According to Bantu Mythology mankind is not indigenous to planet Earth. It can show you might rank high in urban affairs, land management, etc. The BC pair lies at an angular distance of 177 arc-seconds from Regulus A, making them visible in amateur telescopes.[24]. The January Leonids are a minor shower that peaks between January 1 and 7. The star has an estimated age of less than a billion years. These are minor objects in the inner Solar System. As a result of Regulus fast rotation, the stars shape has been distorted into a highly oblate spheroid. The brothers became the seven major stars of the Big Dipper, and the girl became the small star Alcor. Regulus, also known as Alpha Leonis, is the brightest star in the constellation Leo and the 21st brightest star in the night sky. Regulus ranks 21st in the list of brightest stars in our sky. Lyra is a Latin name that in English means "The Lyra". 3.486), Subra (Omicron Leo, mag. [30], Although best seen in the evening in the northern hemisphere's late winter and spring, Regulus appears at some time of night throughout the year except for about a month (depending on ability to compensate for the sun's glare, ideally done so in twilight) on either side of August 2224, when the Sun is too close. Elizabeth first got interested in space after watching the movie Apollo 13 in 1996, and still wants to be an astronaut someday. Messier 66, image: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona (CC BY-SA 4.0). [31] The star can be viewed the whole night, crossing the sky, in late February. It has a visual magnitude of 10.2 and is approximately 32 million light years distant. Regulus is the faintest of the 22 first-magnitude stars. She was contributing writer for Space.com (opens in new tab) for 10 years before joining full-time, freelancing since 2012. The asterism looks like a backwards question mark and outlines the head of the celestial lion. Regulus B is slightly hotter. Regulus A has a right ascension of 10h 08m 22.311s and a declination of +11 58 01.95. 5 stars. Along with Messier 65 and Messier 66, NGC 3628 forms the Leo Triplet galaxy group. The Diamond of Virgo. NY 10036. It has an apparent magnitude of 10.1 and is about 31 million light years distant. Leo and Regulus, picture from Nasa. Toucan). Play Some Golf at the Wigwam Resort. [27] The next will occur on October 1, 2044, also by Venus. Messier 66 is an intermediate spiral galaxy in Leo. Regulus A is only a few million years old. In late February, Regulus is visible throughout the night. The stars traditional naames, Ras Elased (Australis), Asad Australis and Algenubi, are derived from the Arabic phrase rs al-asad al-janb, which means the southern star of the lions head., Epsilon Leonis is 288 times more luminous than the Sun, four times as massive, and it has 21 times the solar radius. [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. It has an apparent magnitude of 4.32. Retrieved from https://theplanets.org/stars/regulus-star/. It is classified as a Cepheid variable, changing by an amplitude of 0.3 magnitude every few days. Look towards Regulus around that date and youll see the sun. It has an apparent magnitude of 3.324 and is approximately 165 light years distant from the solar system. It was discovered by William Herschel in 1784. The genitive form of Leo, used in star names, is Leonis (pronunciation: /lions/). The Arabic phrase is sometimes approximated as Kabelaced. The stars Greek name, Basiliscos, had the same meaning. The Babylonians also recorded details of Regulus, the bright star within Leo, as The Great Lion constellation. Along with the brighter Vega, Altair, and Achernar, Regulus is one of the brightest and best-known examples of gravity darkening. The main star Regulus A is large and blue with a spectral type of B8 IVn. In Greek mythology, The Greeks associated Constellation Leo with the Nemean Lion. Leonis (Latinized to Alpha Leonis) is the star system's Bayer designation. Regulus is located about 79 light-years from Earth. The star is visible at some point in the night year-round, with the exception of the month around August 22-24, when it is too close to the Sun. [1] The Persians believed that the sky was divided into four districts with each district being guarded by one of the four Royal Stars. 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. Venus last occulted Regulus on July 7, 1959. Native Americans have two general Ursa Major myths. Rho Leonis is a runaway star and has a peculiar velocity of 30 km/s at the minimum relative to the nearby stars. 2.08), Denebola (Beta Leo, mag. Regulus A is the dominant star, with a binary companion 177" distant that is thought to be physically related. 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. Regulus in Leo. It might appear featureless and unexciting at first glance, but NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observations of this elliptical galaxy known as Messier 105 show that the stars near the galaxys centre are moving very rapidly. Persian mythology: Regulus is one of 4 royal stars. They are located at an angular distance of 177 arc seconds from Regulus A. It has an apparent magnitude of 1.35, making it the 21st brightest star in the night sky. Regulus is the star at the bottom. NGC 3357 is an elliptical galaxy in Leo. Regulus is the dot of the question mark. 