Virgo (constellation)

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Virgo (constellation)

Virgo is one of the constellation

Constellation

A constellation is a group of stars that appear to have a physical proximity in the sky. The stars in a constellation are often vastly distant from each other, but they appear close to each other from the perspective of Earth....
s of the zodiac

Zodiac

Zodiac denotes an annual cycle of twelve stations along the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun across the heavens through the constellations that divide the ecliptic into twelve equal zones of celestial longitude....
. Its name is Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
for virgin, and its symbol is . Lying between Leo

Leo (constellation)

Leo is one of the constellations of the zodiac. Its name is Latin for lion. Its symbol is , a corruption of the initial letter of ?e?? . Leo lies between dim Cancer to the west and Virgo to the east....
to the west and Libra

Libra (constellation)

Libra...
to the east, it is the second largest constellation in the sky. It can be easily found through its brightest star, Spica

Spica

Spica is the brightest star in the constellation Virgo , and the list of brightest stars in the nighttime sky. It is 260 light years distant from Earth....
.

Location
The bright Spica

Spica

Spica is the brightest star in the constellation Virgo , and the list of brightest stars in the nighttime sky. It is 260 light years distant from Earth....
makes it easy to locate Virgo, as it can be found by following the curve of the Big Dipper

Ursa Major

Ursa Major is a constellation visible throughout the year in most of the northern hemisphere. Its name means the Great Bear in Latin. It is dominated by the widely recognized asterism known as the Big Dipper or Plough, which is a useful pointer toward north, and which has mythological significance in numerous world cultures....
to Arcturus

Arcturus

|- bgcolor="#FFFAFA"| note : || H and K emission vary.Arcturus is the brightest star in the constellation Bo?tes. With a visual magnitude of -0.05, it is also the list of brightest stars in the night sky, after Sirius and Canopus ....
in Boötes

Boötes

Bo?tes Bo?tes was one of the 48 constellations described by the 1st century astronomer Ptolemy and is now one of the 88 modern constellations. It contains the List of brightest stars in the night sky, Arcturus....
and continuing from there in the same curve ("follow the arc to Arcturus and speed on to Spica").

Due to the effects of precession

Precession

Precession refers to a change in the direction of the axis of a rotation object. In physics, there are two types of precession, torque-free and torque-induced, the latter being discussed here in more detail....
, the First Point of Libra

Equinox

Equinoxes occur twice a year, when the tilt of the Earth's axis is inclined neither away from nor toward the Sun, causing the Sun to be located vertically above a point on the equator....
, (also known as the autumn equinox point) lies within the boundaries of Virgo very close to ß Virginis

Beta Virginis

Beta Virginis is a star in the constellation Virgo . It also has the traditional names Zavijava and Alaraph. Despite being the beta star of the constellation Virgo it is only the fifth star in order of brightness....
.

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Location

The bright Spica

Spica

Ursa Major

Arcturus

Boötes

Precession

Equinox

Beta Virginis

Celestial equator

The celestial equator is a great circle on the imaginary celestial sphere, in the same plane as the Earth's equator. In other words, it is a projection of the terrestrial equator out into space....
crosses the ecliptic

Ecliptic

The ecliptic is the apparent path that the Sun traces out in the sky during the year. As it appears to move in the sky in relation to the stars, the apparent path aligns with the planets throughout the course of the year....
(the other being the First Point of Aries, now in the constellation of Pisces

Pisces (constellation)

Pisces is a constellation of the zodiac. Its name is the Latin plural for fish, and its symbol is . It lies between Aquarius to the west and Aries to the east....
.) This point will pass into the neighbouring constellation of Leo

Leo (constellation)

Notable features

Stars

Besides Spica, other bright stars in Virgo include ß Virginis

Beta Virginis

Gamma Virginis

Gamma Virginis is a star in the constellation Virgo . It also has the traditional names Porrima and Arich.Gamma Virginis is a binary star, consisting of two stars of approximately equal apparent magnitudes 3.48 and 3.50, and of stellar classification F0V....
(Porrima), d Virginis

Delta Virginis

Delta Virginis is a red giant star in the constellation Virgo . It also has the traditional name Auva.It has a spectral type of M3-III, and an apparent magnitude of 3.38, bright enough to be seen with the naked eye....
(Auva) and e Virginis

