NGC 3626 is a medium-tightness spiral galaxy in Leo. The last occultation of Regulus by a planet was on July 7, 1959, by Venus. 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. Denebola has 75% more mass than the Sun, 173% of the solar radius, and is 12 times more luminous. The stars in the galaxys central region are very old. Earendel is almost twice as distant, lying 28 billion light-years away. The co-moving distance of 14.4 billion ly does not correspond to the lookback time because it takes into account the expansion of the universe in the time that it took for the stars light to reach us. The Gamma Leonis system has a combined apparent magnitude of 1.98 and is approximately 130 light years distant from the Sun. He ultimately discovered a total of 12 comets, which bear his name. Sigma Leonis is a blue-white star belonging to the spectral class B9.5Vs. Alpha Leonis system, image credit: Pablo Carlos Budassi (CC BY-SA 4.0). Like Regulus and Denebola, Zosma has an equatorial bulge and an oblate shape. R Leonis is approximately 370 light years distant from the solar system. Regulus was one of the four Royal Stars of Persia, along with Fomalhaut, Antares, and Aldebaran, the brightest stars in the constellations Piscis Austrinus (the Southern Fish), Scorpius (the Scorpion), and Taurus (the Bull). The BC pair lies at an angular distance of 177 arc-seconds from Regulus A, making them visible in amateur telescopes.[24]. Regulus B and Regulus C take about 600 years to complete an orbit around a common centre of mass. [40] It was one of the fifteen Behenian stars known to medieval astrologers, associated with granite, mugwort, and the kabbalistic symbol . Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., is a staff writer in the spaceflight channel since 2022 covering diversity, education and gaming as well. In Latin, the name "Regulus" means "little king." The star Regulus is known by many different names in different cultures. It has a visual magnitude of 11.4 and is approximately 38 million light years distant. Messier 65 is an intermediate spiral galaxy in Leo. Leo is one of the largest northern constellations. NGC 3357 is an elliptical galaxy in Leo. Regulus A is a binary star consisting of a blue-white subgiant star of spectral type B8, which is orbited by a star of at least 0.3 solar masses, which is probably 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. Elizabeth holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. It has a visual magnitude of 2.56. The constellation name Leo is pronounced /lio/. Image: ESA/Hubble & NASA, L. Ho et al. Its a multiple system with at least four component stars. These include the Messier 96 Group (the Leo I Group) with member galaxies Messier 95, Messier 96, and Messier 105, and the Messier 66 Group (the Leo Triplet), which consists of the galaxies Messier 65, Messier 66, and NGC 3628. Regulus Star Facts & Features About The Little King. Regulus is best seen in late winter and spring in the northern hemisphere, when it rises high above the horizon in the evening. The companion is believed to be a white dwarf. It is the nearest group containing both bright spirals and a bright elliptical galaxy (Messier 105). 3.9). Before the discovery of the white dwarf, Regulus was believed to be a much younger star, with an estimated age between 50 and 100 million years. 2.113), Zosma (Delta Leo, mag. It has a visual magnitude of 3.856 and is approximately 5,000 light years distant. If you've already donated, we apologize for the popup and greatly appreciate your support. Source. 9. The International Occultation Timing Association recorded no observations at all. Regulus is actually a quadruple-star system composed of four stars that are organized into two pairs. It has an apparent magnitude of 12.6. Now let's take a look at some of the best things to do in Litchfield Park, Arizona. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Icarus was discovered in 2018 by a team of astronomers who were studying the multiply lensed supernova SN Refsdal with the Hubble Space Telescope. The poles are said to be gravity brightened, while the equator is gravity darkened. The poles of Regulus are five times brighter than the equator. NGC 3596 is an intermediate spiral galaxy with a visual magnitude of 12.0. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. The star has an optical companion, 35 Leonis, which has an apparent magnitude of 5.90. Regulus is a bright star seen in the constellation Leo. You might have heard of a star called Regulus D. This does not refer to the spectroscopic companion of Regulus A, but to a 12th-magnitude star that sits 212 arcseconds from Regulus. The galaxy is classified as a double-barred spiral with a small inner bulge through the centre along with an outer bulge. Leo is the 12th largest constellation in size, occupying an area of 947 square degrees. Regulus is not a binary star for once, although there is a binary nearby, and possibly a white dwarf. Theta Leonis is another white main sequence star. The stars Altair and Achernar are also fast spinners with flattened, oblate shapes. Regulus is the bright star that makes the point of the question mark. . Regulus is part of a relatively bright asterism known as the Sickle of Leo, which outlines the celestial lions head, mane, and shoulders. This means that it completes a rotation every 15.9 hours and, as a result, its shape has been distorted into an oblate spheroid, with the equatorial diameter 32 percent larger than the polar diameter. Together, the Regulus BC pair can be seen in small telescopes. Astrophotography with a film camera: Is it possible? 