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. Icarus is a blue supergiant of the spectral type B, located approximately 14.4 billion light-years from Earth. Wolf 359 is a red dwarf with the stellar classification M6.5Ve. Leo constellation map by IAU and Sky&Telescope magazine. Other ancient cultures also saw it as a herald of kingly power. Something went wrong while submitting the form. Search reviews. The brightest star in. Regulus spins on its axis once every 16 hours. Stretching across 947 square degrees of the sky, it is the third largest zodiac constellation (after Virgo and Aquarius) and the 12th largest of all constellations. The celestial Lion is one of the 48 Greek constellations, first catalogued by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy of Alexandria in his Almagest in the 2nd century CE. The Washington Double Star Catalog", Bright Star Regulus near the Leo I Dwarf Galaxy, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Regulus&oldid=1149452547, Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2022, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2018, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 12 April 2023, at 10:00. In the last 40 years of his life, he completed over 50 Messier Marathons and wrote 2 books on the subject. And, every month, the moon passes near Regulus. 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. Its extended envelope is believed to have at least 1.4 solar masses of ejected material. Their name derives from Arabic bahman, "root," as each was considered a source of astrological power for one or more planets.Each is also connected with a gemstone and plant that would be used in rituals meant to draw the star's . Its surface temperature averages about 12,460 Kelvin (21,970 degrees F or 12,190 degrees C), which is much higher than our suns surface temperature. Later he received a 6-inch (15 cm) Criterion Dynascope and found all the Messier Objects in one year (1969-70). 166 Rhodope, an asteroid about 54.6 km in size, occulted the star on October 19, 2005. 1 star. It was the Polish astronomer and mathematician Nicolaus Copernicus who translated these names into Latin as Regulus. For this reason, it is regularly occulted by the Moon and, rarely, by Mercury and Venus. Denebola is the second brightest star in Leo and the 61st brightest star in the sky. It has a visual magnitude of 3.856 and is approximately 5,000 light years distant. In about 600 million years, it will become a red giant. It has a relatively high proper motion. Regulus in persian mythology was the Guardian of the north and it's Angelic counterpart being Archangel Michael. The distances between B and C ranged from 4.0 to 2.5 arc seconds between 1867 and 1943. Few of the Universes residents are as iconic as the spiral galaxy. 3.52), and Rho Leonis (mag. R Leonis is approximately 370 light years distant from the solar system. In medieval astrology, Regulus was one of the 15 Behenian fixed stars, believed to hold special astrological power. Every eight years, Venus passes near the star around that time. The star was first discovered in 1969 by the American astrophysicist Eric Brecklin and his team of astronomers. It contains a nuclear star-forming ring, almost 2000 light-years across, where a large proportion of the galaxys star formation takes place. Marissa B. Goodyear, AZ. Regulus can also sometimes be occulted by asteroids. The galaxy Messier 95 stands boldly face-on, offering an ideal view of its spiral structure. Its a multiple system with at least four component stars. Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, Regulus is fairly easy to find in the sky as it is part of the Sickle of Leo, a prominent asterism in the constellation Leo, and marks the lower end of the Sickles handle. It can also be occulted by Mercury and Venus, but this only happens rarely. The Leo Ring is an enormous primordial cloud of hydrogen and helium found in orbit of two galaxies in the Leo constellation. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. The discrepancy can be accounted for by a history of mass transfer onto a once-smaller Regulus A. Source: wigwamgolf. A supernova was observed in M95 in March 2012. 12/13/2022. M66 and NGC 3628 had an encounter in the past, and the gravitational interaction between the two resulted in an exceptionally high central mass concentration in M66, a high molecular to atomic mass ratio, and a resolved noncorotating clump of H I material being removed from one of M66s spiral arms. The location of Regulus (Alpha Leonis), image: Stellarium. They eventually expel their outer envelopes to form planetary nebulae and become white dwarfs within a few million years. The Greeks associated Leo with the Nemean lion, the beast defeated by Heracles during the first of his twelve labours. Transformers movies ranked, worst to best, Jupiter missions: Past, present and future, The best sci-fi movies and TV shows on Paramount Plus in M04, What equipment do you need to see and photograph the planets, Annular solar eclipse 2023: Everything you need to know about North America's 'ring of fire' eclipse. Wolf 359 is classified as a flare star, one that can undergo dramatic increases in luminosity for several minutes as a result of magnetic activity on its surface. NGC 3628 is an unbarred spiral galaxy approximately 35 million light years distant from the solar system. Regulus D is a 12th magnitude companion at 212",[33] but is an unrelated background object. 