Star profile
Sigma Leonis
Hot blue starWhat is Sigma Leonis
Sigma Leonis burns quietly inside zodiacal Leo, in the region where the mythic lion arches its back just before the tail. It is a bluish B-type star, hot and young, whose surface comfortably exceeds ten thousand degrees against the Sun's five thousand six hundred. The light now caught by the human retina set out more than two centuries ago, as the first industrial revolutions were taking shape, and crosses the sky with the cool, clean tone characteristic of stars of its class.
Where it is and when to see it
Sigma Leonis lies in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is March: 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 Sigma Leonis
- Constellation
- Leo
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.05
- Distance
- 220.1 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 170.284° · Dec 6.029°
- Catalogue
- HIP 55434 · HD 98664
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.
- RegulusAlpha Leonis1.36
- AlgiebaGamma 1 Leonis2.01
- DenebolaBeta Leonis2.14
- Rho Leonis3.84
- RasalasMu Leonis3.88
- Iota Leonis4.00
- 54 Leonis4.30
- Upsilon Leonis4.30