Constellation Leo: location and bright stars. Zodiac signs Leo constellation

Compatibility horoscope: zodiac signs Leo constellation - the most Full description, only proven theories based on astrological observations of several millennia.

There are many myths associated with a dozen constellations of the zodiac signs in the sky. Many believe that being born under one sign or another determines the characteristics of character and life path person. And very often people are interested in why only these constellations were chosen as patrons of people being born.

Zodiac constellations and zodiac signs

The sun and moon make their annual path through the sky along a certain path. And in a year they pass through 12 constellations, which were called the constellations of the signs of the zodiac. The usual horoscope compares the date of birth of a person with the passage through zodiac constellation Sun, however, there is lunar horoscope, which compares the birthday with the position in the sky of the earth's satellite.

It is worth noting that initially dates were marked with the help of the zodiac constellations, because. it was just a calendar. The passage of the Sun through one sign of the zodiac was about a month. Today is the start of entry into new sign the zodiac has shifted - it falls on the first days of the third trimester of the month. This happened because the equinox point (spring) is gradually shifting - for 70 years by 1 degree.

Characteristics of the zodiac sign Leo

Leos are prone to narcissism and exhibitionism. Confidence in their own irresistibility leads them through life, not allowing them to doubt themselves for a minute. On their own starry pedestal, Leos favorably accept worship, regally allowing themselves to be loved. But they themselves love, showing off a little, of course. The Lions express their passion with all the splendor they are capable of, admiring their novel and themselves in this novel a little from the side.

The constellation Leo is located in the Northern Hemisphere between Cancer and Virgo. The ancient Sumerians called this constellation Leo the Great five thousand years ago. In ancient times, it was in Leo that the point of the summer solstice was located. During the reign of this constellation on southern countries a terrible heat struck, the Nile dried up. Hungry lions roamed the desert land of Egypt, looking for food. This constellation shines especially brightly at midnight in the first half of March. The ancients believed that when the constellation Leo lights up in the sky, great kings are born on earth. Perhaps that is why one of the most notable stars Leo is called Regulus, which is translated from Latin as “king”. The constellation Leo is surrounded by the constellations Virgo, Lynx, Cancer, Hydra, Lesser Leo, Chalice.

Zodiac sign Leo

Sun and Moon in Leo. Sign history, description, characteristics.

. they are considered the abode for the largest and most influential celestial bodies, that is, the luminaries: Leo, masculine in nature, is attributed to the Sun.

Claudius Ptolemy - Tetrabiblos

Zodiac sign Leo ♌ – denotes the fifth segment of the zodiacal belt (counting from the vernal equinox) with an angular size of 30° in the ecliptic plane (Fig. 2) and coordinates: 120°, ±5°19′; 150°, ±5°19'.

In 2017 the Sun is in the sign of Leo July 22, 2017 19:15 on August 23, 2017 01:20 Moscow time (Moscow time). The average dates when the Sun is usually in this zodiac sector: July 23 - August 23.

This sign got its name from the constellation Leo (Fig. 3), located at the beginning of our era just in this segment. In our time, due to a change in the direction of the earth's axis relative to the stars (precession), the constellation Leo * falls within the "influence" of the sign Leo only partially (Fig. 2):

Fig.2 The zodiac sign Leo, the constellation Leo and their mutual arrangement in a spherical projection (in the ancient view, the heavens consisted of several nested spheres).

The signs of the zodiac are the oldest way of marking the celestial sphere near the ecliptic region; over time, the marked areas gradually change. The area of the sky corresponding to the Leo zodiac sign currently looks like this:

Fig.3 Zodiac sign Leo ♌ - a section of the starry sky, a sector of the zodiac belt, which currently (2016) corresponds to the sign of Leo. Most of the stars of the constellation Cancer and the "front paw" of the constellation Leo fall into the area of the Leo sign.

From the point of view of the philosophical ideas of the times of Claudius Ptolemy, the sign of Leo has exceptional properties:

– The zodiac sign Leo is masculine in nature, is the abode of the Sun, which objectively determines the life of everything that exists on Earth.

- The sign of Leo - maturity, perfection of the element (element) Fire, according to ancient Greek philosophers, this sign gravitates towards the essence of this element - warmth and dryness. The embodiment of this essence in a person born when the Sun was in this sign is a choleric type of temperament (as one of the components).

- Ancient Greek philosophers awarded each sign with other characteristics and properties: on the basis of the location of the sign of Leo relative to the equatorial plane, when the Sun passes through it - north; seasonally - summer; harmonize with the sign of Leo: noble metal - gold; gem- amber.

These elements of the ancient worldview, as well as the provision on the earthly and heavenly flow of time, the perfection of the heavenly spheres and the imperfection of everything earthly (from this it follows that "everything is destined in heaven") are in theoretical basis many modern astrological schools.

In general, the first predictions by the stars appeared along with the emergence of the first agricultural states - these were predictions-recommendations "for the harvest." People needed to predict weather and climate phenomena and their impact on plant growth, since their well-being completely depended on this. Since weather phenomena are cyclical (for example, floods and droughts), observations of the movement of the planets, the Moon and the Sun, comparing them with the weather, made it possible, without revealing the cyclical nature of weather phenomena, to predict them based on the location of the planets, which at the same time described using the signs of the zodiac.

