent magnitude of 2.28. While the faintest star is G7 class with a visual volume of 3.51, it is ten times the solar diameter and is 50 times brighter than this. Both stars have an orbital period of 500 years.

In November 2009, a planet was discovered in the orbit of the central star, which has the name Called Gamma1 Leonis b, orbits at an average distance of 1.19 AU from the star. Hence, its orbital period is 428.5 days.

A year later, another extrasolar planet was discovered not far from Gamma1 Leonis. Both worlds are at least 8.78 more massive than Jupiter, and there is likely a third planet further away.

Leo contains many galaxies that share the region with the Virgo Galaxy Cluster and are only visible with telescopes. Some of them are:

It is an intermediate spiral galaxy 35 million light-years from the Milky Way. The universe has minor dust and gas, and there is little stellar formation.

Together with M66 and NGC 3628, they formed the famous group of galaxies called The Leo Triplet.

Located 36 million light-years away, just as M65 is an intermediate spiral galaxy, occupying 96,000 light-years is almost as large as the Milky Way.

Together with M65 and NGC 3628, they formed the famous group of galaxies called Leo's Triplet.

It is the brightest galaxy in the M96 group of galaxies, including M95, NGC 3384, M105, and many fainter galaxies.

It is a barred spiral galaxy 34 million light-years away.

The constellation of Leo is mainly associated with the meteor shower Leonids.

The Leonids is one of the most famous and essential meteor showers that occur every year. It has the most significant number of objects per hour, on the order of ten to fifteen meteors per hour.

It is possible to observe the Leonids between November 20 and 30, reaching a maximum intensity every 33 years, giving rise to what is known as "Meteor Storm".

Dust from comet Tempel-Tuttle produces Leonids.

• In Greek mythology, Leo was a lion that Hercules defeated as part of his twelve labors. After his death, Hercules put him in heaven as a reminder of his victory.
• Leo has a total of 156 stars.
• Leo has 22 stars with confirmed extrasolar planets.

• Since Leo is a zodiac constellation, it belongs to the zodiac family's constellations.
• The name of the constellation comes from the Greek mythology story about the 12 tasks of Hercules in which he was ordered to kill the Lion of Nemea.
• Leo is a northern constellation, but we can see it from all the southern hemisphere countries. The best time to look for Leo is in April.
• Leo is relatively easy to find. It has very bright stars such as Regulus and a large constellation near the Big  Dipper.
• The brightest star in the constellation is Regulus or α Lion (Alpha Leonis). Its magnitude is +1.35, and it is easy to locate in the night sky.
• The most notable galaxy within the borders of Leo is M65 which, together with M66 and NGC 3628, form the famous Leo Triplet.
• The strongest meteor shower in Leo is the Leonids.

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2. https://www.constellation-guide.com/constellation-list/leo-constellation/
3. https://theskylive.com/sky/constellations/leo-constellation
4. http://www.seasky.org/constellations/constellation-leo.html
5. https://nineplanets.org/kids/leo-constellation/