Lambda Leonis is a K5-class star, about 336 light years from the Sun. Mira variables are pulsating variable stars that are in the late stage of evolution, very red in colour, and with pulsation periods longer than 100 days. In Persian astronomy, the sky was divided into four districts and each district was guarded by one of the four bright stars. With just 1/3 the mass of the sun, Regulus C is a red dwarf star with a spectral classification of M4V. Regulus B and C are gravitationally bound to each other, and together theyre called Regulus BC. They added, however, that they couldn't see anything in the system that would cause it to move faster. HD 87884 is separated from Regulus by 176 and is itself a close pair. 3.9). Designated RegulusB and RegulusC, the pair has Henry Draper Catalogue number HD 87884. 2.113), Zosma (Delta Leo, mag. Regulus, Alpha Leonis, is the brightest star in Leo and the 22nd brightest star in the sky. Messier 66, image: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona (CC BY-SA 4.0). . The cloak both protected Heracles and made him appear even more fearsome. While watching the sky, the dominant star would appear in its season, each having a time of the year when most noticeable. Regulus is the nearest first-magnitude star to the ecliptic, located only 0.465 degrees north of it. Also, with a rotation period of 15.9 hours, Regulus is a lot faster than the Sun. Regulus passes through SOHO's LASCO C3 every August. The name Regulus means the "little king" or "prince" in Latin. Regulus is part of the Sickle of Leo, a sickle-shaped asterism that represents the head of the celestial Lion. They are main sequence stars belonging to the spectral classes K1-2 V and M5 V, making Regulus B an orange dwarf and Regulus C a red dwarf. The equatorial diameter of Regulus is 32 percent larger than its polar diameter. So bright planets sometimes pass near Regulus. Astrophotographer John Chumack sent in a photo of Mars (red), Regulus (blue star) and the waning crescent moon in a triangle over his backyard observatory in Dayton, OH. Photo taken Oct. 1, 2013. source of its extremely rapid spin and strange motion, Encyclopedia of Astronomy and Astrophysics, would only need to rotate about 10 percent faster to tear itself to pieces, Star Trek's bad captains: Celebrating Starfleet's less-than-perfect commanding officers, Best free Star Trek: TNG & Picard 3D prints. The galaxy is notable for having a long tidal tail spanning about 300,000 light years, and a broad, obscuring dust band along the outer edge of its spiral arms. The star is a very fast spinner, with a projected rotational velocity of 318 km/s at the equator. [26] Occultations by Mercury and Venus are possible but rare, as are occultations by asteroids. [23], The Regulus system as a whole is the twenty-first brightest star in the night sky with an apparent magnitude of +1.35. Also, Regulus Black is the name of a character in the "Harry Potter" series by J.K. Rowling. . They eventually expel their outer envelopes to form planetary nebulae and become white dwarfs within a few million years. This name was used by the Greeks, Romans and Arabs. The pair lie about 177 arc seconds or 4,200 astronomical units away from Regulus A. Regulus B has an apparent magnitude of 8.13 and Regulus C has an apparent magnitude of 13.50. Regulus appears below the Lions head and shoulders and marks its heart. If you've already donated, we apologize for the popup and greatly appreciate your support. Only Alpha Centauri in the constellation Centaurus and Barnards Star in Ophiuchus are closer. The other name for Regulus is Cor Leonis, the Lions Heart. This occurs in spates every 9.3 years, due to lunar precession. Charles Messier discovered it in 1780. We left my fathers precious urologist because of the wait time . A supernova was observed in M95 in March 2012. There is probably another companion as well, according to one research team that did measurements of the spin of Regulus. . The second brightest star is Denebola, an A-type main-sequence star-forming the tail of the lion. The other components of the Alpha Leonis system are still on the main sequence, but considerably fainter than Regulus A. The traditional name Rgulus is Latin for 'prince' or 'little king'. However, Regulus C would require a larger telescope to be seen isolated from the system. In Latin, the name "Regulus" means "little king." The galaxy belongs to the NGC 3607 Group, one of the many Leo II groups of galaxies. The spiral arms form an almost perfect circle around the galactic centre before they spread out, creating a mane-like effect of which any lion would be