163 Erigone, a large, dark asteroid from the asteroid belt, about 73 km in size, occulted Regulus on March 20, 2014. The two components in the Omicron Leonis system belong to the spectral classes F9III (a giant) and A5mV (a main sequence star). Messier 65, Messier 66 and NGC 3628 form the famous Leo Triplet galaxy group. It is one of the lowest-mass stars ever discovered, as well as one of the faintest. The galaxy has a visual magnitude of 8.9 and is about 36 million light years distant. (The Persians called it first Venant and then Miyan (the center). Alpha Leonis is the closest bright star to the ecliptic. 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. A planet was discovered in the orbit of the primary star in November 2009. Your submission has been received! The gaseous envelope, rich in carbon, is some 69,000 years old and the star is losing an enormous amount of mass each year. Also, Regulus Black is the name of a character in the "Harry Potter" series by J.K. Rowling. . The constellation Leo was mentioned in the Tetrabiblos, an ancient Roman text by Ptolemy (c. A.D. 100 170). 3.324), Adhafera (Zeta Leo, mag. Regulus Star Facts & Features About The Little King. It has a mass of 3.8 solar masses and is an extremely fast spinner, with a rotational velocity of 347 km/s. Regulus lies around 79.3 light years, or 24.3 parsecs, from Earth in the constellation of Leo. They have a combined apparent magnitude of 3.53. You can locate Regulus also known as Alpha Leonis at the base of a star pattern that appears like a backward question mark. His 2nd comet took an additional 1742 hours. 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 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. Regulus can be used to find several bright galaxies that lie in the region of the sky between the Lions heart and the fainter Denebola, Beta Leonis, the star that marks the Lions tail. The best time of year to observe Regulus from the northern sky is in the late winter and early spring. The galaxy was discovered by Charles Messier in 1780. NGC 3628, image: Pablo Carlos Budassi (CC BY-SA 4.0). Heracles is represented by the larger constellation Hercules. Its brightness is 288 times that of the Sun. The stars projected rotational velocity is 128 km/s. The star has a relatively high projected rotational velocity, 23 km/s. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Click to share on Print & PDF (Opens in new window), Apollo Soranus: the wolf, the sun, and thesacrifice, Aldebaran: the Bulls Eye WE ARE STAR STUFF, Spica: the Wheat Sheaf We Are Star Stuff. [16] The companion pair has an orbital period of about 600 years[5] with a separation of 2.5" in 1942.[16]. Its traditional name, Algieba or Al Gieba, comes from the Arabic Al-Jabhah, which means the forehead. The star is sometimes also known by its Latin name, Juba. Gamma Leonis is a double star in Leo. 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. More than 80% of them are Population II stars, more than a billion years old. Some Renaissance astrologers called it the Royal Star. Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House and Office of the Vice-President of the United States, an exclusive conversation with aspiring space tourist (and NSYNC bassist) Lance Bass, speaking several times with the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. 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. [5] From this observation individuals began to denote them the royal stars. Omicron Leonis is a double star in Leo. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Differential bending of light was measured to be consistent with general relativity. Together, the Regulus BC pair can be seen in small telescopes. A Type Ia supernova, SN 1998bu, was discovered in M96 in May 1998. Both phrases mean Lions Heart. Together, the pair have a right ascension of 10h 08m 12.8/14s and a declination of +11 59 48. This blog allows me to explore ideas and get reactions and suggestions from readers. With five stars brighter than magnitude 3.0, it is easy to spot, even from areas with some light pollution. These stars were considered to be the guardians of the sky in ancient Persia, around the year 3000 BCE. It crept higher in the sky with each passing day in March and April, as winter favorites like Orion descended westward. And Regulus is not the only star with a fast spin. Regulus is part of the Sickle of Leo, a sickle-shaped asterism that represents the head of the celestial Lion. M66 is approximately 95,000 light years across and notable for its dust lanes and bright star clusters. Epsilon Leonis is a bright giant of the spectral type G1 II. The other name for Regulus is Cor Leonis, the Lions Heart. The brighter of the pair is called Regulus A. Regulus was associated with Jupiter and Mars, and linked with granite and mugwort. 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. 