In the "prediction by the stars for the harvest," great importance was attached to the Moon - the "planet of fertility", its phases and the "interaction" of the Moon with the signs of the zodiac. Therefore, the first article on the mutual influence of the sign of Leo and the Moon on plants: Moon in the sign of Leo - Zodiac sign Leo, Moon and plants. For those who are not very interested in the details of the issues of the influence of the Moon on the development of plants, I will tell you the main thing: the fire sign Leo does not really contribute to fat and juicy yields, but patronizes the development of plants reaching for the sun.

Sign Leo, Sun and planets

According to the clarifications of Claudius Ptolemy, the ancient Greeks believed that when passing through the Leo zodiac sector:

☉ Sun has the greatest power of influence on the course of earthly life (from 3 to 2 2/3 conditional points, 1 point is taken as the power of influence on earthly processes at the moment of exaltation);

☽ Moon in the Leo sector it is close to the maximum of its forces, but these forces are already decreasing (from 2 2/3 to 2 points);

♀ Venus in Leo it remains in force, but the strength of its influence noticeably decreases (from 1 1/3 to 1 point);

♃ Jupiter is just beginning to gain strength - they are growing rapidly (from 1 to 1 1/3 points);

☿ Mercury– not yet in force, but the strength of its influence is growing and is close to manifesting itself (from 2/3 to 1 point);

Why does the Great Sphinx have such strange proportions?

In the presented figure, the answer is clear without words: The contour drawing of the modern constellation Leo + another star fits perfectly on the contour of the Great Sphinx

Collage. Constellation Leo and the Great Sphinx

Note: The sages of Ancient Egypt did not know how the modern “pundits of astronomy” would divide the sky into constellations and presented the star pattern in their own way, so the paws of the Sphinx end on the Akubens star from the modern constellation Cancer (Alpha Cancer, lat. α Cnc)

Sign Leo and people. "Typical Lion"

Today it is generally accepted that if a person was born at a time when the Sun is in the sign of Leo, then his sign is Leo. Moreover, the title “Lion” or “Lioness” becomes, as it were, another characteristic of a person, and they expect him to display the character of a “typical lion”.

So, such a character as a “typical Leo” simply does not exist - only in the numerous entertainment literature of the “scientific and prophetic” genre can one find lengthy enumerations of wonderful character traits that amuse the pride of “Lions” and “Lionesses”, often under the headings-plates “Man Lion” and “Lion Woman”. Even the ancient Greek philosophers and their later ancient followers, for the most part, believed that the sign of the zodiac determines for those born under it only the dominant temperament and fortitude (according to Ptolemy: “resistance to fate”), and the character develops during the life path:

The dominant type of temperament born under the sign of Leo is choleric**, and fortitude, "resistance to fate" is balanced with manifestations of temperament.

The question of compatibility of "Lions" in relations between themselves and with people born under other signs of the zodiac, which is of interest to many, is discussed in an article specially devoted to this issue: Compatibility by zodiac sign and temperament. Types of temperament according to Hippocrates.

Zodiac sign Leo and Russia

Historical events under the sign of Leo:

August 12, 1759- the defeat of the Prussian army by Russian-Austrian troops near the village of Kunersdorf, a victory that ended in nothing;

August 17, 1998– The Government of the Russian Federation announced a technical default, the collapse of the ruble exchange rate, the first economic crisis;

July 21-22, 2008- collapse of stock prices Russian companies, the global economic crisis has clearly manifested itself in Russia;

Following the sign of Leo, the sixth sector of the zodiac is called Virgo.

Work on the article "Zodiac Sign Leo" continues.

Abstracts: The zodiac sign Leo and Russia, other states are being finalized.

Zodiac sign Leo and people: Zodiac sign Leo, temperament. Compatibility issues. – now covered in a separate article

* Constellation Leo

"The two stars in the head of Leo act like Saturn and to a lesser extent like Mars; the three in the region of the throat are like Saturn and, to a lesser extent, Mercury; the bright star in the region of the heart, which is called Regulus, is like Mars and Jupiter; the stars in the back and the bright star on the tail act as Saturn and Venus; the stars in the region of the hips as Venus and, to a lesser extent, Mercury."(fig.8)

Claudius Ptolemy - On the Influence of the Stars - "A Mathematical Treatise in Four Parts"

The Sun is currently transiting the constellation Leo ( ♌ Leo -lat.) from August 11 to September 17.

Due to the precession of the earth's axis, the constellations are shifted relative to the vernal equinox, and the apparent movement of the Sun through the zodiac constellations occurs with increasing delay. The constellations, having passed a full zodiac circle, return to their original places after 25,776 years.

Fig.4 Constellation Leo. The seven brightest stars. Lilac line - asterism "Sickle" and the symbol of Leo

Fig.5 Constellation Leo, scheme. Our own version of the star chart (outline) of the lion.

The Leo constellation is perhaps the most prominent zodiac constellation in our northern sky. In the constellation, as many as five stars are brighter than the third magnitude - this is (Fig. 4) alpha Leo (α Leo) Regulus, double γ Leo Aljeba, βLeo Denebola and Zosma(δ Leo) with ε Leo Algenubi(Fig. 4). As you can see, the figure shows the names of seven stars - not the brightest, but important for constructing the constellation diagram (Fig. 5), the stars Subra (ο Leo) and Shir (ρ Leo) are added

It is noteworthy that the brightest star Regulus (α Leo) is located almost on the line of the ecliptic (deviation is only 27 minutes), the deviation from the ecliptic of the star ρ-Leo Shir is 8 minutes.