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. Save. The two stars take approximately 40 days to complete an orbit around their common centre of mass. Easily recognizable for the Sickle asterism that outlines the Lions mane and shoulders, Leo is known for its bright stars mainly Regulus and Denebola and a number of bright deep sky objects. She was contributing writer for Space.com (opens in new tab) for 10 years before joining full-time, freelancing since 2012. Omicron Leonis is a double star in Leo. These are minor objects in the inner Solar System. Get breaking space news and the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more! It would also be the star system from which the lions and the lion Gods (half man, half human) originally came. M95 belongs to the M96 Group of galaxies, which also includes M96 and M105, and also at least nine other galaxies. Regulus is the nearest first-magnitude star to the ecliptic, located only 0.465 degrees north of it. It contains a nuclear star-forming ring, almost 2000 light-years across, where a large proportion of the galaxys star formation takes place. The system lies approximately 79 light years from the Sun. In Indian astronomy, the stars name was Magh, the Mighty, after a Hindu lunar mansion that consisted of all the stars of the Sickle of Leo. Later he received a 6-inch (15 cm) Criterion Dynascope and found all the Messier Objects in one year (1969-70). The Arabic phrase is sometimes approximated as Kabelaced. Other ancient cultures also saw it as a herald of kingly power. It has an apparent magnitude of 1.35 and is not actually a single star, but a multiple star system. In fact, this image from Hubble frames a perfect spiral specimen: the stunning NGC 2903. 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. In India it was known as Magh ("the Mighty"), in Sogdiana Magh ("the Great"), in Persia Miyan ("the Centre") and also as Venant, one of the four 'royal stars' of the Persian monarchy. 5 star rating. The royal stars are mentioned in the Bundahishn, a collection of Zoroastrian cosmogony and cosmology. Alpha Leonis is not really a single star, but a multiple star system. This occurs in spates every 9.3 years, due to lunar precession. The Sickle is outlined by the stars Epsilon Leonis, Rasalas (Mu Leonis), Adhafera (Zeta Leonis), Algieba (Gamma Leonis), and Eta Leonis. The four stars with their modern names, and their ancient Persian names (in brackets) were: The four dominant stars have an apparent magnitude1.5 or brighter. Designated RegulusB and RegulusC, the pair has Henry Draper Catalogue number HD 87884. [18] The star's surface at the equator rotates at about 320 kilometres per second (199 miles per second), or 96.5% of its critical angular velocity for break-up. The dwarfs are about 95 AUs apart, more than three times the average distance between Neptune and the sun. (The sun's rotation is about 4,500 mph or 7,242 kph.) He's a longtime member of NASA's Solar System Ambassadors program. The gaseous envelope, rich in carbon, is some 69,000 years old and the star is losing an enormous amount of mass each year. Denebola also exhibits a strong infrared excess, which suggests that it may have a circumstellar debris disk of dust in its orbit. It consists of two pairs of stars. Regulus Starseeds. In the MUL.APIN, a catalogue of stars and constellations in Babylon, Regulus was listed as LUGAL. In 2016, the International Astronomical Union organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN)[21] to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. Cor Caroli is another name for Regulus. He began his 1st comet hunting program in 1975 and found his 1st comet in 1978, after 1700 hours of searching. The brightest star in Leo is Regulus, Alpha Leonis, with an apparent magnitude of 1.35. Look towards Regulus around that date and youll see the sun. NGC 3384 is an elliptical galaxy, approximately 35.1 million light years distant. Map. [citation needed], In 747 BCE the Babylonian King Nabu-nasir adopted a calendar derived from the motions of the four stars, one following an eight-year cycle and one a nineteen-year cycle (later adopting the nineteen-year calendar as standard). Mastodon: https://qoto.org/@howellspace, SpaceX Dragon debris lights up sky in bright fireball over western US during reentry (video), SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket aborts triple satellite launch at last minute. The galaxy Messier 95 stands boldly face-on, offering an ideal view of its spiral structure. 