proud. They are the only navigational stars in Leo. Rho Leonis is another binary star in Leo. Heracles could not defeat the lion with arrows, so he trapped it in its cave, grappled with the beast and eventually defeated it. Astronomers had a detailed look at Regulus' motion in a study published in 2005, showing that the star would only need to rotate about 10 percent faster to tear itself to pieces. Regulus is the dot of the question mark. My latest is an analysis of the Njord Skadi myth, from Avalonia Books. The galaxy was discovered by William Herschel in 1784. The two stars are separated by about 100 astronomical units, or 2.5 arc seconds. Leo 1 is a dwarf galaxy, and a member of our local group. M96 is the brightest galaxy in the M96 Group. The star has two known companions nearby, a set of binary stars, but observations in the past few years suggest there may be a white dwarf lurking close to Regulus as well. Toucan). Regulus Star Facts & Features About The Little King. Regulus A is the brightest star of the system, having around 288 solar luminosities. This sky map shows the location of brilliant planet Venus and the bright star Regulus in the pre-dawn sky on Oct. 3, 2012, as viewed from mid-northern latitudes. The G7 class star has a visual magnitude of 3.51, is 50 times brighter than the Sun, and has 10 times the solar diameter. It has 214% of the solar radius and is about 15 times more luminous than the Sun. Regulus is not a binary star for once, although there is a binary nearby, and possibly a white dwarf. [16] The companion pair has an orbital period of about 600 years[5] with a separation of 2.5" in 1942.[16]. R Leonis is approximately 370 light years distant from the solar system. The star Regulus is known by many different names in different cultures. The two asterisms overlap in the spring night sky. It has an apparent magnitude of 4.32. It can show you might rank high in urban affairs, land management, etc. Regulus can also sometimes be occulted by asteroids. Major disasters, breakthroughs, and historical phenomenons were seen as caused by the stars and their alignment in the sky during the time in which the event occurred. It appears as a backward question mark in the night sky. Mu Leonis belongs to the spectral class K3. The Planets 2010 - 2023 | Privacy Policy & Affiliate Disclaimer, Copyright 2023 ThePlanets.org | Sitemap, Regulus Star Image https://mirkokosmos.tumblr.com/image/114076419912, Regulus size comp https://www.daviddarling.info/images/flattened_stars.jpg, Location Of Regulus image https://starwalk.space/gallery/images/the-moon-venus-regulus-jpg/1136639. Fittingly, King Richard I of England was also famously known as the Lionheart, or more commonly Couer de Lion in French. It has a visual magnitude of 4.1 and is about 133 light years distant from Earth. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. The autumnal equinox, the point where the Sun crosses the ecliptic in early autumn, is located halfway between Regulus and Spica, the brightest star in Leo. 163 Erigone, a large, dark asteroid from the asteroid belt, about 73 km in size, occulted Regulus on March 20, 2014. Variations in the spin of the star mean there is probably a white dwarf, or dead star, lurking in the vicinity of Regulus, the astronomers argued in 2008. It's the brightest star in the constellation and among the brightest in Earth's night sky. [29] The center of the shadow path passed through New York and eastern Ontario, but no one is known to have seen it, due to cloud cover. 3 stars. It was discovered by William Herschel in 1784. Alpha Leonis is not really a single star, but a multiple star system. It has an apparent magnitude of 3.511 and is approximately 2,000 light years distant from Earth. Every month or so one of the constellations in the belt hides directly behind the Sun opposite to Earth. It has an apparent magnitude of 4.044 and is approximately 210 light years distant. It is easy to observe in a small telescope under good conditions and appears as a bright double star with orange red and greenish yellow components. It is between 390 and 490 light years distant from the Sun. It is approximately 135 light years distant. Start your review of Academic Urology & Urogynecology. The brothers became the seven major stars of the Big Dipper, and the girl became the small star Alcor. Theta Leonis has an estimated age of 550 million years, which means that it is much younger than the Sun. Bluish-white Regulus, the brightest star in Leo, lies high in the south, while another moderately bright star, Alphard, in the constellation Hydra, the Water Snake, is a bit below Regulus.. Regulus is a bright star seen in the constellation Leo. "The picture makes me wonder what it would be like to be in a solar system with this type of star.". M95 belongs to the M96 Group of galaxies, which also includes M96 and M105, and also at least nine other galaxies. Its a multiple system with at least four component stars. The primary star of Regulus A is a young star, only a few million years old, and has 3.5 times the mass of the Sun. The two components in the Omicron Leonis system belong to the spectral classes F9III (a giant) and A5mV (a main sequence star). 