We inherited the modern borders of the constellation Leo from the ancient Greeks. But at all times, regardless of tradition, within this constellation, people identified a characteristic sickle pattern, which is now called the “Sickle asterism”. This asterism deserves a separate image (Fig. 5). Everything, even not so much bright stars the sickle included in the asterism have their own names, moreover, they are derived from different peoples- this is a chain of stars (starting from the handle and ending with the tip of the sickle): Regulus, Al Jabakh (η Leo), Aljeba, Aldhafera (ζ Leo), Rasalas (μ Leo, Ras Elased Borealis) and Algenubi ( Ras Elased Australis).

Fig.6 Asterism Sickle in the constellation Leo. List of stars of the asterism "Sickle".

When constructing figurative drawings of the starry sky, the ancient Egyptians endowed almost all of their celestials with wings, in addition, it was impossible to find creatures similar to earthly ones among them, if a celestial had a human body, then he must have got his head from some noble animal or vice versa as in the case of the Sphinx. It is not known for certain what pictures the imagination of the ancient Egyptians painted in the starry sky at the time of the creation of the Great Sphinx, but it is quite possible that its image was created on the basis of the stars of the modern constellation Leo, which could be confirmed, for example, by the discovery of attachment points for wooden wings.

Fig.7 Constellation Leo and the Great Sphinx. To learn more about the oddities in the proportions of the Great Sphinx, click on the picture

By inheritance from the ancient Greeks, in addition to the boundaries of the constellation Leo, we also got the myth of its origin. According to Greek mythology in the constellation Leo, the first feat of Hercules is immortalized. The lion goes to heaven as a result of the victory of Hercules over the monster in the form of a lion, which devastated the whole province - Nemea (hence the aphorism - "The Nemean Lion"). Claudius Ptolemy, in his star catalog, tries to follow tradition and refers to the constellation Leo the stars that create the image of a lion in the representations of his time. Subsequently, Jan Hevelius, in his atlas "Uranography", tries to follow as closely as possible the descriptions of Ptolemy, unfortunately the original atlas was created in the projection of the "divine gaze", as if you were looking at the celestial sphere from the outside. In order for the picture to correspond to the "earthly" appearance of the constellation Leo, as well as to highlight the stars, the collage brought to your attention was created:

Rice. eight Constellation Leo - a collage based on a drawing in the atlas of Jan Hevelius (only those stars that were listed by Hevelius himself in the atlas are highlighted)

** Currently, there are several similar definitions of the choleric type of temperament, and the behavioral characteristics of its owner:

"Choleric (from Greek chole [ hole] - bile), going back to Hippocrates, the designation of one of the four temperaments, characterized by speed of action, strong, quickly arising feelings, clearly reflected in speech, gestures, facial expressions.

Big Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd ed. 1969 - 1978

"Choleric is a temperament in the classification of Hippocrates. A person of choleric temperament can be described as fast, impulsive, able to give himself to business with passion, but not balanced, prone to violent emotional outbursts and sudden mood swings."

Glossary of psychological terms. Under. ed. N. Gubina.

Choleric is a subject with one of the main types of temperament, characterized by high level mental activity, vigor of actions, sharpness, swiftness, strength of movements, their fast pace, impetuosity; choleric is quick-tempered, impatient, prone to emotional breakdowns, sometimes aggressive.

S.Yu. Golovin. Practical Psychologist Dictionary

Summarizing these definitions, taking into account the peculiarities of the Leo sign (the temperament and the strength of the bow are balanced), we obtain:

Choleric as a carrier of temperament associated with fiery sign Leo, active and energetic, tends to manifest leadership skills and Creative skills, determined and self-confident. But unlike Aries, his actions are quite balanced, but often his actions are still dictated by emotions. Leo-choleric easily converges with new people, but in communication he sometimes lacks self-control, especially if he is provoked. He does not know how to adapt, when faced with something that he does not like, he immediately seeks to transform it in accordance with his desires and ideas. Often impulsive and quick-tempered.

Home Signs Zodiac zodiac sign Leo

TAMADA FOR THE WEDDING

Nobody but you knows better how you want to see your holiday. Together we can realize your wildest ideas and wishes!

Lunar calendars of the gardener and gardener 2017, weather forecast, news, video and photo

Leo (constellation)

a lion(lat. Leo) - the zodiac constellation of the northern hemisphere of the sky, lying between Cancer and Virgo.

The arrangement of bright stars really resembles a recumbent lion, whose head and chest represent the well-known asterism "Sickle", similar to a mirrored question mark.

The “point” at the bottom of this sign is the bright white-blue star Regulus (α Leo), which in Latin means “king”. Sometimes it is also called the "Heart of the Lion" (Cor Leonis). The luminosity of Regulus is 160 times higher than the solar one, and the high visible brightness (1.36 magnitude) is due to its relative proximity to us (85 light years). Among the stars of the first magnitude, Regulus is closest to the ecliptic, so it is quite often covered by the Moon.

