Leo

Leo, in astronomy, zodiacal constellation lying in the northern sky between Cancer and Virgo, between about 9 hours 30 minutes and 12 hours right ascension and 30° north and 5° south declination. It can be seen in the Northern Hemisphere evening sky during the spring and in the Southern Hemisphere evening sky during autumn.

Regulus (Latin for “little king”; also called Alpha Leonis), the brightest star, is of magnitude 1.35. The November meteor shower called the Leonids has its radiant, or point of apparent origin, in Leo. Many of the stars in Leo form an asterism called the Sickle, of which Regulus is the end of the handle.

Leo was represented as a lion in Mesopotamian constellations as early as the late second millennium bce. The constellations of ancient Mesopotamia were later borrowed by the Greeks, who usually linked Leo’s representation as a lion with the Nemean lion slain by Heracles (Hercules) in the first of the 12 Labors he was forced to do as penance for killing his wife and children. Leo has also been identified with the lioness whose appearance led to the separation and deaths of the tragic lovers Pyramus and Thisbe.

In astrology Leo is the fifth sign of the zodiac, governing the period from about July 23 to about August 22. (The Sun is actually in Leo from August 10 to September 16.) Of the three fire signs, Leo has a fixed modality, meaning that it relates to sustaining. Traits associated with those born under the sign of Leo include being creative, generous, and domineering.