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Ancient Suns website http://AncientSuns.Com Stars in the NeighborHood software: http://SpaceSoftware.Net TRANSCRIPTION: This video will focus on the constellation Leo the Lion. Leo is one of the twelve constellations of the zodiac — patterns of stars through which the sun passes during its yearly transit. This Zodiac sign covers the period from July 23–August 22, so if your birthday is included in this range, then “happy birthday!” Leo is one of the more easily recognizable constellations of the 12 zodiac members. There are several bright stars in this section of our night skies which give us a distinctive pattern. There are some very interesting treasures in Leo. Constellation First, let’s look at the constellation. Here is a screenshot of the software with a constellation outline overlaying the Sky Map closeup. The constellation is so large, it does not fit in one screen shot. This shows three screen shots stitched together. Constellation Distance View Here is the same Sky Map view, but in Distance View mode. This shows which stars are closer by their size. Closest Stars The closest stars in Leo are four dim red dwarfs and one white dwarf. First, we load the Leo tag file. Start with the software centered at our home Solar system—zero, zero, zero. Then, change the viewing cube size to 104.4 light years (32 parsecs). Next, change the moving speed to 52.2 light years (16 parsecs). Then, move once in the minus direction along the X-axis, and once in the positive direction for the Y axis. Lastly, change the move speed to 26.1 light years per click (8 parsecs) and move once in the positive direction for the Z axes. This puts our home star system just above the corner, giving us the largest possible view of Leo stars. Second, we go into Star List mode, selecting the Leo tag and Location within a distance of User-Supplied Coordinates. Here, we’re using light years and type in 30 with the search centered on (0, 0, 0). The closest star is Wolf 359 at 7.79 light years. For any Star Trek fans, they will recognize this as the system where the Borg met the Federation in deadly combat in the Star Trek: Next Generation series. Next, is AD Leonis at 16 light years. Farther out is Gliese 402, a spectral binary star, at 22.5 light years. Nearby stands Gliese 408 at 22.6 light years. Finally, we come to a degenerate white dwarf star, MSDB 1943 at 28.6 light years. In our night sky, AD Leonis appears right next to the far brighter Gamma Leonis. What’s interesting about this pair is that these two stars are not very close in 3D space, as you can see here. Ironically, the dimmer star is far closer, betraying our sense that brighter means closer. But think of it this way: A distant nuclear explosion could be brighter than a nearby candle. When placed at the same distance, stars would reveal a wide range of intrinsic brightnesses. Brightest Stars The brightest star in the constellation is Regulus, or Alpha Leonis, a super hot, B7 dwarf at 80.1 light years (24.5 parsecs). It has a visual magnitude of 1.35, making it one of the few first magnitude stars in our night skies. Regulus was recently discovered to be a 5-star system. A very close spectral binary companion is thought to be a white dwarf which lost most of its mass to the primary star perhaps a few million years ago. This made Regulus A far hotter and more massive than it had been when its companion was still in its stellar adulthood or “main sequence.” Until this companion was discovered, Regulus was thought to have been only 50–100 million years old. But the existence of a white dwarf companion suggests the system is more likely a billion years old. In addition, Regulus B and C form a wide binary which orbits their common center of gravity roughly once every 2,000 years. The BC pair orbits Regulus A once every few million years or so. Regulus B is a K1 dwarf with a magnitude 8.13. Regulus C is an M4 dwarf with a magnitude 13.1. Regulus D is estimated to be an M2 red dwarf with a magnitude 12.1. Regulus D does not have an orbital motion about the central four stars, but shares their proper motion, or true space motion. ... CREDITS: Music: Jupiter One, Riot Open Sea Morning, Puddle of Infinity Malmo Sunrise, The 126ers Stills: Rust (background): Laitr Keiows (CC BY-SA 3.0) Leo chart: IAU and Sky & Tel mag (CC BY 3.0) negative Ecliptic path: Tau'olunga (CC BY-SA 3.0) Cellarius Ptolemaic system (PD) Leo Triplet: Anttler (CC BY-SA 3.0) M65 (NGC 3623) Hubble NASA (PD) M66 (NGC 3627) in Leo ESO (CC BY 4.0) M95 (NGC 3351) ESO (CC BY 3.0) M96 Group: Anttler (PD) M96 (NGC 3368) ESA-Hubble (CC BY 3.0) M105 (NGC 3379) ESA-Hubble (PD) NGC 3628: ESO (CC BY 3.0)