Constellation
Leo
Leo is the zodiac constellation of the lion, one of the few that actually looks like its name, with the bright star Regulus at its heart. The Sun passes in front of it from about 10 August to 16 September.
The myth
Leo is the Nemean lion, a beast whose hide no blade could pierce. Killing it was the first of Hercules’ twelve labours, and since no weapon worked he strangled it with his bare hands, then wore its skin as armour.
How to find it
Leo is one of the rare constellations that genuinely looks like the thing it is named for. A backwards question mark of stars, called the Sickle, forms the lion’s head and mane, with the bright star Regulus as the dot at its base. A neat triangle of stars behind it makes the hindquarters and tail. Spring evenings are the best time to look from the northern hemisphere.
When the Sun is there
Hali’s calculations with the official star boundaries put the Sun in front of Leo from about 10 August to 16 September in 2026, an average of 37 days a year. The sign Leo ran from 22 July to 23 August in 2026, so a Leo Sun spent most of its sign in front of the stars of Cancer, 18.7 of 31.3 days by Hali’s figures. People born under the sign Virgo had the Sun in front of the lion for 24.5 of their sign’s 30.9 days.
Stars you can find in your chart
Leo’s stars now sit in the sign Virgo. By Hali’s 2026 star positions Regulus is at 0 degrees of Virgo, Zosma at 11 degrees and Denebola, the tail, at 21 degrees. The Sun passes Regulus around 23 August each year, right at the turn from Leo season to Virgo season. Regulus was still in the sign Leo until about 2012, and at Hali’s measured precession rate of 1.403 degrees a century it will now stay in Virgo for over two thousand years.
Ptolemy gave Regulus the nature of Mars and Jupiter, and it has long been called a royal star. Astrologers who use fixed stars read a planet or angle on it as a mark of leadership and high standing, with a warning attached about pride.
Sign and constellation
Your Leo sign is a season-based slice of the zodiac, not this star pattern. See why your star sign is not a constellation. The Leo sign guide covers the sign, the Leo dates page lists when it starts each year, and the real sky tool shows which constellation was really behind your Sun.
Questions
Is Regulus in Leo or Virgo?
Both, in different senses. The star belongs to the constellation Leo, but its zodiac position is now 0 degrees of the sign Virgo, by Hali's 2026 star positions, because precession has carried the star across the sign line.
Sources: Standard references and Greek myth. Hali Sun in constellation times, 1950 to 2029, official IAU boundaries.