dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (01/09/85)
Late Wednesday night, you can identify Regulus near the moon. More on stars near the moon -- after this. January 9 Regulus and the Moon About four hours after sunset on Wednesday, the moon will rise very near a bright star -- Regulus -- the heart of the lion in the constellation Leo. It should be easy to pick out Regulus in the light of the moon Wednesday night. What's more, this bright star is surrounded by a distinctive pattern of stars that covers some 16 degrees of sky -- and has the shape of a backwards question mark. This pattern marks the head and shoulders of Leo the lion. Regulus is really a triple system, located 85 light-years away. It's the brightest star at the bottom of the backwards question mark. But the next star up in the backwards question mark pattern is much farther away than that -- it's nearly 2000 light-years away. This star doesn't seem to have a proper name -- it's just called Eta Leonis. Again, Regulus is at the bottom of the backward question mark pattern -- and Eta is the next star up. Both stars are visible near the moon late Wednesday night and Thursday morning. Eta Leonis is a hot white supergiant star -- visible from 2000 light-years away only because it emits so much light. There's no star as powerful as Eta in our vicinity of the galaxy. But if Eta were as close as Sirius -- the brightest star in our sky -- and only 8-and-a-half light-years away -- you could see this mighty star in the constellation Leo even during the day! In fact, it would shine as brightly as the half-moon -- with all its light concentrated in a single scintillating point. Script by Deborah Byrd. (c) Copyright 1984, 1985 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin