Virgo is the second-largest constellation throughout the sky and a very powerful constellation of the Zodiac.
The constellation Virgo is known primarily for its affiliation with astrology as one in all many twelve constellations of the zodiac, however it moreover accommodates a treasure trove of fascinating deep-sky objects.
Virgo means “the virgin” in Latin, and accommodates one in all many brightest stars, Spica, primarily based on the stargazing site Constellation Info.
Related: Night sky: What you can see tonight (maps)
The place is the constellation Virgo and when can you see it?
Virgo lies between the constellations Leo and Libra, at 13 hours correct ascension and a pair of ranges South declination. It’s seen throughout the Northern Hemisphere all through spring and summer time season, and to Southern observers all through autumn and winter.
One of the best technique to find Virgo is with the helpful phrase, “arc to Arcturus and velocity on to Spica.” Starting with the curved take care of of the Massive Dipper, adjust to that arc to the sensible star Arcturus, which lies throughout the constellation Boötes. Persevering with alongside that curve, you could then uncover Spica, the brightest star in Virgo, and you could trace the remainder of the constellation from there. Spica is a vivid blue variable star, whose title means “ear of grain.”
A number of Virgo’s stars are pretty faint, nonetheless within the occasion you are in a darkish sky you can probably trace the foremost components of the constellation, which make a stick decide specific particular person with vivid Spica as one hand and smaller Vindemiatrix (“the grape gatherer”) as the other. The fairly vivid binary star system Gamma Virginis lies on the center as if it’s the glowing coronary coronary heart of the virgin.
Virgo observing targets
There actually is sort of a bit to find inside Virgo, as the large constellation measures over 1,200 sq. ranges throughout the night time time sky. Virgo accommodates many superb sights, along with 11 Messier objects — primarily probably the most of any constellation moreover Sagittarius. It is as a result of the constellation hosts the Virgo cluster, a giant amalgamation of over 1,300 galaxies subsequent to the Native Group, which our Milky Means belongs to. A number of of those targets are seen with the naked eye, nonetheless for others, you could want to try our guides to the biggest binoculars and biggest telescopes for stargazing.
Although not seen with any yard stargazing setup, Virgo might be residence to quite a lot of recognized exoplanets, along with the directly-imaged gasoline massive GJ 504b and the first planet discovered spherical a pulsar, PSR B1257+12 b. Virgo moreover has WASP-39b, the place the James Webb Home Telescope these days detected carbon dioxide in an exoplanet‘s ambiance for the first time.
Jargon buster
Magnitude: An object’s magnitude tells you the best way vivid an object is as a result of it appears from the Earth. In astronomy, magnitudes are represented on a numbered scale. Pretty confusingly the lower the amount, the sensible the article. For example, an object of a -1 magnitude is brighter than one with a magnitude of +2.
Correct ascension (RA): Correct ascension is to the sky what longitude is to the ground of the Earth, akin to east and west directions. Measured in hours, minutes and seconds since, as Earth rotates, we see utterly totally different parts of the sky by means of the night time time
Declination (Dec): Tells you the best way extreme your object will rise throughout the sky. Like Earth’s latitude, declination measures north and south. Its fashions are ranges, arcminutes and arcseconds. There are 60 arcmins in a degree and 60 arcsecs in an arcmin.
Messier 49
Messier 49
Magnitude: 9.4
Distance from Earth: 55.9 million light-years
Coordinates: RA 12h 29m 46.7s Dec +08°00’02”
Messier 49 is an elliptical galaxy, which appears as a fuzzy blob, in distinction to the well-defined arms of a spiral galaxy. That’s the brightest galaxy in Virgo, present in 1771 by Charles Messier. This massive, outdated galaxy accommodates just about 6,000 globular clusters.
Messier 58
Messier 58
Magnitude: 10.5
Distance from Earth: 62 million light-years
Coordinates: RA 12h 37m 43.5s Dec +11°49’05”
Messier 58 is a picturesque barred spiral galaxy, moreover discovered by Charles Messier throughout the 1700s. As one different of the brightest galaxies in Virgo, it’s a good aim for novice observers. Two supernovas had been seen on this galaxy throughout the Eighties.