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. The best time of the year to observe the stars and deep sky objects of Leo is during the month of April, when the constellation is high above the horizon in the evening. 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. NGC 3384 is an elliptical galaxy, approximately 35.1 million light years distant. It is classified as a Delta Scuti variable, which means that its brightness varies slightly over a period of a few hours. The light output is dominated by Regulus A. Regulus B, if seen in isolation, would be a binocular object of magnitude +8.1, and its companion, Regulus C, the faintest of the three stars that has been directly observed, would require a substantial telescope to be seen, at magnitude +13.5. It has 3 championship courses, of which 2 were designed by the famous architect . Regulus is 150 times brighter than the Sun, and its energy output is 350 times that of the latter. Map. It has a visual magnitude of 11.4 and is approximately 38 million light years distant. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. It consists of two pairs of stars. And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com. The name Regulus means the little king or prince in Latin. [citation needed], The idea there existed four royal stars of Persia was analysed in a 1945 article in Popular Astronomy, where the idea was criticized as largely a relatively modern invention, and/or a misunderstanding of the original source texts.[1]. Leo constellation lies in the northern sky. 3 stars. ", is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams. The companion is believed to be a white dwarf. I am the author of five books on mythology, including one on sun-goddesses. Archaeological evidence suggests that Mesopotamians had a constellation similar to Leo as early as 4000 BC. Regulus lies only 0.46 degrees from the ecliptic, which is the Suns apparent path across the sky, through the zodiac constellations, and is regularly occulted by the Moon and very rarely by Mercury and Venus. Due to the stars oblate shape, its poles are closer to the centre of mass and have a higher effective temperature and therefore brightness, while the equatorial region is cooler and less bright. It was discovered by the German astronomer Albert Marth on April 5, 1864. Regulus is not a binary star for once, although there is a binary nearby, and possibly a white dwarf. 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. 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. Together with the bright Spica in Virgo and Arcturus in Botes, Regulus forms the Spring Triangle, another prominent asterism appearing in the evening sky from March to May. Regulus is the bright star that makes the point of the question mark. NGC 3626 is a medium-tightness spiral galaxy in Leo. Regulus is only slightly fainter than Deneb in the constellation Cygnus and Mimosa in Crux, and it just outshines Adhara in Canis Major, Castor in Gemini, and Shaula in Scorpius. 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 an apparent magnitude of 10.25 and is approximately 35 million light years distant. Thank you! Leo is one of the oldest constellations in the sky. Regulus was associated with Jupiter and Mars, and linked with granite and mugwort. 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. 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. The text dealt with astrology and the supposed effect of events in the sky on humanity. Regulus A is itself a spectroscopic binary; the secondary star has not yet been directly observed as it is much fainter than the primary. 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. They regarded Regulus as - the star that stands at the Lion's breast - or sometimes The King Star. Gliese 436 is another red dwarf located relatively close to the Sun. Image: ESA/Hubble & NASA and the LEGUS Team, acknowledgement: R. Gendler. (The sun's rotation is about 4,500 mph or 7,242 kph.) It has a visual magnitude of 4.1 and is about 133 light years distant from Earth. The binary pair (two dwarfs, orange and red) are about 4,200 Earth-sun distances (astronomical units, or AU) away from Regulus and take about 130,000 years to complete one orbit, Darling said. Unseen by the naked eye are two very faint companions to the much larger bright star. Don became interested in astronomy at age 8. The constellation is home to the Leo Triplet of galaxies, which consists of the galaxies Messier 65, Messier 66, and NGC 3628, the Leo I Group, which includes the spiral galaxies Messier 95 and Messier 96 and the elliptical galaxy Messier 105, and the Cosmic Horseshoe, a gravitationally lensed system of two galaxies located at a distance of 5.2 and 10.3 gigalight years, discovered in 2007. While Regulus, like the sun, fuses hydrogen to helium in its center, it is more massive than the sun and therefore hotter and brighter. [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. [2] The stars were believed to hold both good and evil power and the Persians looked upon them for guidance in scientific calculations of the sky, such as the calendar and lunar/solar cycles, and for predictions. Beta Leonis, called Denebola, is at the opposite end of the constellation to Regulus.
Richfield Studios Faux Wood Blinds Installation Instructions,
Glen Taylor Mankato House,
How To Calculate Setback Distance,
Articles R
