1687年,約翰·赫維留在《赫維留星圖》(Firmamentum Sobiescianum)勾勒包括小獅座在內的十個新星座,成為歷史上定義小獅座的第一人[4]。他還把星座內十八個天體納入《赫維留星表》(Catalogus Stellarum Fixarum)[5]。赫維留決定以小獅座命名,對應附近的獅子座和大熊座[6]。1845年,英格蘭天文學家弗朗西斯·貝利修訂赫維留的星表和星圖,用拜耳命名法為所有亮度超過4.5視星等的恆星命名[7]。1870年,理查德·普羅克特(Richard A. Proctor)用偽歷史人物「Leaena」(意為「母獅」)為小獅座命名[3],自稱是為縮短名稱,方便天體圖上標識[8]。
德國天文學家克里斯蒂安·路德維希·艾德勒(Christian Ludwig Ideler)認為,樞機斯蒂法諾·波吉亞(Stefano Borgia)發現後存放在韋萊特里的13世紀阿拉伯天文儀上就有小獅座恆星,稱為「瞪羚母子」(Al Thibā' wa-Aulāduhā)[9][10]。但阿拉伯學者弗里德里希·威廉·拉赫(Friedrich Wilhelm Lach)表示不同看法,認為小獅座的位置在天文儀上稱為「池塘」,意指瞪羚跳進去嬉戲[3]。中國古天文學將小獅座內大部分恆星用「勢」或「內平」命名[11],或與附近獅子座的恆星聯繫起來組成龍及其他物體[3][10]。還有一顆恆星與獅子座的三顆恆星連成一線,均稱為「少微」[11]。
Module:Format_link第141行Lua錯誤:attempt to index field 'target' (a nil value)
小獅座僅三顆恆星亮度超過4.5視星等[6],37顆超過6.5視星等[15]。貝利在用拜耳命名法為亮度超過4.5視星等的恆星分配希臘字母時出錯,僅為勢增四分配字母「β」(「小獅座β」),所以小獅星沒有「α」星[17]。貝利只記下兩顆亮度超過4.5的恆星,另一顆是星座內最亮的勢四,但這不足以說明他是否有意把勢四定為「小獅座α」。貝利尚未檢查命名便已去世,很可能這才是導致疏忽的重要原因。[18]
哈尼天體是2007年星系動物園志願者、荷蘭教師哈尼·凡·阿克爾(Hanny van Arkel)在小獅座發現的獨特深空天體,位於近6.5億光年外的IC 2497螺旋星系附近,尺寸接近銀河系[62]。哈尼天體內有寬1.6萬光年的空洞[63],估計天體實際上是類星體的可見光回波[64],類星體應該已在至少20萬年前中止活動[62]。
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