R Leonis
Variable star in the constellation Leo
R Leonis is a red giant Mira-type variable star located approximately 370 light years away in the constellation Leo.
The apparent magnitude of R Leonis varies between 4.31 and 11.65 with a period of 312 days. At maximum it can be seen with the naked eye, while at minimum a telescope of at least 7 cm is needed. The star's effective temperature is estimated to be 2,930 , 3,080 kelvins and radius spans 320 solar radii (220,000,000 kilometres; 1.5 astronomical units), roughly Mars's orbital zone.
01Possible planet
In 2009 Wiesemeyer et al. proposed that quasi-periodic fluctuations observed for the star R Leonis may be due to the presence of an evaporating substellar companion, probably an extrasolar planet. They have inferred a putative mass for the orbiting body of twice the mass of Jupiter, orbital period of 5.2 years and likely orbital separation of 2.7 astronomical units. If confirmed such a planetary object could likely be an evaporating planet, with a long comet-like trail as hinted by intense SiO maser emissions.
| Companion (in order from star) |
Mass | Semimajor axis (AU) |
Orbital period (days) |
Eccentricity | Inclination (°) |
Radius |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| b (unconfirmed) | ≥2 MJ | ≥2.7 | 1898 | 0 | , | , |
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “R Leonis”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Leo constellation map.svg by Leo_constellation_map.png: Torsten Bronger. derivative work: Kxx (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0
- RLeoLightCurve.png by PopePompus, CC BY-SA 4.0
- R Leonis evaporating planet.png by This image was created with Celestia., GPL
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