Star of the month: Algieba
Second magnitude Algieba, Arabic for "forehead" of the lion, marks the radiant of the annual Leonid meteor shower. Located in the constellation Leo's mane, this double star is comprised of a pair of orange and yellow stars that can be observed in a good telescope. Algieba is about 125 light years away and both stars are quite luminous, shining 180 times brighter than our sun. One star has a diameter over 20 times the size of the sun and the other is about 10 times the size. The orbital distance from each other is twice the distance Pluto is from us. In 2009, it was discovered that a large planet may orbit the primary star.
Leo can be seen rising in the east on clear evenings in March and will ride higher in the sky in April and May.
Just $5 a month supports NCR's independent Catholic journalism.
We are committed to keeping our online journalism open and available to as many readers as possible. To do that, we need your help. Join NCR Forward [1], our new membership program.
Looking for comments?
We've suspended comments on NCRonline.org for a while. If you missed that announcement, learn more about our decision here [2].