Star profile

Iota Leonis

3D likeness based on its real data · class F · ~6,500 K

What is Iota Leonis

Iota Leonis is a quadruple system seventy-seven light-years away, dominated by two yellow-white stars locked in a highly eccentric dance. Its two principal components are slowly drifting apart until the year 2060, then will swing back together a century later in a gravitational choreography that has been tracked since 1835. It lies in the hindquarters of Leo, far from the burning heart of Regulus.

Where it is and when to see it

Iota 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.

Find it on the sky map

It opens in your browser. Free, no account, nothing to install.

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 Iota Leonis

Constellation: Leo
Apparent magnitude: 4.00
Distance: 77.2 light years
Coordinates (J2000): RA 170.981° · Dec 10.530°
Catalogue: HIP 55642 · HD 99028

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.

See all 80 stars in Leo