Constellation, Lesser Lion
Leo Minor
A lion cub placed above the head of Leo by Johannes Hevelius. It has no legend and, oddly, no star labelled Alpha.
From New York on October 13, 2026, the centre of Leo Minor rises at 1:17 AM, is highest at 9:47 AM (84° above the horizon in the S) and sets at 6:20 PM.
In the 3D sky
The sky over New York turned towards Leo Minor. Drag to look around.
Loading 3D view...
Drag to look around, pinch or scroll to zoom.
Evening visibility over the year
Height of the constellation’s centre above the horizon at 10 pm local time on the 15th of each month, from New York. Above about 30° it is well placed.
Name and history
Leo Minor, the lesser lion, is a lion cub that walks above Leo and below the hind paws of Ursa Major. Johannes Hevelius formed it from faint stars in a gap of sky once crossed by Jordanus, a short-lived constellation of a river. He listed it in his catalogue of 1687, and it was drawn in his atlas of 1690. No myths are attached to it. Hevelius simply filled an empty space between two well-known figures.
Hevelius never gave Greek letters to the stars of his new constellations. When the English astronomer Francis Baily lettered them in 1845, he labelled the second-brightest star Beta but left the brightest one without a letter by mistake. That is why Leo Minor has a Beta but no Alpha. Its brightest star is now officially called Praecipua, Latin for ‘chief’. The Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi first used that name in 1814, but for a different, fainter star.
Sources: Ian Ridpath, Star Tales: Leo Minor
Brightest stars
| Star | Designation | Magnitude | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Praecipua | 46 LMi | 3.79 | 95 light-years |
| β LMi | β LMi | 4.20 | 154 light-years |
| 21 LMi | 21 LMi | 4.49 | 92 light-years |
| 10 LMi | 10 LMi | 4.54 | 185 light-years |
| 37 LMi | 37 LMi | 4.68 | 578 light-years |
| 30 LMi | 30 LMi | 4.72 | 233 light-years |
Facts
| Area | about 233 square degrees (64 of 88) |
|---|---|
| IAU abbreviation | LMi |
| Sky | Northern sky |
| Origin | Introduced in Hevelius’s star catalogue of 1687 and drawn in his atlas published in 1690 |
| Stars brighter than magnitude 5 | 6 |
| Centre (J2000) | 10.4 h, 35° |
Deep-sky objects
Galaxies, clusters and nebulae brighter than magnitude 9, from the OpenNGC catalogue. Most need binoculars or a telescope and a dark sky.
No deep-sky object brighter than magnitude 9.
Boundaries: International Astronomical Union, via Astronomy Engine. Areas are computed from the boundaries by sampling (within about one percent). Names and lines: Stellarium. Stars: HYG Database. Deep-sky objects: OpenNGC. Calculated with Astronomy Engine, an open-source library verified against the US Naval Observatory and NASA JPL. Data sources
How to use this page
Choose your place and a night at the top. The answer and the 3D view show where the constellation is, when it is highest and whether it rises at all from where you are. The chart shows its stars and lines, and the tables list its brightest stars and the deep-sky objects inside it.
Frequently asked questions
When is a constellation best seen?
When it is highest in a dark sky, which the page gives for the night you pick. Each constellation is best placed in a particular season, because the stars rise about four minutes earlier every night.
Why can I not see a constellation from my place?
Constellations far south of the celestial equator never rise from northern places, and those far north never rise from southern ones. The page says when this is the case.
What are the constellation boundaries?
The International Astronomical Union divides the sky into 88 areas with official boundaries. The stick figures are only a drawing aid, the boundaries say which constellation a point in the sky belongs to.
Related guides
- How to learn the constellationsStart with one bright pattern you cannot miss, use it as a signpost to its neighbours, and come back a month later: the sky will have turned, and you will know a little more of it.
- Altitude and azimuth: finding things in the skyTwo angles tell you exactly where to look: which direction, and how high.
- Light pollution and dark skies: the Bortle scaleFrom a city centre you can count a few dozen stars. From a truly dark site you can count a few thousand, with the Milky Way bright enough to cast a shadow. The Bortle scale puts a number on the difference.
- Binoculars for stargazing: what to buy and what to look atA pair of 7x50 or 10x50 binoculars shows the craters of the Moon, the moons of Jupiter, dozens of star clusters and the Andromeda Galaxy, for a fraction of the cost of a telescope.