Star profile
Upsilon Leonis
What is Upsilon Leonis
Upsilon Leonis shines with a golden tone on the flank of the zodiacal lion, a yellow G-type star spectrally akin to the Sun but already deep into its giant phase. At 181 light-years away, its light has been travelling since before the Eiffel Tower was built and now arrives with the warm tinge that betrays stars whose outer layers have swollen. It is a portrait of the Sun's distant future, an early glimpse of what our solar afternoons will look like millennia upon millennia from now.
Where it is and when to see it
Upsilon Leonis lies in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is March, when it culminates around midnight.
- From London it culminates about 38° above the horizon.
- From New York it culminates about 48° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 57° above the horizon.
It sits almost on the celestial equator, so it can be seen from nearly the whole planet.
It ranks no. 15 in brightness among the 80 stars of Leo in our catalogue. To find it, start from Regulus, the brightest: it lies about 25° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 180 years ago.
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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 Upsilon Leonis
- Constellation
- Leo
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.30
- Distance
- 181.5 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 174.237° · Dec -0.824°
- Catalogue
- HIP 56647 · HD 100920
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
- Iota Leonis4.00
- Sigma Leonis4.05
- 54 Leonis4.30
- AlterfLambda Leonis4.32
- 31 Leonis4.39