Constellations

The Deep Photographic Guide to the
Constellations

The constellation of the month
MARCH

Leo

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Mark the Deep Sky Objects

Names:

Latin: Leo (Leo)
English: Lion Spanish: Leo
German: Löwe French: Lion

The constellation of Leo is centered in the above photography (see lines). It is quite easy to find in the northern spring sky. The front of leo also resembles nicely a reversed question mark.

In mid of march the above field culminates at about 23:00 LT (11 pm). The declination of Leo's boundaries ranges from -6 to +33 degrees. The most prominent star, seen at lower right, is Regulus, brightest star of Leo with a visual magnitude of 1.36 mag. Leo is intersected by the ecliptic, i.e. it lies in the projected plane of our planetary system. Therefore the planets, our moon and of course also our sun frequently appear in this region of the sky.

No galactic deep sky objects can be found in the above field, it is far away from the galactic plane. But a couple of interesting galaxies join Leo. The brightest ones can be seen as almost star like objects in the wide field photography. Two groups are given by bright galaxies, the one of M 65/66 and the group of M 95/96/105.

© all photographs taken by Till Credner and Sven Kohle