2. Cor Caroli is another name for Regulus. Leo represents the lion and is usually associated with the Nemean lion in Greek mythology. Elizabeth holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. It is the object within the Regulus system that can be seen with the naked eye. In Arabic, it is . When Aldebaran was the star of the spring equinox, Regulus would have been the summer solstice star. Another mystery is the source of its extremely rapid spin and strange motion. As an 8th magnitude star, Regulus B can be seen with binoculars. Ultraviolet emissions from the galaxys central region suggest that it has a supermassive black hole at its core. The star is an exceptionally fast rotator, with a rotation period of only 15.9 hours. It has a visual magnitude of 10.6/10.9. Kappa Leonis is a binary star with an apparent magnitude of 4.46, approximately 210 light years distant from the solar system. Zosma is a white main sequence star of the spectral type A4 V, approximately 58.4 light years from Earth. The distances between B and C ranged from 4.0 to 2.5 arc seconds between 1867 and 1943. Hubble telescope eyes galactic site of distant star explosion (video), Europe's JUICE Jupiter probe has an antenna glitch in deep space, Your monthly guide to stargazing & space science, Subscribe for just 1 per issue with our Spring Savings, Issues delivered straight to your door or device, Right ascension: 10 hours 8 minutes 22.3 seconds, Declination: +11 degrees 58 minutes 2 seconds. They are dimmer main sequence stars with an apparent magnitude of 8.14 and 13.5. 61 reviews. Regulus ranks 21st in the list of brightest stars in our sky. Merak and Dubhe, the outer stars of the Big Dippers bowl, also point in the general direction of the constellation Leo. The companion star has an apparent magnitude of 4.8. CW Leonis is a carbon star embedded in a thick envelope of dust. He began his 1st comet hunting program in 1975 and found his 1st comet in 1978, after 1700 hours of searching. 3.33), Eta Leonis (mag. The main star Regulus A is large and blue with a spectral type of B8 IVn. It is a main sequence star with the stellar classification A3 V. It has an apparent magnitude of 2.113 and is approximately 35.9 light years distant from Earth. It is emitting polarized light because of this. It is located at 79 light-years from us. NGC 3593, image: NASA/ESA The Hubble Legacy Archive (HLA): Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), the Space Telescope European Coordinating Facility (ST-ECF), and the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre (CADC) zoranknez (Aladin software). The stars in the galaxys central region are very old. Regulus is not a binary star for once, although there is a binary nearby, and possibly a white dwarf. The Jupiter-Mars group: Regulus, Acturus, Altair, Antares If you have a Jupiter-Mars Star prominent on an angle, like your Ascendant or Midheaven, this gives you honour and skills with strategy. It has a visual magnitude of 11.4 and is approximately 38 million light years distant. By early April, Regulus was well up in the southeast an hour after sunset. Regulus lies around 79.3 light years, or 24.3 parsecs, from Earth in the constellation of Leo. The dwarfs are about 95 AUs apart, more than three times the average distance between Neptune and the sun. It has a relatively high proper motion. 5-star recommended Tempe escape room, perfect for a night out, family bonding, date night, celebrations like birthday. The stars traditional name, Alterf, comes from the Arabic a-arf, which means the view (of the lion).. In the sky, the six bright stars that form the Sickle of Leo represent the lions head, and the brightest star in the constellation, Regulus (Alpha Leonis), marks the beasts heart. In fact, if Regulus rotated just a bit faster, it would fly apart! NGC 3842 is an elliptical galaxy, notable for having one of the largest black holes known. NY 10036. He's a longtime member of NASA's Solar System Ambassadors program. The BC pair lies at an angular distance of 177 arc-seconds from Regulus A, making them visible in amateur telescopes.