Star profile
Regulus
Alpha Leonis · Leo
Hot blue starWhat is Regulus
Regulus —Latin for 'the little king'— marks the heart of the Lion and presides over the ecliptic, where Sun, Moon and planets graze her path. At 79 light-years, this blue-white star spins so quickly on its axis that it has flattened into a visible ellipsoid even to modern instruments. Persian and Arab astronomers called her «Qalb al-Asad», the lion's heart, long before Copernicus granted her an imperial title.
Where it is and when to see it
Regulus lies in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is one of the brightest stars in the sky: visible even from a city. Its best month of the year is February: the Sun sits at the opposite point of the sky and the star culminates around midnight. How high it climbs above the horizon depends on the latitude you watch from.
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The signature wall
Stelvia's sky works like a signature wall: anyone can leave their name and a message on a real star, and that signature goes up on the map for everyone to read. Signing is free.
A signature without a lock can be replaced by someone else's. The lock makes the signature permanent and lets you choose a symbolic name for the star, always shown next to the star's catalogue identifier. How the lock works
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A public signature from a real person. The chosen name is a symbolic denomination within Stelvia, with no official standing or IAU recognition: the sky is not for sale and belongs to no one.
Astronomical data for Regulus
- Constellation
- Leo
- Apparent magnitude
- 1.36
- Distance
- 79.3 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 152.093° · Dec 11.967°
- Catalogue
- HIP 49669 · HD 87901
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Leo
Leo has 80 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- AlgiebaGamma 1 Leonis2.01
- DenebolaBeta Leonis2.14
- ZosmaDelta Leonis2.56
- Ras Elased AustralisEpsilon Leonis2.97
- ChertanTheta Leonis3.33
- AdhaferaZeta Leonis3.43
- Eta Leonis3.48
- SubraOmicron Leonis3.52