Generalities: it is an important zodiacal constellation of great extension. The Sun transits it in the period  from the second decade of August up to half September. It contains some bright stars. The transit at midnight takes place between February and March.

Origins and mythology: from the mythological point of view it represents the beast killed by Hercules during one of his twelve labours.

Stars: the brightest star is Regulus, meaning “little king ". It is a white-blue star of magnitude 1.35 (21st star of the whole sky for brightness). It is 85 light-years far. The star beta is called Denebola, it is of magnitude 2.14 and it has white color. The star gamma, which is in reality the second of the constellation,  is  a beautiful double star of  orange color, named Algieba. The Leo contains other 9 stars under magnitude 4.

Table of stars brighter than magnitude 3.5
 
 

Star	Proper name	Magnitude	Spectrum	Colour	Distance (light-years)	Notes
Alpha	Regulus	1.35	B7	white	85
Gamma	Algieba	1.99	K0+G7	orange	91	Visual double star
Beta	Denebola	2.14	A3	white	39
Delta	Zosma	2.56	A4	white	52
Epsilon	Asad Australis	2.98	G0	yellow	310
Theta	Chort	3.34	A2	white	78
Zeta	Adhafera	3.44	F0	white-yellow	117

Other objects: it contains a great number of galaxies, belonging to the cluster of Virgo. Among the brightest galaxies we find M66, M65, M95, M96 and M106.

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