Leo (The Lion)

Leo corresponds to the Lion of Nemea, son of Typhon and Echidna. He wandered the fields devouring people and animals, he was invulnerable. The first task of Hercules was to kill him. The lion’s home was a cave with two entrances, so Hercules blocked one of them and got inside by the other one to catch the beast.
Hercules surprised the beast and strangulated it, then peles it with its own claws and takes the head as a helmet. Zeus gave the lion a place in the sky to honor hi son.

Leo is a beautiful constellation visible from December to May in northern hemisphere and in Autumn in the southern hemisphere. The sun crosses this constellation from the middle of August to middle of September. In it we can highlight the star Regulus as the heart of the beast. On the other hand, this constellation does not cross the celestial equator and it’s located 50° to the north of Milky Way’s equator.
It limits to the north with Ursa Major and Leo Minor; to the east with Cancer; to the south with Hydra, Sextans and Crater; and finally to the west with Coma Berenices and Virgo.


The main stars forming Leo are:
• Regulus: or Alpha Leonis. Its name comes from the Latin, meaning “the little king”. It is one of the four mesopotamian royal stars along with Aldebaran in Taurus, Antares in Scorpius and Fomalhaut in southern Fish.

• Denebola: or Beta Leonis. Its name comes from the Arabic, meaning “the tail of the lion”.
• Algieba: or Gamma Leonis. Its name comes from the Arabic, meaning “the forehead (of the lion)”.
Other objects

M 65; precious galaxy of the Sa type, magnitude and 9.3 diameter 9'x2 ' of arc; located in the tail of I read close with the constellation of Virgo.

M 66; precious galaxy of the Sb type of magnitude 8.9, diameter 9'x4 ' of arc located next to M65.

M 95, galaxy located in the center of the constellation, magnitude 9.7 and the SBb type, of diameter 8,5'x5 ' of arc.

M 96, galaxy stuck to the previous one of magnitude 9.30 and the type Sa or Sb, has an angular diameter of 7,5x5'.