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Sky Chart: May 2013
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9:00 pm EDT on May 15, 2013. Looking at Zenith, South at Bottom. (click to enlarge)*
The zodiacal constellation Leo is high overhead on May nights. It is an ancient constellation, dating back to Mesopotamia as much as 6000 years ago. At the time of the Greeks, it was associated with the lion killed by Hercules as one of his 12 labors. Leo's brightest star, Regulus, shines at magnitude +1.35, and is the 21st brightest star in Earth's skies. It is often represented as the base of "The Sickle" of Leo, or, alternatively, the Lion's heart. The constellation's second-brightest star, magnitude 2.1 Denebola, represents the tail of the Lion. Leo is also home to the spiral galaxies M65, M66, M95, and M96, as well as the elliptical galaxy M105.
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