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From: dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd)
Newsgroups: net.astro
Subject: StarDate: March 8 R Leonis
Message-ID: <1069@utastro.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 8-Mar-85 02:00:54 EST
Article-I.D.: utastro.1069
Posted: Fri Mar  8 02:00:54 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 11-Mar-85 05:31:38 EST
Organization: U. Texas, Astronomy, Austin, TX
Lines: 35


Near Regulus -- the brightest star in the constellation of Leo the Lion
-- there's a star that fades from our sight.  More -- after this.

March 8  R Leonis

The star Regulus is easy to find around now -- it's the brightest star
in the constellation Leo the Lion -- now high overhead around
midnight.  Regulus is the bottom star in the prominent
backwards-question mark pattern that represents the head of Leo.

Regulus is not the only interesting star in Leo -- in fact, there's
another noteworthy star near Regulus in the evening sky.  This star is
invisible unless you have a very dark sky -- and even then, it
sometimes disappears from view.  It's what is called a variable star,
whose shining light varies in brilliance.  Sometimes the star is bright
enough to be seen with the naked eye, and sometimes -- it's not.

The star is called R Leonis -- that's the letter R.  It changes in
brightness on an average timescale of 310 days.  It's one of many known
long-period variable stars, whose brightness takes a long time to
change.

On the dome of the sky, R Leonis lies five degrees -- about ten times
the diameter of the moon -- westward of Regulus.  R Leonis is too dim
to see with the naked eye right now -- it passed its brightest
magnitude or point of visibility last December.  But in case you like
colors, the star R Leonis is known for the intensity of its red light
seen through a telescope.  Its fiery red color is said to be sometimes
tinged with purple.

Script by Deborah Byrd and Diana Hadley.


(c) Copyright 1984, 1985 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin