The constellation is easy to find right now, as it floats nearly overhead after sunset. The most prominent part of the celestial lion is a large, sickle-shaped group of stars that looks something like a backward question mark. They represent the lion's head and mane.
Making identification even easier, the bright planets Mars and Saturn are currently bracketing Leo. Mars, a ruddy orange, is just west of Leo, while Saturn, a pale yellowish-white, is to the east.
(If you're still having trouble finding Leo, look first for the Big Dipper, in the northern sky. Leo is about 40 degrees due south of the dipper's bowl.)
Leo is one of the larger constellations and, once pointed out, does look something like a lion.
The brightest star in Leo is Regulus. It is at the bottom of the sickle, which currently is about one-third of the way between Mars and Saturn. Many cultures of the ancient world associated the star, formerly known as Cor Leonis (the heart of the lion), with royalty and power.
Regulus is nearly 80 light-years away and about five times the diameter of our sun. If you look at Regulus through a telescope, you'll see it has a faint orange companion star.
A fairly prominent triangle of stars east of the sickle represents the hindquarters of the lion. Look for the brightest of the three, Denebola, north and just a bit west of Saturn.
Denebola, about 36 light-years away, is the second-brightest star in the constellation. Its name comes from the Arabic words Al Dhanab al-Asad (the lion's tail).
Two slightly fainter stars west of Denebola make up the other points of the triangle.
Planets
For the next few months, Venus appears as the "evening star," shining brightly in the west after sunset. One look and it's easy to see why, even now, people sometimes report the planet as a UFO.
Jupiter, shining brightly is in the east-southeast before sunrise, dominates the morning sky. It appears below the crescent moon on the morning of May 9.
Moon
Look for a lovely sliver of a crescent moon below and to the right of Venus after sunset on May 15. Then, the next evening, a slightly fatter crescent appears above and to the left of Venus.
On the evening of May 27, the full moon appears near Antares, a bright, distinctly orange star in the constellation Scorpius.
Spaceflight anniversary
Apollo 10 blasted into space May 18, 1969.
While John Young remained in lunar orbit aboard the service module (which the crew dubbed "Charlie Brown"), mission commander Thomas Stafford and lunar module pilot Gene Cernan flew the LM ("Snoopy") to within 9 miles of the moon's surface, prompting Cernan to exclaim " . . . we is down among 'em, Charlie!"
Although a brief misfire of their maneuvering rockets had them "wobbling all over the sky," as Cernan described it, the astronauts quickly regained control of the LM and completed the mission, paving the way for the history-making flight of Apollo 11 two months later.
Making identification even easier, the bright planets Mars and Saturn are currently bracketing Leo. Mars, a ruddy orange, is just west of Leo, while Saturn, a pale yellowish-white, is to the east.
(If you're still having trouble finding Leo, look first for the Big Dipper, in the northern sky. Leo is about 40 degrees due south of the dipper's bowl.)
Leo is one of the larger constellations and, once pointed out, does look something like a lion.
The brightest star in Leo is Regulus. It is at the bottom of the sickle, which currently is about one-third of the way between Mars and Saturn. Many cultures of the ancient world associated the star, formerly known as Cor Leonis (the heart of the lion), with royalty and power.
Regulus is nearly 80 light-years away and about five times the diameter of our sun. If you look at Regulus through a telescope, you'll see it has a faint orange companion star.
A fairly prominent triangle of stars east of the sickle represents the hindquarters of the lion. Look for the brightest of the three, Denebola, north and just a bit west of Saturn.
Denebola, about 36 light-years away, is the second-brightest star in the constellation. Its name comes from the Arabic words Al Dhanab al-Asad (the lion's tail).
Two slightly fainter stars west of Denebola make up the other points of the triangle.
Planets
For the next few months, Venus appears as the "evening star," shining brightly in the west after sunset. One look and it's easy to see why, even now, people sometimes report the planet as a UFO.
Jupiter, shining brightly is in the east-southeast before sunrise, dominates the morning sky. It appears below the crescent moon on the morning of May 9.
Moon
Look for a lovely sliver of a crescent moon below and to the right of Venus after sunset on May 15. Then, the next evening, a slightly fatter crescent appears above and to the left of Venus.
On the evening of May 27, the full moon appears near Antares, a bright, distinctly orange star in the constellation Scorpius.
Spaceflight anniversary
Apollo 10 blasted into space May 18, 1969.
While John Young remained in lunar orbit aboard the service module (which the crew dubbed "Charlie Brown"), mission commander Thomas Stafford and lunar module pilot Gene Cernan flew the LM ("Snoopy") to within 9 miles of the moon's surface, prompting Cernan to exclaim " . . . we is down among 'em, Charlie!"
Although a brief misfire of their maneuvering rockets had them "wobbling all over the sky," as Cernan described it, the astronauts quickly regained control of the LM and completed the mission, paving the way for the history-making flight of Apollo 11 two months later.
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