The Constellation Leo Minor
Leo Minor is a small and faint constellation in the northern sky, just north of its much larger cousin Leo and near Ursa Major. It culminates at midnight in the February sky.
It was introduced by the Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius in 1687 and lies in a dark area of sky which was previously part of the constellation Leo.
Leo Minor contains only one star brighter than fourth magnitude, and exceptionally dark skies are needed to make out the triangle shape which marks the lion's body. Sir Patrick Moore described it as having ‘dubious claims to a separate identity’ from Leo.
Lying well away from the plane of the Milky Way, Leo Minor's only deep sky objects are faint galaxies.
1687 (Hevelius)
0.6% of the sky
232.0 square degrees
Leo Minor contains no Messier objects
Leo Minor contains no Caldwell objects
Hover the pointer over the name of an object to highlight its position on the starchart to the right, or click to see more information.
| Stars | Open Clusters | Globular Clusters | Galaxies |
| 46-LMi (mag 3.8) | NGC 3344 (mag 10.0) | ||
| β-LMi (mag 4.2) | NGC 3486 (mag 10.6) | ||
| 21-LMi (mag 4.5) | NGC 3245 (mag 10.8) | ||
| SU LMi (mag 4.5) | NGC 3414 (mag 10.8) | ||
| 37-LMi (mag 4.7) | NGC 2859 (mag 10.9) | ||
| 30-LMi (mag 4.7) | NGC 3432 (mag 11.3) | ||
| 41-LMi (mag 5.1) | NGC 3277 (mag 11.7) | ||
| 19-LMi (mag 5.1) | NGC 3254 (mag 11.7) | ||
| 42-LMi (mag 5.3) | NGC 3294 (mag 11.7) | ||
| 20-LMi (mag 5.4) | NGC 3003 (mag 11.8) | ||
| 8-LMi (mag 5.4) | NGC 3430 (mag 11.8) | ||
| SV LMi (mag 5.4) | NGC 3158 (mag 11.9) | ||
| 23-LMi (mag 5.5) | NGC 3395 (mag 12.1) | ||
| 28-LMi (mag 5.5) | NGC 3504 (mag 12.2) | ||
| 40-LMi (mag 5.5) | NGC 3512 (mag 12.3) | ||
| 34-LMi (mag 5.6) | NGC 3021 (mag 12.4) | ||
| 32-LMi (mag 5.8) | NGC 3106 (mag 12.4) | ||
| 38-LMi (mag 5.8) | NGC 3396 (mag 12.5) | ||
| HIP 49893 (mag 5.8) | NGC 3074 (mag 12.8) | ||
| 7-LMi (mag 5.9) | NGC 3334 (mag 12.8) | ||
| 27-LMi (mag 5.9) | NGC 2942 (mag 12.9) | ||
| 33-LMi (mag 5.9) | NGC 2955 (mag 12.9) | ||
| 44-LMi (mag 6.1) | NGC 3381 (mag 12.9) | ||
| RX LMi (mag 6.1) | NGC 3510 (mag 12.9) | ||
| 13-LMi (mag 6.1) | NGC 3104 (mag 13.1) | ||
| 43-LMi (mag 6.2) | NGC 3413 (mag 13.1) | ||
| 9-LMi (mag 6.2) | NGC 3424 (mag 13.1) | ||
| 48-LMi (mag 6.2) | NGC 3442 (mag 13.2) | ||
| HIP 49658 (mag 6.2) | NGC 3163 (mag 13.3) | ||
| 35-LMi (mag 6.3) | NGC 3380 (mag 13.4) |
