Product Code Database
Leo is one of the of the zodiac, between Cancer, the Crab, to the west and Virgo, the Maiden, to the east. It is located in the Northern celestial hemisphere. Its name is Latin for lion, and to the ancient Greeks represented the Nemean Lion killed by the mythical Greek hero Heracles as one of his Twelve Labours. Its old astronomical symbol is (♌︎). One of the 48 constellations described by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, Leo remains one of the 88 modern constellations today, and one of the most easily recognizable due to its many bright stars and a distinctive shape that is reminiscent of the crouching lion it depicts.
| +Brightest Stars of Leo | |||
| Regulus | α Leonis | 79 | 1.35 |
| Denebola | β Leonis | 36 | 2.14 |
| Algieba | γ Leonis | 130 | 2.08 |
| Zosma | δ Leonis | 58 | 2.56 |
| Algenubi | ε Leonis | 247 | 2.98 |
| Adhafera | ζ Leonis | 274 | 3.33 |
| Al Jabhah | η Leonis | 1,270 | 3.49 |
| Chertan | θ Leonis | 165 | 3.32 |
| Rasalas | μ Leonis | 124 | 3.88 |
The star Wolf 359 (CN Leonis), one of the nearest stars to Earth at 7.8 away, is in Leo. Wolf 359 is a red dwarf of magnitude 13.5; it periodically brightens by one magnitude or less because it is a flare star. Gliese 436, a faint star in Leo about 33 light-years away from the Sun, is orbited by a transiting Neptune-mass extrasolar planet.
The carbon star CW Leo (IRC +10216) is the brightest star in the night sky at the infrared N-band (10 μm wavelength).
The star SDSS J102915+172927 (Caffau's star) is a population II star in the galactic halo seen in Leo. It is about 13 billion years old, making it one of the oldest stars in the Galaxy. It has the lowest metallicity of any known star.
Modern astronomers, including Tycho Brahe in 1602, excised a group of stars that once made up the "tuft" of the lion's tail and used them to form the new constellation Coma Berenices (Berenice's hair), although there was precedent for that designation among the ancient Greeks and Romans.L. Phil Simpson (Springer 2012) Guidebook to the Constellations: Telescopic Sights, Tales, and Myths, p. 235 ().
The Leo Ring, a cloud of hydrogen, Helium gas gas, is found in the orbit of two galaxies found within this constellation. M66 is a spiral galaxy that is part of the Leo Triplet, whose other two members are M65 and NGC 3628. It is at a distance of 37 million light-years and has a somewhat distorted shape due to gravitational interactions with the other members of the Triplet, which are pulling stars away from M66. Eventually, the outermost stars may form a dwarf galaxy orbiting M66. (2026). 9781554071753, Firefly Books. ISBN 9781554071753 Both M65 and M66 are visible in large binoculars or small telescopes, but their concentrated nuclei and elongation are only visible in large amateur instruments.
M95 and M96 are both spiral galaxies 20 million light-years from Earth. Though they are visible as fuzzy objects in small telescopes, their structure is only visible in larger instruments. M95 is a barred spiral galaxy. M105 is about a degree away from the M95/M96 pair; it is an elliptical galaxy of the 9th magnitude, also about 20 million light-years from Earth.
NGC 2903 is a barred spiral galaxy discovered by William Herschel in 1784. It is very similar in size and shape to the Milky Way and is located 25 million light-years from Earth. In its core, NGC 2903 has many "hotspots", which have been found to be near regions of star formation. The star formation in this region is thought to be due to the presence of the dusty bar, which sends shock waves through its rotation to an area with a diameter of 2,000 light-years. The outskirts of the galaxy have many young .
Leo is also home to some of the largest structures in the observable universe. Some of the structures found in the constellation are the Clowes–Campusano LQG, U1.11, U1.54, and the Huge-LQG, which are all large quasar groups; the latter being the second largest structure known (see also NQ2-NQ4 GRB overdensity).
The January Leonids are a minor shower that peaks between January 1 and 7.
In Babylonian astronomy, the constellation was called UR.GU.LA, the "Great Lion"; the bright star Regulus was known as "the star that stands at the Lion's breast." Regulus also had distinctly regal associations, as it was known as the King Star. Babylonian Star-lore by Gavin White, Solaria Publications, 2008 page 140,
In Greek mythology, Leo was identified as the Nemean lion which was killed by Heracles (Hercules to the Romans) during the first of his twelve labours. The Nemean Lion would take women as hostages to its lair in a cave, luring warriors from nearby towns to save the damsel in distress, to their misfortune. The Lion was impervious to any weaponry; thus, the warriors' clubs, swords, and spears were rendered useless against it. Realizing that he must defeat the Lion with his bare hands, Hercules slipped into the Lion's cave and engaged it at close quarters. When the Lion pounced, Hercules caught it in midair, one hand grasping the Lion's forelegs and the other its hind legs, and bent it backwards, breaking its back and freeing the trapped maidens. Zeus commemorated this labor by placing the Lion in the sky.
The Roman poet Ovid called it Herculeus Leo and Violentus Leo. Bacchi Sidus (star of Dionysus) was another of its titles, the god Dionysus always being identified with this animal. However, Marcus Manilius called it Jovis et Junonis Sidus (Star of Jupiter and Juno).
|
|
