What exactly is the Constellation Leo?
Leo is comprised of over one hundred and sixty stars, although only about ten are visible to the naked eye. Of these stars, Regulus, alpha Leonis, (or the little king), is the brightest, with an apparent 1.4 magnitude and an absolute magnitude of 0.6. It is a main sequence star. Regulus is located at the very bottom of the sickle and also happens to be the closest 1st-magnitude star to the ecliptic. The late Copernicus gave the name Regulus to this star. It is an estimated 90 light years away from Earth and has luminosity 110 times that of the Sun (Rao 2, p68)! As our research revealed, Regulus is actually a double star! There is a much dimmer, 7.9-magnitude star orbiting the 1st-magnitude star. Seeing Regulus as a double star is impossible with the naked eye because the 1st-magnitude star is so bright that it outshines the dimmer one. Above Regulus, the star Algieba, gamma Leonis, (the lions mane) can be found. This star is also a binary system, located about 85 light years away from