Epsilon Virginis

Epsilon Virginis is a star in the constellation Virgo . It also has the traditional name Vindemiatrix, which comes from Greek language through Latin and means The Grape Gatherer....
(Vindemiatrix). Other fainter stars that were also given names are ? Virginis

Zeta Virginis

Zeta Virginis is a star in the constellation Virgo . It also has the traditional name Heze, which is not often used and of unclear origin....
(Heze), ? Virginis

Eta Virginis

Eta Virginis is a star in the constellation Virgo . It also has the traditional name Zaniah.Zaniah is about 204 light years distant from the Sun, and has apparent magnitude +3.9 and is of stellar classification A2IV....
(Zaniah), ? Virginis

Iota Virginis

Iota Virginis is a star in the constellation Virgo . It also has the traditional name Syrma.Syrma is a yellow star of apparent magnitude 4.08 and stellar classification F6 III about 70 light years from Earth....
(Syrma) and µ Virginis

Mu Virginis

Mu Virginis is a star in the constellation Virgo . It also has the traditional name Rijl al Awwa.Rijl al Awwa is a yellow star of Apparent magnitude 3.88 and stellar classification F2 III about 61 light years from Earth....
(Rijl al Awwa).

The star 70 Virginis

70 Virginis

70 Virginis is a yellow dwarf star approximately 58 light-years away in the constellation Virgo . It is rather unusually bright for its spectral type and may be just starting to evolve into the Subgiant star phase....
is one of the first known extrasolar planetary system

Extrasolar planet

An extrasolar planet, or exoplanet, is a planet beyond the Solar System, orbiting a star other than the Sun. As of February 2009, 342 exoplanets are listed in the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia....
with one confirmed planet 7.5 times the mass of Jupiter.

Deep sky objects

Because of the presence of a galaxy cluster (consequently called the Virgo cluster

Virgo Cluster

The Virgo Cluster is a galaxy cluster at a distance of approximately 1 E22 m light year away in the constellation Virgo . Comprising approximately 1300 member galaxies, the cluster forms the heart of the larger Local Supercluster, of which the Local Group is an outlying member....
) within its borders 5° to 10° west of e Vir (Vindemiatrix), this constellation is especially rich in galaxies

Galaxy

A galaxy is a massive, gravitation system that consists of stars and stellar remnants, an interstellar medium of gas and cosmic dust, and an important but poorly-understood component tentatively dubbed dark matter....
.

Some examples are Messier 49

Messier 49

Messier 49 is an elliptical galaxy / lenticular galaxy about 1 E22 m light-years away in the constellation Virgo . The galaxy was discovered by Charles Messier in 1771....
(elliptical

Elliptical galaxy

An elliptical galaxy is a galaxy having an approximately ellipsoid shape and a smooth, nearly featureless brightness profile. They range in shape from nearly spherical to highly flattened and in size from hundreds of millions to over one trillion stars....
), Messier 58

Messier 58

Messier 58 is a barred spiral galaxy located approximately 68 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo . It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1779....
(spiral

Spiral galaxy

A spiral galaxy is a galaxy belonging to one of the three main galaxy morphological classification originally described by Edwin Hubble in his 1936 work ?The Realm of the Nebulae? and, as such, forms part of the Hubble sequence....
), Messier 59

Messier 59

Messier 59 is an elliptical galaxy in the constellation Virgo ....
(elliptical), Messier 60

Messier 60

Messier 60 is an elliptical galaxy approximately 55 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo ....
(elliptical), Messier 61

Messier 61

Messier object 61 is a spiral galaxy in the Virgo Cluster. It was discovered by Barnabus Oriani on May 5, 1779.M61 is one of the larger members of the Virgo Cluster....
(spiral), Messier 84

Messier 84

Messier 84 is a lenticular galaxy in the constellation Virgo . M84 is situated in the heavily populated inner core of the Virgo Cluster.Radio observations and images of the Hubble Space Telescope of M84 have revealed two jets of matter shooting out from the galaxy's center as well as a disk of rapidly rotating gas and stars close to the n...
(lenticular