[24]. Its traditional name, Adhafera, comes from the Arabic al-afrah, which means the curl or the braid.. 1 star. The Chinese knew Regulus as the Fourteenth Star of Xuanyuan, the Yellow Emperor (). The only time of year when the star cant be seen is for a month on either side of August 22, when it lies too close to the Sun. The January Leonids are a minor shower that peaks between January 1 and 7. In the Babylonian MUL.APIN, Regulus is listed as Lugal, meaning king, with co-descriptor, "star of the Lion's breast".[41]. The flares from the star emit strong bursts of gamma rays and X-ray radiation. Overall rating. Until the end of his life, in 2022, Don continued his visual comet hunting and Messier Marathons from Arizona, where he lived with his wife Michele. NGC 3628 is an unbarred spiral galaxy approximately 35 million light years distant from the solar system. Earendel is almost twice as distant, lying 28 billion light-years away. The Planets, https://theplanets.org/stars/regulus-star/. [16] This results in so-called gravity darkening: the photosphere at Regulus' poles is considerably hotter, and five times brighter per unit surface area, than its equatorial region. The Egyptians also recognized the Leo constellation and it's champion star, Regulus. It's whopping 75 times larger than the Sun, and incredible 150 times brighter! Image created using the Aladin Sky Atlas software from the Strasbourg Astronomical Data Center and DSS (Digitized Sky Survey) data. He's a former planetarium director in Little Rock, Fort Worth and Denver and an adjunct faculty member at Metropolitan State University of Denver. It contains 13 named stars. Regulus, in a horoscope or predictive chart, signifies good fortune, pride, royalty, and success. The stars name, Regulus, means little king or prince in Latin. Algieba (Gamma Leonis) lies on the lions neck, even though its name means the forehead. Zosma (Delta Leonis) marks the lions rump. The system lies approximately 79 light years from the Sun. Other stars that belong to this association are Alpha Pictoris in the constellation Pictor, Beta Canis Minoris in the constellation Canis Minor, and the stars in the open cluster IC 2391, also known as the Omicron Velorum Cluster, located in the constellation Vela. Regulus' location is: One of the earliest references to Regulus was in ancient Persia, around 3000 B.C. Because Regulus was the most influential of the royal stars, events that took place while Regulus was in dominance were amplified and grave, foreshadowing destruction, depending on what planet or planets might be in conjunction with the star. In some years, the moon occults (passes in front of) this star as seen from Earth. The stars proximity to the ecliptic (the apparent path of the Sun across the sky) means that Regulus is frequently occulted by the Moon. Regulus B and Regulus C share a common proper motion. And from mid-September through mid-February, Regulus will be in the morning sky. For decades, people believed it to be a companion of Regulus, but recent studies from the Gaia satellite show this to be a background star not related to the Regulus system. It was another of the constellations identified by Ptolemy, but records show that it was known to an earlier Greek astronomer named Eudoxus. Look through a small telescope using at least 50x magnification, and you can see Regulus as two objects separated by 177 arcseconds. It rose above the horizon as the sun set, stayed up all night long, and reached its highest point due south (as seen from the Northern Hemisphere) at local midnight. In the northern hemisphere, Leo is easily seen in the . She was contributing writer for Space.com (opens in new tab) for 10 years before joining full-time, freelancing since 2012. Denebola, Spica, and Arcturus form the Great Diamond (the Diamond of Virgo) with the fainter Cor Caroli, the brightest star in Canes Venatici (the Hunting Dogs). The name Denebola comes from the Arabic anab al-asad, which means the lions tail.. In ancient Babylon, Regulus was known as Sharru, the King. It was listed as Lugal (king) in the MUL.APIN, the Babylonian compendium of astronomy and astrology compiled around 1000 BCE. 12/13/2022. Regulus appears as a single star to the unaided eye, but it is in fact a quadruple star system consisting of two pairs of stars and possibly more components. (In Arabic, Qalb al-Asad, anglicized to Kabelaced.) He ultimately discovered a total of 12 comets, which bear his name. Later he received a 6-inch (15 cm) Criterion Dynascope and found all the Messier Objects in one year (1969-70). The Spring