At the back of the figure of the beast is the star of Denebola (β Leo), translated from Arabic - "lion's tail". It has a magnitude of 2.14 magnitude and is only 43 sv away. of the year.

At the base of the "lion's head" is the golden yellow Algieba (γ Leo), which means "lion's mane". This is a close visual double of magnitude 2.0.

R Leo is one of the brightest long-term variables, varying in brightness from 5th to 10th magnitude. The very faint red dwarf Wolf 359 (visible magnitude 13.45) is the third among the nearest stars (distance 7.80 light years); its luminosity is 100,000 times less than that of the sun. If this star took the place of our Sun, then at noon on Earth it would be a little brighter than it is now at the full moon.

Among the distant objects in this constellation, the spiral galaxies M 65, M 66, M 95 and M 96, as well as the elliptical galaxy M 105, which lies near the last two spiral galaxies, are of interest. Their apparent brightness is from 8.4 to 10.4 magnitudes.

Asterism "Sickle"

Asterism Serp consists of six stars of the constellation - α (Regul), η, γ (Algieba), ζ, μ and ε (Algenubi). The shape resembles a sickle or a mirrored question mark.

Observation

As a rule, the Sun is in the constellation from August 10 to September 15. Best conditions for observations in February and March.

Radiant in the constellation Leo meteor shower Leonids, formed from the decay of comet Tempel-Tuttle and observed in mid-November.

The constellation was known to the Sumerians 5000 years ago. Included in the catalog of the starry sky by Claudius Ptolemy "Almagest". The classical myth connects the Lion with the Nemean monster killed by Hercules. One of the earliest mentions of the constellation in Russian is in a manuscript of the 11th century, published by A. Budilovich under the title "XIII words of Gregory the Theologian in the Old Slavonic translation ...".

Leo (zodiac sign)

Leo is the fifth sign of the zodiac, corresponding to the sector of the ecliptic from 120 ° to 150 °, counting from the vernal equinox; permanent sign of the trine Fire.

In Western astrology, it is believed that the Sun is in the sign of Leo from about July 23 to August 23 or 22, in Vedic - from August 15 to September 15. The sign of Leo should not be confused with the constellation Leo, in which the Sun is located from August 10 to September 15.

The Lion symbol ♌ (may not be displayed in some browsers) is in Unicode under decimal number 9804 or hexadecimal number 264C and can be entered as ♌ or ♌ in HTML code.

click on the image to enlarge it

947 sq. degrees

Regulus (α Leo) - 1,36m
Algieba (γ Leo) - 2,01m
Denebola (β Leo) - 2,14m
Zosma (δ Leo) - 2.56
Algenubi (ε Leo) - 2,97m

Big Dipper
Small Lion
Veronica's hair
Hydra
Sextant
Lynx (corner)

The best time for observation is February, March.

Constellation Leo from the Atlas "Uranographia" by Jan Hevelius (1690)

Constellation Leo from the Atlas "Uranographia" J. E. Bode (Berlin 1801)

click on the image to enlarge it

Nemean lion of the first feat of Hercules. In short, right?

However, it may be that Zeus placed him in the sky simply as the king of beasts. But it's kind of a boring version.

The constellation Leo has been known to people since ancient times. The name was given to him by the Egyptians in ancient times. They associated it not with legends or mythology, but with recurring seasonal phenomena.

AT Ancient Egypt, when at night in March and April, high above the horizon, almost at the very zenith, the stars of the constellation Leo began to shine, a period of terrible heat set in. Even the fertile valley of the Nile dried up, the soil cracked due to the unbearable heat. At this time, the terrible growling of lions was heard at night, wandering through the desert in search of prey. Nobody dared to go there. The desert turned into a realm of lions. This was repeated from year to year, and therefore the ancient Egyptians called that part of the starry sky, which they saw at that time, the name of Leo. So the king of animals Leo appeared in the starry sky.

According to legend, great kings were to be born under the sign of this constellation. Therefore, the brightest star in the constellation Leo was named Regulus (from the Latin rex - king).

The mythology of the Greeks connects the constellation Leo with the monstrous Nemean lion and with one of the labors of Hercules.

When Gaia (Earth) found out how cruelly Zeus acted with her children - the titans, she married the gloomy Tartarus and gave birth to the terrible hundred-headed monster Typhon - a creature with a hundred dragon heads, continuously spewing flames in all directions. As soon as Typhon rose from the bowels of the Earth, the whole Earth shuddered from its weight. The deafening roar of angry bulls and lions, the barking of dogs and the terrifying snake hissing spread far across the Earth, and the flames erupted by the dragon's heads burned everything around. Horror seized people and animals, and even the gods were frightened. The earth burned, and everything melted from the hellish heat. Stormy flame swirled around Typhon. Only Zeus was not afraid. He boldly marched against Typhon, showered him with lightning and deafened him with peals of thunder. Earth and Sky merged into a continuous fire, it seemed that even the air was on fire. Zeus' lightning turned everything to ashes. Zeus incinerated all one hundred heads of Typhon, and he collapsed to Earth like a huge rock. Such heat emanated from his body that everything around him melted, and the Earth itself almost turned into a fiery river. Wasting no time, Zeus grabbed the huge body of Typhon and threw him into the depths of the gloomy Tartarus, which gave birth to this monster. Typhon remained there forever. But even in Tartarus, Typhon still threatens the gods and inspires fear in people, causing terrible hurricanes that sweep away everything in their path. The fire of Typhon passes through the thickness of the mountains, and then fiery rivers flow along their slopes. But the worst thing happened when Typhon married Echidna. They gave birth to terrible monsters - the two-headed dog Orfo, the three-headed dog Kerber with a snake tail, the Lernean Hydra, the Nemean lion, etc. Some monsters rose to Earth and caused terrible disasters and terrible suffering to people.