Lenticular galaxy

File:File-Ngc5866 hst big.pngA lenticular galaxy is a type of galaxy which is intermediate between an elliptical galaxy and a spiral galaxy in galaxy morphological classification schemes....
), Messier 86

Messier 86

Messier 86 is a lenticular galaxy in the constellation Virgo . It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1781. M86 lies in the heart of the Virgo Cluster and forms a most conspicuous group with another giant, Lenticular Galaxy M84....
(lenticular), Messier 87

Messier 87

Messier 87 is a giant elliptical galaxy. The galaxy is the largest and brightest galaxy within the northern Virgo Cluster, located about 55 million light years away....
(elliptical and a famous radio source), Messier 89

Messier 89

Messier 89 is an elliptical galaxy in the constellation Virgo . It was discovered by Charles Messier on March 18 1781. M89 is a member of the Virgo Cluster....
(elliptical) and Messier 90

Messier 90

Messier 90 is a spiral galaxy about 60 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo . It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1781....
(spiral). A noted galaxy that is not part of the cluster is the Sombrero Galaxy

Sombrero Galaxy

The Sombrero Galaxy is an unbarred spiral galaxy spiral galaxy in the constellation Virgo . It has a bright nucleus, an unusually large central bulge, and a prominent dust lane in its inclined disk....
(M104), an unusual spiral galaxy. It is located about 10° due west of Spica.

Mythology

Who exactly Virgo was considered to represent is uncertain; in history, it has been associated with nearly every prominent goddess

Goddess

A goddess is a female deity. Often deities are part of a polytheism system that includes several deities in a pantheon .Common associations of goddesses are the Earth goddess, the Mother Goddess, Love goddess, and the hearth goddess, reflecting historical gender roles....
, including Ishtar

Ishtar

Ishtar is the Assyrian and Babylonian counterpart to the Mesopotamian mythology Inanna and to the cognate northwest Semitic goddess Astarte....
, Isis

ISIS

ISIS is an industry standard interface for technologies, developed by Pixel Translations in 1990 .ISIS is an open standard for scanner control and a complete image-processing framework....
, Cybele

Cybele

Cybele , was the Phrygian deification of the Earth Mother. As with Greek Gaia , or her Minoan civilization equivalent Rhea , Cybele embodies the fertile Earth, a goddess of caverns and mountains, walls and fortresses, nature, wild animals ....
, and Athena

Athena

In Greek mythology, Athena is the shrewd companion of Hero and the goddess of Hero endeavour. She is the virgin patron of Athens, which built the Parthenon to worship her....
, as well as with Mary the Mother of Jesus. Virgo may also feature, along with Ursa Major

Ursa Major

Ursa Minor

Ursa Minor is a constellation in the northern sky. Its name is Latin for 'little bear', contrasting with Ursa Major, the Great Bear. It was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 1st century astronomer Ptolemy, and remains one of the 88 List of constellations....
, as part of the source of the myth of Callisto

Callisto (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Callisto was a nymph of Artemis. Transformed into a bear and Catasterism, she was the bear-mother of the Arcadians, through her son Arcas....
, either as Callisto herself, or as Hera

Hera

In the Twelve Olympians of classical Greek Mythology, Hera or Here was the wife and older sister of Zeus. Her chief function was as goddess of women and marriage....
. Persephone

Persephone

In Greek mythology, Persephone was the embodiment of the Earth's fertility at the same time that she was the Queen of the Greek Underworld, the kore , and the parthenogenesis daughter of Demeter and, in later Classical myths, a daughter of Demeter and Zeus....
(who in some mythologies, notably the Eleusinian Mysteries

Eleusinian Mysteries

The Eleusinian Mysteries were initiation ceremony held every year for the Cult of Demeter and Persephone based at Eleusis in ancient Greece. Of all the mysteries celebrated in ancient times, these were held to be the ones of greatest importance....
, was considered to be a form of Demeter

Demeter

File:Demeter in horse chariot w daughter kore 83d40m wikiC Tempio Y di Selinunte sec VIa.JPGDemeter , in Greek mythology, is the Goddess of cereal and fertility, the pure....
) is often mentioned as well, Virgo being visible mainly in the spring months when she was believed to have risen from the underworld.

