26 Leonis (HIP 48881)

26 Leonis is a yellow star in the constellation Leo. At 322 light years away, it shines at an apparent visual magnitude of 7.45. It is moving through the Galaxy at a speed of 27.4 km/s relative to the Sun.

Sky position: RA 9h 58.2m, Dec +15° 13.3'

Common designations: 26 Leonis, HD 86359, HIP 48881, Gaia DR3 616494524722260224

26 Leonis has the spectral type G5. G-type stars are yellow stars of about 5,300 to 6,000 K, the same class as the Sun. Their spectra show strong lines of ionized calcium and many metals.

How to find 26 Leonis in the sky

26 Leonis lies in Leo. With a declination of +15° 13.3', it is visible from the entire Northern Hemisphere and from the Southern Hemisphere down to about latitude 75° S. It is just beyond naked-eye visibility; binoculars will show it easily. It is highest in the sky at local midnight around March, which makes the weeks around that month the best time to observe it.

Tabulated data for 26 Leonis

Astrometry and spectroscopy

Right Ascension (J2000)	149.54876968° (9h 58.2m)
Declination (J2000)	15.22133047° (+15° 13.3')
Galactic Longitude	220.37660559°
Galactic Latitude	48.12427442°
Proper motion RA	-41.53 mas/yr
Proper motion Dec	-14.43 mas/yr
Parallax	10.12 ± 0.03 mas
Spectral Type	G5
Radial Velocity	18.14 km/s

Photometry

Band	Magnitude	Abs. Mag.
U	8.96	3.99
B	8.34	3.37
V	7.45	2.48
J	5.84	0.86
H	5.38	0.41
K	5.27	0.30

Colour index B-V: +0.89

Derivations

Heliocentric distance: 98.80 pc (322 light years) (0.3% margin of error)
Absolute visual magnitude: 2.48
Transverse velocity: 20.6 km/s
Space velocity relative to the Sun: 27.4 km/s
Galactic position (X, Y, Z): -50.2 pc, -42.7 pc, 73.6 pc
Galactic velocity (U, V, W): -22.0 km/s, -16.5 km/s, -0.2 km/s

Data: Extended Hipparcos Compilation (XHIP) and SIMBAD.