52 Leonis (HIP 52689)

52 Leonis is a yellow giant star in the constellation Leo. At 280 light years away, it shines at an apparent visual magnitude of 5.48. It is moving through the Galaxy at a speed of 64.6 km/s relative to the Sun.

Sky position: RA 10h 46.4m, Dec +14° 11.7'

Common designations: 52 Leonis, k Leonis, HR 4209, HD 93291, HIP 52689, Gaia DR3 3885044901326958592

52 Leonis has the spectral type G4III:. 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. Its luminosity class III marks it as a giant: an evolved star that has left the main sequence and swollen to many times its original size.

How to find 52 Leonis in the sky

52 Leonis lies in Leo. With a declination of +14° 11.7', it is visible from the entire Northern Hemisphere and from the Southern Hemisphere down to about latitude 76° S. It is bright enough to see with the naked eye under dark skies. 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 52 Leonis

Astrometry and spectroscopy

Right Ascension (J2000)	161.60532161° (10h 46.4m)
Declination (J2000)	14.19464504° (+14° 11.7')
Galactic Longitude	230.54310912°
Galactic Latitude	58.14792071°
Proper motion RA	-125.38 mas/yr
Proper motion Dec	-64.87 mas/yr
Parallax	11.65 ± 0.07 mas
Spectral Type	G4III:
Radial Velocity	29.57 km/s

Photometry

Band	Magnitude	Abs. Mag.
B	6.39	1.72
V	5.48	0.81
J	3.92	-0.74
H	3.49	-1.18
K	3.38	-1.28

Colour index B-V: +0.91

Derivations

Heliocentric distance: 85.81 pc (280 light years) (0.6% margin of error)
Absolute visual magnitude: 0.81
Transverse velocity: 57.4 km/s
Space velocity relative to the Sun: 64.6 km/s
Galactic position (X, Y, Z): -28.8 pc, -35.0 pc, 72.9 pc
Galactic velocity (U, V, W): -42.1 km/s, -48.7 km/s, -5.2 km/s

Data: Extended Hipparcos Compilation (XHIP) and SIMBAD.