According to one interpretation, the constellation depicts Astraea, the virgin daughter of the god Zeus

Zeus

Zeus in Greek mythology is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky father and List of thunder gods. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull , and oak....
and the goddess Themis

Themis

Themis is an Greek mythology. She is described as "of good counsel", and was the embodiment of divine order, law, and custom. Themis means "law of nature" rather than human ordinance, literally "that which is put in place", from the verb t?????, t?themi, to put....
. Astraea was known as the goddess of justice, and was identified as this constellation due to the presence of the scales of justice Libra

Libra (constellation)

Libra...
nearby, and supposedly ruled the world at one point with her wise ways until mankind became so callous she returned to the skies disgusted.

Visualizations

Virgo is often portrayed carrying two sheaves of wheat, one of which is marked by the bright star Spica

Spica

Spica is the brightest star in the constellation Virgo , and the list of brightest stars in the nighttime sky. It is 260 light years distant from Earth....
.

H.A. Rey has suggested an alternative way to visualize Virgo, which graphically shows the virgin lying down in a supine position

Supine position

The supine position is a position of the human body; lying down with the face up, as opposed to the prone position, which is face down. When used in surgical procedures, it allows access to the peritoneal, thoracic and pericardium regions; as well as the head, neck and extremities....
. The stars ? Vir

Gamma Virginis

Eta Virginis

Beta Virginis

Nu Virginis

Nu Virginis is a star in the constellation Virgo .Nu Virginis is a red stellar classification red giant with a mean apparent magnitude of +4.04....
, and ? Vir

Omicron Virginis

Omicron Virginis is a star in the constellation Virgo .Omicron Virginis is a yellow stellar classification giant star with an apparent magnitude of +4.12. It is approximately 171 light years from Earth....
form the virgin's head. The stars ? Vir, d Vir

Delta Virginis

Zeta Virginis

Zeta Virginis is a star in the constellation Virgo . It also has the traditional name Heze, which is not often used and of unclear origin....
, a Vir

Spica

Spica is the brightest star in the constellation Virgo , and the list of brightest stars in the nighttime sky. It is 260 light years distant from Earth....
(Spica), and ? Vir

Theta Virginis

Theta Virginis is a star system in the constellation Virgo . It is approximately 415 light years from Earth.The primary component, Theta Virginis A, is a white stellar classification subgiant with an apparent magnitude of +4.38....
form the virgin's blouse. The stars a Vir, ? Vir, t Vir

Tau Virginis

Tau Virginis is a star system in the constellation Virgo . It is approximately 218 light years from Earth.The primary component, Tau Virginis A, is a white stellar classification main sequence with an apparent magnitude of +4.23....
, ? Vir

Iota Virginis

Kappa Virginis

Kappa Virginis is a star in the constellation Virgo .Kappa Virginis is an orange stellar classification giant star with an apparent magnitude of +4.18. It is approximately 224 light years from Earth....
form the virgin's skirt. The stars 109 Vir

109 Virginis

109 Virginis is the seventh brightest star in the constellation Virgo .109 Virginis is a white stellar classification main sequence with an apparent magnitude of +3.73. It is approximately 129 light years from Earth....
and µ Vir

Mu Virginis

Epsilon Virginis

Astrology

, the Sun appears in the constellation Virgo from September 16 to October 30 . In tropical astrology

Tropical Astrology

Tropical astrology is a type of astrology based on a zodiac whose points of reference are the tropics. The word tropic comes from the Greek for "turning point," and originally meant the point at which the sun at sunrise and sunset appears to turn, and to move north in the northern hemisphere and south in the southern hemisphere along the...
, the Sun is considered to be in the sign Virgo

Virgo (astrology)

Virgo is the sixth astrological sign in the Zodiac, originating from the Virgo . In western astrology, the sign is no longer aligned with the constellation as a result of the Precession ....
from August 24 to September 22, and in sidereal astrology

Sidereal astrology

Sidereal astrology is the system of astrology used by some Western and all Jyotish astrology who base their interpretation around the use of the Sidereal time zodiac....
, from September 16 to October 15.

Virgo (constellation)

Location

Notable features

Stars

Deep sky objects

Mythology

Visualizations

Astrology

Citations

External links