{"id":64457,"date":"2024-09-24T10:46:44","date_gmt":"2024-09-24T10:46:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/780bbf11-289a-44ed-9392-d8e0be3ec0a6"},"modified":"2024-10-08T09:39:43","modified_gmt":"2024-10-08T09:39:43","slug":"denebola-the-tip-of-leo-the-lions-tail","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/denebola-the-tip-of-leo-the-lions-tail\/","title":{"rendered":"Denebola, the tip of Leo the lion’s tail"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Pete Lawrence\n <\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 24 September 2024 at 10:46 AM<\/p>

\n\n

Marking the end of the constellation Leo<\/a> the Lion\u2019s tail is mag. +2.1 star Denebola (Beta (\u03b2) Leonis), its name coming from the Arabic danab al-asad,<\/em> \u2018tail of the lion\u2019.<\/p>

Denebola is 36 lightyears away, and is 1.6 times larger and 15 times more luminous than our own Sun.<\/p>

It has the spectral type A3Va, which means it is a slightly more luminous than average main sequence star (the \u2018Va\u2019 part) which appears white in colour ( the \u2018A3\u2019 part).<\/p>

Denebola has 1.73 times more mass than the Sun, but its most interesting and extreme variation is in regards to its spin rate.<\/p>

Discover 6 galaxies to observe in the Leo constellation<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>

Photograph showing the location of stars Denebola and Regulus in Leo. Click to expand. Credit: CEDIC Team Bernhard Hubl \/ CCDGuide.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Where our Sun rotates at a rather leisurely 2km\/s, Denebola spins 64x faster at 128km\/s.<\/p>
This is fast enough to cause the star to bulge at the equator into an oblate spheroid.<\/p>
In contrast, the slow rotation of the Sun results in one of the most perfect spheres known in nature.<\/p>
$\"Chart$
Chart showing the location of star Denebola in the constellation Leo. Click to expand. Credit: Pete Lawrence<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Exoplanets orbiting Denebola?<\/strong><\/h2>
Viewed in infrared, Denebola shows an excess of radiation, hinting at the existence of a disc of debris in orbit around it.<\/p>
This circumstellar disc may be the nursery for a forming solar system, although no planets have yet been identified within it.<\/p>
Detailed analysis of the disc suggests that it extends 5 to 55 AU from the star.<\/p>
$\"Photograph$
Photograph of star Denebola. Credit: CEDIC Team Bernhard Hubl \/ CCDGuide.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>
The highest concentration of material appears around the 39 AU mark, with a temperature of 120K. Amazingly, structure has been detected within the circumstellar disc.<\/p>
There appears to be a 2 AU hole and a hot 600K dusty ring 4\u20136 AU in diameter.<\/p>
***Have you observed or photographed Denebola? Share your observations and images with us by emailing*** ***contactus@skyatnightmagazine.com<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>***
***This guide appeared in the March 2019 issue of BBC Sky at Night Magazine<\/em><\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n***
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By Pete Lawrence Published: Tuesday, 24 September 2024 at 10:46 AM Marking the end of the constellation Leo the Lion\u2019s tail is mag. +2.1 star Denebola (Beta (\u03b2) Leonis), its name coming from the Arabic danab al-asad, \u2018tail of the lion\u2019. Denebola is 36 lightyears away, and is 1.6 times larger and 15 times more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":64458,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/10\/denebola-the-tip-of-leo-the-lions-tail.jpg",1200,950,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/10\/denebola-the-tip-of-leo-the-lions-tail-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/10\/denebola-the-tip-of-leo-the-lions-tail-300x238.jpg",300,238,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/10\/denebola-the-tip-of-leo-the-lions-tail-768x608.jpg",768,608,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/10\/denebola-the-tip-of-leo-the-lions-tail-1024x811.jpg",800,634,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/10\/denebola-the-tip-of-leo-the-lions-tail.jpg",1200,950,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/10\/denebola-the-tip-of-leo-the-lions-tail.jpg",1200,950,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Pete Lawrence Published: Tuesday, 24 September 2024 at 10:46 AM Marking the end of the constellation Leo the Lion\u2019s tail is mag. +2.1 star Denebola (Beta (\u03b2) Leonis), its name coming from the Arabic danab al-asad, \u2018tail of the lion\u2019. Denebola is 36 lightyears away, and is 1.6 times larger and 15 times more…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/64457"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}