Triangle and the Diamond of Virgo, image: Stellarium. [18], The primary of Regulus A has about 3.8 times the Sun's mass. It has a visual magnitude of 10.2 and is approximately 32 million light years distant. Mass transfer from the white dwarf progenitor onto Regulus accounts for any discrepancies between the stars age and its mass, temperature, and luminosity. The constellation Orion sits on the Celestial Equator, making it visible to people in both the northern and southern Hemispheres (via NASA's Chandra x-Ray Observatory).It is said to represent the figure of Orion, a famed hunter from Greek mythology.One of the earliest references to this constellation by the name Orion can be found in the ancient Greek epic poem "Iliad" by Homer (via Britannica). Regulus D is a 12th magnitude companion at 212",[33] but is an unrelated background object. It can also be occulted by Mercury and Venus, but this only happens rarely. And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com. With an effective temperature of 4,885 K, it is half as luminous as the Sun. The star has an estimated age of less than a billion years. It has an apparent magnitude of 3.324 and is approximately 165 light years distant from the solar system. 7 In astrology, the Sun is considered to be in Leo from July 23 to August 22 As mentioned in fact #3, Leo is part of the Zodiac belt. Thank you! It can be located using the stars of the Big Dipper; Megrez and Phecda, the two inner stars of the Dippers bowl, point the way to the asterism. When it is at its brightest, it can be seen without binoculars, and when it is on the dimmest end of the spectrum, one needs at least a 7 cm telescope to see the star. Algieba is composed of a giant star with the spectral classification K1-IIIbCN0.5 and a dimmer companion star which belongs to the spectral class G7IIICN-I. The 2005 study examined the effects of the rotation for the first time using the CHARA telescope array on top of Mount Wilson in California. This refers to the star that stands in the breast of the Lion: the King. While it appears relatively dim to the unaided eye, the star is 5,600 times more luminous than the Sun and has an absolute magnitude of -5.60. The central region of M95 has a ring-shaped starburst region around the core with a diameter spanning about 2,000 light years. Regulus is the only 1st magnitude star to sit almost squarely on the ecliptic, which marks the path of the sun, moon and planets across our sky. In Greek mythology, Leo is associated with the tale of the Nemean Lion from the myth of Heracles and his twelve labours. It is of about the same mass and size as the Milky Way. It has an apparent magnitude of 1.35, making it the 21st brightest star in the night sky. Regulus, designated as Alpha Leonis, is the brightest star in Leo, and the 21 st brightest star in the night sky, having an apparent magnitude of 1.40. It contains a nuclear star-forming ring, almost 2000 light-years across, where a large proportion of the galaxys star formation takes place. Both Eratosthenes and Hyginus wrote that the lion was placed among the constellations because it was the king of beasts. However, it would have taken at least a billion years for the white dwarf to form. Rho Leonis has the stellar classification B1 lab, which means that it has reached the supergiant stage of its evolution. Messier 95 is a barred spiral galaxy in Leo. Messier 65, Messier 66 and NGC 3628 form the famous Leo Triplet galaxy group. The star is visible to the unaided eye. The asteroid 166 Rhodope, discovered in August 1876, was observed occulting Regulus by a team of researchers on October 19, 2005. In ancient Greece, the star was known as Basiliskos (little king), while in Rome it was known as Basilica Stella. In other words, they are the brightest stars in the sky. [32], For Earth observers, the heliacal rising (pre-sunrise appearance) of Regulus occurs late in the first week of September, or in the second week. The galaxy Messier 95 stands boldly face-on, offering an ideal view of its spiral structure. It belongs to the spectral class M2.5 V. An extrasolar planet, Gliese 436b, was discovered in the stars orbit in 2004, and the presence of another planet, UCF-1.01, was confirmed in 2012. Every 8 years, Venus passes very near the star system around or a few days before the heliacal rising, as on 5 September 2022 (the superior conjunction of Venus happens about two days earlier with each turn of its 8-year cycle, so as this cycle continues Venus will more definitely pass Regulus before the star's heliacal rising). The Leonids usually peak on November 17-18 every year and have a