Typhon and Echidna (half-woman, half-snake) left their offspring - a huge lion - in the mountains, not far from the city of Nemea (hence its name - Nemean Lion). With a terrible roar, he rampaged around the city and devastated everything around. Horror gripped people and animals when they heard this roar. The people did not dare to leave their dwellings, famine set in, diseases began. Weeping and wailing were heard in Nemea. No one could save people from the unbearable disaster that all of Greece was talking about.

King Eurystheus instructed Hercules to kill the Nemean lion and bring his corpse to Mycenae.

Hercules immediately set off. In Nemea, he saw a devastated, scorched earth. All living things hid in their homes. No one could even tell him where the terrible lion's lair was.

All day Hercules wandered through the wooded slopes of the mountains, but nowhere could he find a monstrous lion. The sun was already setting and it was getting dark. And then Hercules heard the terrifying roar of a lion, who woke up and waited for complete darkness to start hunting.

In several gigantic leaps, Hercules reached the lion's den, which was a huge cave with two exits. Before one of the exits, Hercules piled up huge stones, and he hid at the second exit and prepared a bow and arrows. A little time passed, and a giant lion appeared from the cave with a roar. Hercules showered him with arrows, but none of them even wounded the monster - the arrows bounced off the lion, whose skin was harder than iron. Hercules did not know that the Nemean Lion was invulnerable to weapons. When Hercules saw that the arrows were bouncing off the lion, he threw away his bow and attacked the lion with a club. With one powerful blow to the head, Hercules stunned him, then grabbed his neck with his mighty hands and squeezed so hard that he strangled the lion.

Having shouldered a huge beast, Hercules went to Nemea. There he sacrificed to Zeus and established, in memory of his first feat, the Nemean Games, during which wars ceased throughout Greece and universal peace reigned.

✔

Leo is a very important constellation, which is the main figure of the night spring sky. It serves as the basis for amateur astronomers to search for other constellations. The Leo constellation is very rich in various interesting objects that are very easy to see with a small telescope and even with the naked eye. It can be observed from February to March in the southern part of the night sky.

- is the most important object of the constellation Leo. It is located almost in the center of the constellation and is often associated with the heart. This is the brightest star, the brightness of which is 160 times higher than that of our Sun. This star is located 85 light-years away, which explains its high apparent brightness.

Modeling Regulus Rotation

Denebola- the second brightest object that belongs to Leo. This is the extreme star, which is often referred to as the tail.

Algeiba- a double star, one of the most beautiful in the sky. Denotes a majestic mane. If you look closely, the slightly orange star has a noticeable golden companion. The orbital period of this binary system is approximately 510 years.

There are several more and even triple stars in the constellation, which are worth paying attention to. These are stars called 54 and 88 Leo (double), and 90 Leo (triple). If you look closely at the star 90 Leo, you can see two bright blue dots with a distinct companion at a short distance from them.

variable stars

Also present in Leo. It is worth paying attention to Leo's R variable, one of the long-known variables. Its brightness varies from 10 to 5 magnitudes. It is very interesting to find this star during the period of minimum luminosity and observe its “flare up”, which lasts 312.5 days.

A very interesting object is located in the very depths of the constellation. This is Wolf 359 - a red dwarf, which is located only 7 from us. Due to its low brightness, this star is only visible through telescopes.

Orange Wolf 359 in the center of the picture

galaxies

In a 7-8 cm telescope, you can see not only stars, but also entire galaxies. So, if you look closely at the constellation Leo, you can easily find the "Lion Trio", namely the galaxies NGC 3628, M 65 and M 66. M 66 is the largest galaxy of this trio. It is located at a distance of 35 million light years. It has a clearly defined core and arms that are shifted upward relative to the plane of the galaxy. It is assumed that such an effect was formed due to the gravitational influence near two nearby neighboring galaxies. If you take a more powerful telescope, you can see and consider the structure of M95, M96, M105, NGC 2903.

asterisms

In the constellation Leo, there is an asterism called the Sickle. It consists of six stars. Namely, α, η, γ, ζ, μ, and ε. The shape of this asterism resembles exactly a sickle, or a question mark. The point of this question mark is the brightest star of this constellation - Regulus.

Story

The constellation Leo has been known for several thousand years. The name, oddly enough, it also acquired immediately, which is still used today. Assyrians, Babylonians, Hindus, Persians and Jews - all saw this constellation and called it in honor of the king of beasts.

List of constellations in the spring sky
	· · · ·

Leo is the zodiac constellation. In the high point above the horizon, it is best observed at night in March and April. Its closest neighbors are the constellations of Virgo, Chalice, Sextant, Cancer and Lesser Leo.

On a clear and moonless night constellation Leo about 70 stars can be seen with the naked eye, but mostly they are faint stars. The brightest stars in Leo are Regulus, a bluish-white star of the first magnitude, and Denebola, the second magnitude.

