Star profile

Praecipua

46 Leonis Minoris · Leo Minor

3D likeness based on its real data · class K · ~4,200 K

What is Praecipua

Praecipua, «the chief» in Latin, is the brightest star of Leo Minor, a discreet constellation coined by Hevelius in the seventeenth century to fill the gap between the Great Bear and the Lion. An orange K-class giant 95 light years away, it is a quiet beacon in a sparsely populated region of the sky that easily slips past notice under city lights.

Where it is and when to see it

Praecipua lies in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. 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.

Find it on the sky map

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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

If you don't have an account yet, we'll ask for an email to confirm it's you: we send you a link and that's it, no password.

Write my signature

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 Praecipua

Constellation: Leo Minor
Apparent magnitude: 3.79
Distance: 94.9 light years
Coordinates (J2000): RA 163.328° · Dec 34.215°
Catalogue: HIP 53229 · HD 94264

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 Minor

Leo Minor has 22 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.

See all 22 stars in Leo Minor