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). 3.52), and Rho Leonis (mag. It was the Polish astronomer and mathematician Nicolaus Copernicus who translated these names into Latin as Regulus. Regulus completes a rotation in only 15.9 hours and its equatorial rotational velocity is 96.5 percent of its breakup velocity. While Regulus, like the sun, fuses hydrogen to helium in its center, it is more massive than the sun and therefore hotter and brighter. Denebola exhibits variations in luminosity of 0.025 magnitudes about ten times a day. History and Mythology. The galaxy has an apparent magnitude of 12.8 and is approximately 331 million light years distant from Earth. Regulus A is the dominant star, with a binary companion 177" distant that is thought to be physically related. An occultation of Regulus by the asteroid 166 Rhodope was filmed in Italy on October 19, 2005. 3 stars. 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. Aldebaran marked the vernal equinox and Antares marked the autumnal equinox, while Regulus marked the Summer Solstice and Fomalhaut the Winter Solstice. Messier 66 is an intermediate spiral galaxy in Leo. He used the lions claws to cut off its pelt, and then wore the pelt as a cloak, complete with the lions head. R Leonis is a red giant star of the spectral type M8IIIe. It has a relatively high proper motion. The traditional name Regulus is Latin for ' prince ' or ' little king .'. A line from Megrez through Phecda, the inner stars of the Big Dippers bowl, leads to the Sickle. The name of this star is a diminutive form of the Latin Rex. Accessed 1 May, 2023. Regulus is not a binary star for once, although there is a binary nearby, and possibly a white dwarf. By early April, Regulus was well up in the southeast an hour after sunset. It has a visual magnitude varying from 4.4 to 11.3 with a period of 312 days and is classified as a Mira variable. The brighter pair, designated Regulus A, is a spectroscopic binary system consisting of a bright blue star of spectral classification B7 V, and a companion that has not been directly observed, but is likely a white dwarf with a low mass of only 0.3 solar. Stewart, Suzy. They are located at an angular distance of 177 arc seconds from Regulus A. Your email address will only be used for EarthSky content. Retrieved from https://theplanets.org/stars/regulus-star/. Search local showtimes and buy movie tickets from theaters near you on Moviefone. National Geographic Society-Palomar Observatory Sky Survey. Babylonians called it Sharru ("the King"), and it marked the 15th ecliptic constellation. With a combined apparent magnitude of 1.40, it is the brightest star in Leo and the 21st brightest star in the sky. In the northern hemisphere, Regulus is best seen in the evening in the late winter and spring. It can show you might rank high in urban affairs, land management, etc. The two stars have an orbital period of 500 years. 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. Its symbol is . Both the constellation and its brightest star were well-known in most ancient cultures. Greek mythology. It formally applies only to the component Alpha Leonis A, but is informally used for the whole system. Leo's brightest star, Regulus, was often called the "Red Flame" and was thought to contribute to the heat of summer. The text dealt with astrology and the supposed effect of events in the sky on humanity. 3.33), Eta Leonis (mag. This group, named the M96 Group, also includes the bright galaxies Messier 105 and Messier 95, as well as a number of smaller and fainter galaxies. Can you believe it? The star is suspected to be a part of a binary system. Venus last occulted Regulus on July 7, 1959. The Babylonians also recorded details of Regulus, the bright star within Leo, as The Great Lion constellation. 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. It has 11 stars with known planets. Along with Regulus in Leo, Alpha Virginis is believed to be one of the bright stars that made it possible for Hipparchus (160 - 120 BC) to discover the precession of the equinoxes, after comparing his data to that of the Alexandrian Timochares, who had observed Spica and Regulus around 300 BC. Fierce lion-headed deities, like Sekhmet whose breath formed the desert, and Tefnut who fled to the desert of Nubia in her rage, and the war-god Maahes, were associated both with scorching heat and protection of the pharaoh. The two stars complete an orbit around their common centre of mass every 40 days or so. Thank you! [37][38] It is also known as Qalb al-Asad, from the Arabic , meaning 'the heart of the lion', a name already attested in the Greek Kardia Leontos[37][39] whose Latin equivalent is Cor Lenis. This name was used by the Greeks, Romans and Arabs. Zeta Leonis is a giant star belonging to the spectral class F0 III. It has an apparent magnitude of 4.044 and is approximately 210 light years distant. Beta Leonis is a relatively young star. [16] The companion pair has an orbital period of about 600 years[5] with a separation of 2.5" in 1942.[16].

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