Mentally connected by lines, the brightest stars form a characteristic geometric figure of the constellation Leo - a greatly elongated irregular hexagon. A little bit of fantasy, and in this figure you can see the body of a lion with a lush mane, which is formed by faint stars scattered around Regulus. The right paw of the lion is well outlined by a row of stars. The star of Denebola glistens at the end of the lion's long and coiled tail.

AT constellation Leo there are many interesting double stars, variable stars and galaxies, but they can only be observed with powerful telescopes.

Of interest is the star Regulus ( alpha Leo). It is approximately three times the size of the Sun and has a surface temperature of 14,000 K. At an angular distance of 3" from it is a faint star of magnitude 7m.6 (invisible to the naked eye) yellow color almost indistinguishable from our Sun. It is assumed that it is a satellite of the star Regulus, because they both have the same proper motion in space. However, the orbital motion of this satellite star around Regulus has not yet been detected.

Far from the star zeta Leo is the radiant of the Leonid meteor shower, which is most active from November 15 to 19. The shower peaks on November 17, when about 10 meteors are recorded per hour.

The meteor particles of the Leonid shower move in a closed orbit around the Sun. But they are not distributed evenly along the orbit, but in one of its parts they form a "dense cloud". When the Earth passes through this part of the Leonid Stream orbit, "stellar showers" are noted. For the first time such a "shower" from the Leonids was observed in 1799, when about 30,000 meteors were recorded in an hour. Similar "star showers" from the Leonids were observed in 1833, 1866 and 1933. The last meteor shower from the Leonids was observed in 1966. It was really a "shower" of stars: the number of meteors recorded per hour reached 144,000! through the "Star showers" from the Leonids are repeated after about 33 years.

The myth of the constellation Leo

The constellation Leo has been known to people since ancient times. The name was given to him by the Egyptians in ancient times. They associated it not with legends or myths, but with recurring seasonal phenomena.

In ancient Egypt, when at night in March and April high above the horizon, almost at the very zenith, the stars of the constellation Leo began to shine, a period of terrible heat set in. Even the fertile valley of the Nile dried up, the soil cracked due to the unbearable heat. At this time, the terrible growling of lions was heard at night, wandering through the desert in search of prey. Nobody dared to go there. The desert turned into a realm of lions. This was repeated from year to year, and therefore the ancient Egyptians called that part of the starry sky, which they saw at that time, the name of Leo. So the king of animals Leo appeared in the starry sky.
According to legend, great kings were to be born under the sign of this constellation. Therefore, the brightest star in the constellation Leo was named Regulus (from the Latin rex - king).

The mythology of the Greeks connects the constellation Leo with the monstrous Nemean lion and with one of the labors of Hercules.

Having defeated the titans, Zeus cast them into the gloomy Tartarus. At the huge gates of Tartarus, the hundred-armed hecaton-cheirs vigilantly guarded the terrible enemies. The Titans have lost their power over the world forever. But the struggle of Zeus for power over Heaven and Earth did not end there. He still had to defeat the last enemy - Typhon, who instilled terror in everyone and was the cause of many disasters on Earth.
When Gaia (Earth) found out how cruelly Zeus acted with her children - the titans, she married the gloomy Tartarus and gave birth to the terrible hundred-headed monster Typhon - a creature with a hundred dragon heads, continuously spewing flames in all directions. As soon as Typhon rose from the bowels of the Earth, the whole Earth shuddered from its weight. The deafening roar of angry bulls and lions, the barking of dogs and the terrifying hiss of snakes reverberated far across the Earth, and the flames spewing from the heads of the dragon burned everything around. Horror seized people and animals, and even the gods were frightened. The earth burned, and everything melted from the hellish heat. Stormy flame swirled around Typhon. Only Zeus was not afraid. He boldly marched against Typhon, showered him with lightning and deafened him with peals of thunder. Earth and Sky merged into a continuous fire, it seemed that even the air was on fire. Zeus' lightning turned everything to ashes. Zeus incinerated all one hundred heads of Typhon, and he collapsed to Earth like a huge rock. Such heat emanated from his body that everything around him melted, and the Earth itself almost turned into a fiery river. Wasting no time, Zeus grabbed the huge body of Typhon and threw him into the depths of the gloomy Tartarus, which gave birth to this monster. Typhon remained there forever. But even in Tartarus, Typhon still threatens the gods and inspires fear in people, causing terrible hurricanes that sweep away everything in their path. The fire of Typhon passes through the thickness of the mountains, and then fiery rivers flow along their slopes. But the worst thing happened when Typhon married Echidna. They gave birth to terrible monsters - the two-headed dog Orfo, the three-headed dog Kerber with a snake tail, the Lernean Hydra, the Nemean lion, etc. Some monsters rose to Earth and caused terrible disasters and terrible suffering to people.

Typhon and Echidna (half-woman, half-snake) left their offspring - a huge lion - in the mountains, not far from the city of Nemea (hence its name - the Nemean Lion). With a terrible roar, he rampaged around the city and devastated everything around. Horror gripped people and animals when they heard this roar. The people did not dare to leave their dwellings, famine set in, diseases began. Weeping and wailing were heard in Nemea. No one could save people from the unbearable disaster that all of Greece was talking about.

