Star profile

Tau Leonis

3D likeness based on its real data · class G · ~5,500 K

What is Tau Leonis

A yellow giant in Leo, already twenty-five times the Sun's radius and three hundred times its luminosity, settled onto the red giant branch after burning through the hydrogen in its core. Its light takes 562 years to reach us: it left when Europe was barely acquainted with the printing press. Sitting close to the ecliptic, the Moon occults it on schedule every so often — a small astronomical ceremony in which the satellite's shadow crosses its disc, month after month.

Where it is and when to see it

Tau 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

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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 Tau Leonis

Constellation: Leo
Apparent magnitude: 4.95
Distance: 562.4 light years
Coordinates (J2000): RA 171.984° · Dec 2.856°
Catalogue: HIP 55945 · HD 99648

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