LEO MINOR

The Little Lion

Leo Minor - Celestial Atlas by Alexander Jamieson - 1822

Leo Minor is one of seven constellations introduced by the famous Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius (1611-1687). In his catalogue of 1564 stars, Prodromus Astronomiae, he included the seven new constellations: Canes Venatici, Lacerta, Leo Minor, Lynx, Scutum, Sextans, and Vulpecula. To the brightest star in Leo Minor, Hevelius attached the name Praecipua, the Latin term for chief, or leader. Praecipua has a visual magnitude of 3.83, and it is 98 light years away from Earth. One must have quite an imagination to see a lion cub in the small grouping of stars squeezed between Leo and Ursa Major, for much like its corporeal namesake, the constellation of Leo Minor keeps itself safely hidden in the celestial undergrowth.

There has been one exoplanet found so far in Leo Minor. It has a mass of 1.78 Jupiters, and orbits a star labeled HD 87883, just beyond the limits of naked eye visibility. For more information, see NASA's Planet Quest.

There are a few faint galaxies in Leo Minor, the brightest of which is NGC 3344, a face-on spiral with a magnitude of 11. It is 15 million light years away.

NGC 3344 - Spiral Galaxy - Hubble Space Telescope - October, 2012

Alphabetical Links to the Constellations

ANDROMEDA AQUARIUS AQUILA ARIES AURIGA BOOTES CAMELOPARDALIS CANCER CANES VENATICI CANIS MAJOR CANIS MINOR CAPRICORNUS CARINA CASSIOPEIA CENTAURUS CEPHEUS CETUS COLUMBA COMA BERENICES CORONA AUSTRALIS CORONA BOREALIS CORVUS CRATER CRUX CYGNUS DELPHINUS DORADO DRACO EQUULEUS ERIDANUS FORNAX GEMINI HERCULES HYDRA LACERTA LEO LEO MINOR LEPUS LIBRA LUPUS LYNX LYRA MONOCEROS OPHIUCHUS ORION PEGASUS PERSEUS PISCES PISCIS AUSTRALIS PUPPIS SAGITTA SAGITTARIUS SCORPIUS SCULPTOR SCUTUM SERPENS SEXTANS TAURUS TUCANA URSA MAJOR URSA MINOR VELA VIRGO VULPECULA