King Eurystheus instructed Hercules to kill the Nemean Lion and bring his corpse in.

Hercules immediately set off. In Nemea, he saw a devastated, scorched earth. All living things hid in their homes. No one could even tell him where the terrible lion's lair was.

All day Hercules wandered through the wooded slopes of the mountains, but nowhere could he find a monstrous lion. The sun was already setting and it was getting dark. And then a terrifying roar of a lion reached Hercules, who woke up and waited for complete darkness to start hunting ...

Hercules took the lion to Mycenae. When Eurystheus saw the monster, he was so frightened of the strength and power of Hercules that he forbade him to approach Mycenae, and ordered to show evidence of the fulfillment of his further instructions.

The great thunderer Zeus turned the Nemean lion into a constellation and left it to shine in the sky to remind people of the feat of his son Hercules, who saved people from this terrible disaster.

Leo, the zodiac constellation of the northern hemisphere of the sky, lying between Cancer and Virgo. The sun enters the constellation on August 10.

Constellation Leo occupies an area of 947 sq. degrees, which makes it one of the largest constellations (12th).
Neighboring constellations: Ursa Major, Leo Minor, Veronica's Hair, Virgo, Chalice, Hydra, Cancer, Sextant.

The constellation Leo was known to the Sumerians 5000 years ago.

The ancient Egyptians associated the constellation Leo with the seasonal manifestations of nature. In ancient Egypt, the time when the constellation Leo was at the zenith of the night sky (March, April) was the hottest time. Even the fertile valley of the Nile dried up, the soil cracked due to the unbearable heat. At this time, at night, the desert turned into a kingdom of lions. This was repeated year after year. Therefore, the ancient Egyptians named the part of the sky visible at that time by the name of the king of beasts.

In the cat encyclopedia at http://www.site you can read the classic myth that connects the name of the constellation Leo with the first feat of Hercules - the victory over the Nemean lion.

The constellation Leo is visible at latitudes from +84° to −56°.

The best time for observation in Russia is February, March.

At good conditions observations in the constellation Leo can be seen with the naked eye about 70 stars.

The brightest stars in Leo: Regulus (α Leo), Denebola (β Leo), Zosma (δ Leo), Algenubi (ε Leo), Algieba (γ Leo). The arrangement of bright stars form the "Sickle" asterism, similar to a mirrored question mark.

Johann Bode, "Uranography" 1801, hand colored.

B constellation Leo there are many interesting double stars, variable stars and galaxies, but they can only be observed with powerful telescopes.

Stars

The name of the brightest star in the constellation Leo Regulus (α Leo) comes from the Latin rex - king, since, according to legend, great kings were to be born under the sign of the constellation Leo. Sometimes it is also called the "Heart of the Lion" (Cor Leonis). The star Regulus is located at a distance of about 85 sv. years from Earth. Regulus is approximately three times larger than the Sun, has a surface temperature of 14,000 K. The luminosity of Regulus is 160 times higher than the sun. Among the stars of the first magnitude, Regulus is closest to the ecliptic, so it is quite often covered by the Moon.

There is a star at the back of the figure of the beast Denebola (β Leo), translated from Arabic - "tail of a lion". It has a magnitude of 2.14 magnitude and is only 43 sv away. of the year.

At the base of the "lion's head" is a golden yellow Algieba (γ Leo) which means "lion's mane". This is a close visual double of magnitude 2.0.

galaxies

The most commonly spoken of is the "Leo triplet" - a trio of galaxies in the constellation Leo: NGS3628, M66 (NGS3627) and M65.

The spiral galaxy NGC 3627, which is listed under number 66 in the catalog of the French astronomer Charles Messier (1730 - 1817), therefore has its other name - M66.

Galaxy NGC 3627 is located at a distance of 35 million light years from Earth and is the largest in the triplet. The image, taken at an observatory in Chile, clearly shows the central core of the galaxy NGC 3627 and dark lanes of dust clouds along the spiral arms. Moreover, the arms have an uneven structure and are, as it were, shifted upward relative to the main plane of the galaxy. According to astronomers, this asymmetry is most likely due to the gravitational interaction of the NGC 3627 galaxy with its neighbors, the galaxies M 65 and NGC 3628.

As for the spiral galaxy NGC 3628, we see it from the side. It is located at a distance of about 35 million light years. NGC 3628 is similar in size to our own Milky Way Galaxy, but its disk is clearly expanding near the edges. This sharp deep image also shows a faint process extending upward and to the left. The distorted shape and tidal tail also suggest that there is a gravitational interaction between NGC 3628 and other spiral galaxies in the Leo triplet.

Leonid meteor shower

In the constellation Leo lies the radiant of the Leonids meteor shower, formed from the breakup of comet Tempel-Tuttle and showing the greatest activity from 15 to 19 November. The shower peaks on November 17, when about 10 meteors are recorded per hour.

The meteor particles of the Leonid shower move in a closed orbit around the Sun. But they are not distributed evenly along the orbit, but in one of its parts they form a "dense cloud". When the Earth passes through this part of the Leonid Stream orbit, "stellar showers" are noted.
For the first time such a "shower" from the Leonids was observed in 1799, when about 30,000 meteors were recorded in an hour. Similar " star showers"from the Leonids were observed in 1833, 1866 and 1933. The last meteor shower from the Leonids was observed in 1966. It was really a "shower" of stars: the number of meteors noted per hour reached 144,000!
"Star showers" from the Leonids are repeated after about 33 years.

