As Leo climbs the eastern evening sky in late winter and spring, countless skywatchers check in on the Mira-type variable star R Leonis. Its brightness and location near Regulus make it an ideal starter variable for beginners. Their magnitudes are given to the nearest tenth with the decimal points omitted. The black rectangle shows the area in the next chart. This is a close-up map of R Leonis's immediate neighborhood, with comparisons to magnitude 10.4.
North is up and east is left.
If you have trouble finding your target star, make sure you know the size of your instrument's field of view, and make a wire ring of that size using the degree scale on the edge of your chart. Slide the ring across the paper to preview what star patterns will cross your eyepiece. Be sure to turn the chart so north matches north in the eyepiece. One help in identifying R Leonis is its deep orange-red color. Many comparison stars around R have their magnitudes printed on the maps above.