How to find Leo
When to look
March, April, May evenings
Face south
A backwards question mark (the sickle) ending in the bright star Regulus, and a triangle behind it. Spring evenings, March to May, in the south; in winter it rises in the east around midnight. The drawing below is made from the real positions of its 9 stars, as the sky looks when you face it, with bigger dots for brighter stars. No telescope needed.
Leo has a shape like a backwards question mark, and a triangle behind it. The bright star at the bottom is Regulus.
Leo is a spring constellation. Look for the sickle, a backwards question mark ending in bright Regulus, and a triangle of stars behind it. The Leonid meteors in November seem to come from the sickle.
Regulus sits almost exactly on the ecliptic, the Sun's path, so the Moon and planets often pass close by it. Algieba, in the sickle, is a double star that small telescopes split into two golden stars.
The stars in it
Regulus, Eta, Algieba, Adhafera, Rasalas, Epsilon, Zosma, Chertan, Denebola. The brightest is Regulus.
How to find it
- Go out after dark with a grown-up, and give your eyes ten minutes away from screens.
- Face south and look for: a backwards question mark (the sickle) ending in the bright star Regulus, and a triangle behind it.
- Hold up this page's drawing or the printed card and match the shape to the sky. If the sky is clear.
More star patterns
“Star patterns turn through the night, so the shape may be tipped on its side. Turn your head, not the sky.”