And Cancer. Ursa Major, Lesser Lion, Bowl and Sextant also settled nearby. The location of the brightest stars in the cluster, indeed, is somewhat reminiscent of a lying animal. AT Ancient Greece The lion represented strength and ferocity. At that distant time, there were a lot of these powerful predators on the Balkan Peninsula. It is now that almost all of them have been exterminated, and the miserable remnants of Asiatic lions live only in the Gir reserve (India). But then, not now.

One of these formidable predators was the Nemean lion. He lived in the mountains near the city of Nemea (Peloponnese) and terrified the surroundings. No one could defeat the beast, but then Hercules appeared. He fearlessly entered into a fight with a lion and strangled him with his own hands. To perpetuate this feat, Zeus laid out the stars in the sky in the form of a lion figure. Since that time, a cluster of stars has been shining on the celestial sphere, symbolizing the victory of the son of Zeus over a ferocious animal.

The brightest star in the constellation is the blue-white star Regulus.. It is also one of the brightest stars in the night sky. From the Earth to it within easy reach. The distance is only about 78 light years. The luminary consists of 4 stars, which are combined into 2 pairs. One contains a blue-white Main Sequence star and a white dwarf. In the second pair, 2 dim stars of the Main Sequence coexist in unison.

Regulus practically "lies" on the ecliptic, so it is often covered by the Moon and less often by such planets as Venus and Mercury. The main white-blue star, which makes this system as bright as possible, exceeds the solar mass by 3.5 times, and exceeds our star by 160 times in brightness. The shape of the star is oblate due to the very rapid rotation around own axis. From Latin, Regulus is translated as "little king", and the Arabs called the luminary the "Heart of a Lion".

In the back of the predator snugly nestled in the night sky is Star of Denebola. From Arabic, the name translates as "lion's tail". The luminary is considered the third brightest in the constellation. It belongs to the Main Sequence. Almost 2 times the mass of the Sun and 12 times brighter. It is separated from the Earth by 36 light years. Denebola is a Delta Scuti variable star. Its brightness changes slightly over several hours.

On the lion's mane, when he turns his head, is a golden yellow star Algieba. In translation, the name means "lion's mane". The luminary consists of 2 stars. The luminosity of the main component is 180 times greater than the solar one, and the diameter is 23 times greater. The second star shines brighter than the sun 50 times, and the diameter is 10 times larger. They revolve around a common center with an orbital period of 500 years. They are 126 light-years away from the blue planet.

There are also several other bright stars. Zeta Leo or Adhafera is in a thick lion's mane. This is a giant white star, the brightness of which is 85 times greater than the sun. It is 3 times heavier than the Sun, and its radius is 6 times larger. It is located at a distance of 274 light years from our planet.

Diagram of the constellation Leo

One of the closest stars to the Earth is Wolf (wolf) 359. This is a red dwarf. It is separated from the blue planet by 7.8 light years. It belongs to the so-called flaring variable stars. They are characterized by the fact that an unpredictable sharp increase in brightness can occur within a few minutes. The increase in brightness lies in the spectrum from X-rays to radio waves. Outbreaks usually occur at intervals of several days. The star is relatively young. Its age does not exceed 1 billion years, and the luminosity is 100 thousand times less than the solar one.

Of great interest is the star Kaffau or SDSS J102915 + 172927. Found it in the galactic halo. It is described in detail in the American journal "Nature" for September 2011. The fact is that this luminary has an age of 13 billion years. It is one of the oldest stars in the Milky Way. Its mass is 0.8 solar. This cosmic body has a deficiency of carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and is completely devoid of lithium.

As we all well know, oxygen and carbon play a decisive role in the formation of low-mass stars. Therefore, the very principles of formation and existence of Kaffau are a mystery. The search for similar stars is currently underway. It is assumed that in space there can be from 5 to 50.

beyond the stars The constellation Leo contains many bright galaxies.. These are M65, M66, M95, M96, M105. M65 is a spiral galaxy. It is located at a distance of 35 million light years from Earth. It was discovered in 1780 by the French astronomer Charles Messier (1730-1817). She is part of the so-called Leo Triplet. These are three star formations - M65, M66, NGS 3628. From the Earth, the galaxy is visible as a small elliptical spot with a bright core. Nearby is the less elongated M66, and to the side is the much fainter NGS 3628. These celestial formations are clearly visible in a small telescope.

M95 is a spiral galaxy discovered in 1781 by the French astronomer Pierre Méchamp (1744-1804). This stellar system is notable for the fact that near its core are ring-shaped regions of star formation. The galaxy belongs to the Messier group of objects, which also includes M96 and M105. Its distance to the Earth is 38 million years. M95 and M96 are spiral galaxies, while M105 is an elliptical. At the center of the latter is a supermassive black hole.

Our Sun, "moving" along the ecliptic, "enters" the constellation Leo on August 10, and "leaves" it on September 15. That is, it has been in the grip of a formidable predator for more than a month. But the beast does nothing wrong with him, and the luminary continues its journey further, giving earthlings life, light and warmth..