radiant near the bright star Gamma Leonis. For example, in mid-July 2023, both Venus and Mars will visit Regulus in the evening sky. You can locate Regulus also known as Alpha Leonis at the base of a star pattern that appears like a backward question mark. Regulus is 150 times brighter than the Sun, and its energy output is 350 times that of the latter. Venus last occulted Regulus on July 7, 1959. These are the 22 stars with apparent magnitudes of less than +1.50. Image: ESA/Hubble & NASA, L. Ho et al. Regulus is actually a quadruple-star system composed of four stars that are organized into two pairs. The Persians knew the constellation as Shir or Ser, Babylonians called it UR.GU.LA (the great lion), Syrians knew it as Aryo, and the Turks as Artan. Now let's take a look at some of the best things to do in Litchfield Park, Arizona. Regulus Starseeds. The star is suspected to be a member of the Ursa Major Moving Group, a group of stars that includes most of the brightest stars in Ursa Major that share a common origin and motion through space. [5], The royal stars were used primarily for navigation. It is approximately 70 million light years distant. The easiest way to spot the constellation Leo in the sky is to look for the Sickle, shaped like a backwards question mark. For example, in 1959, Regulus was occulted by Venus. His small book on world star lore, Constellations, was published by Running Press. The galaxy is known to have a supermassive black hole at its centre. Inferno Escape Room. The existence of a white dwarf companion would mean that the system is at least 1 billion years old, just to account for the formation of the white dwarf. The WGSN's first bulletin of July 2016[22] included a table of the first two batches of names approved by the WGSN; which included Regulus for this star. The stars heliacal rising, which is its first appearance above the horizon after a period of invisibility, occurs in the first week of September for observers in most locations. His 2nd comet took an additional 1742 hours. 1. There will be a series of 20 lunar occultations of Regulus from July 26, 2025, to December 27, 2026. 166 Rhodope, an asteroid about 54.6 km in size, occulted the star on October 19, 2005. While Regulus, like the sun, fuses hydrogen to helium in its center, it is more massive than the sun and therefore hotter and brighter. Icarus is the second most distant individual star discovered to date, second only to Earendel (WHL0137-LS) in the constellation Cetus. 1", "Occultations of bright stars by planets between 0 and 4000", "The 2001 US Naval Observatory Double Star CD-ROM. Aldebaran marked the vernal equinox and Antares marked the autumnal equinox, while Regulus marked the Summer Solstice and Fomalhaut the Winter Solstice. Another bright star, Denebola (Beta Leonis) marks the tip of the lions tail. [31] The star can be viewed the whole night, crossing the sky, in late February. The stars traditional names, Rasalas (or Ras Elad Borealis) and Alshemali are abbreviated from the Arabic phrase ras al-asad a-aml, which means the northern (star) of the lions head.. The primary component was once the smaller of the two stars. It is the nearest group containing both bright spirals and a bright elliptical galaxy (Messier 105). Copernicus called it the Little King, after the Greek Basiliokos. "We don't have any idea why it's really doing that," McAlister said. The name Regulus is from the diminutive form of the Latin rex, meaning little king. How are Hubble Space Telescope images made? History and Mythology. The name Regulus was officially approved by the International Astronomical Unions (IAU) Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) on June 30, 2016. It also bears the nickname Cor Leonis, again meaning Lions Heart. ", is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams. NGC 3593 is a spiral galaxy in Leo. Regulus star is also known as Basiliskos, Cor Leonis (Lion's Heart), Qalb al-Asad and Rex. Regulus A is itself a spectroscopic binary; the secondary star has not yet been directly observed as it is much fainter than the primary. Learn how and when to remove this template message, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Royal_stars&oldid=1121493956, Articles needing additional references from August 2008, All articles needing additional references, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2016, Articles with unsourced statements from March 2021, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2021, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 12 November 2022, at 15:56.

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