Butterfly Galaxies / NGC 4567 and NGC 4568
Butterfly Galaxies / NGC 4567 and NGC 4568
Magnitude: 10.9
Distance from Earth: 59.4 million light-years
Coordinates: RA 12h 36m 34.3s Dec +11°14’17”
The Butterfly Galaxies is a two-for-one specific: two galaxies in a single aim! These spiral galaxies are slowly colliding with each other, initially discovered by William Herschel in 1784.
Messier 87
Messier 87
Magnitude: 9.59
Distance from Earth: 53.5 million light-years
Coordinates: RA 12h 30m 49.42338s Dec +12°23’28.0439″
Messier 87 is a really thrilling galaxy. Although it appears as a vivid blob as a result of it is an elliptical galaxy, it’s residence to the first supermassive black hole ever photographed. The well-known Event Horizon Telescope imaged M87’s behemoth black hole in 2017, incomes the black hole its title: Pōwehi, which means “embellished darkish provide of endless creation” in Hawaiian. M87 is a report breaker; it is without doubt one of the massive galaxies in our neighborhood, the second brightest in Virgo, and one in all many brightest in radio waves. Lovely images from the Hubble Home Telescope current a massive jet of cloth capturing away from the center of this galaxy.
Sombrero Galaxy / Messier 104
Sombrero Galaxy / Messier 104
Magnitude: 8.98
Distance from Earth: 23.9 million light-years
Coordinates: RA 12h 39m 59.4s Dec -11°37’23”
Messier 104 is known for its resemblance to a sombrero hat, incomes its nickname the “Sombrero Galaxy”. This distinctive spiral galaxy is kind of instantly edge-on from our perspective on Earth, highlighting its vivid central bulge and dense mud rings. This was a late addition to the Messier catalog, actually discovered by French astronomer Pierre Méchain in 1781.
Virginids meteor showers
Primarily based on the stargazing site Universe Info, the Virginids are a bunch of meteor showers occurring all by way of the Northern hemisphere’s Spring throughout the constellation Virgo. Listed beneath are the numerous showers and when to watch them:
- Pi Virginids: February 13 to April 8, peak approx. March 3
- Eta Virginids: February 12 to March 27, peak approx. March 18
- Theta Virginids: March 10 to April 21, peak approx. March 30
- Alpha Virginids: March 10 to Might 6, peak approx. April 7
- Mu Virginids: April 1 to Might 12, peak approx. April 24
Virgo mythology
In some tales, primarily based on EarthSky, Virgo is Persephone, the daughter of the Greek goddess Demeter who dominated over the harvests. Persephone was kidnapped by the god of the underworld, Hades, and Demeter’s grief induced crops to wither. Zeus, king of the gods, commanded that Hades return Persephone so that the harvests might as quickly as as soon as extra be fruitful, with one catch — Persephone could not eat one thing on Earth. Hades gave her a pomegranate to interrupt the deal, and now Persephone ought to stick to Hades throughout the underworld for 4 months yearly. Her return coincides with the start of springtime when the constellation Virgo is however as soon as extra seen throughout the Northern Hemisphere’s night time sky.
In others, Virgo pertains to Dike, the Greek goddess of justice. She is alleged to hold wheat in a single hand, which throughout the constellation is the star Spica. Shut by Libra matches the theme as correctly, conserving the scales of justice shut by their associated goddess. As with all constellation mythologies, diversified cultures created utterly totally different tales of the sky; Virgo, as an illustration, takes after Atargatis, the corn goddess, from Historic Syria.
Virgo constellation FAQs answered by an educated
We requested Mathew Yu, an astronomy graduate pupil on the School of California, Los Angeles, a few steadily requested questions regarding the Virgo constellation.
Mathew Yu
Tze (Mathew) Yu is a graduating PhD pupil at UCLA, engaged on understanding how extrasolar planets (planets exterior of our picture voltaic system) arrive at their current locations spherical their very personal stars. By understanding totally different planets available on the market, he tries to know how our picture voltaic system matches throughout the bigger picture of the universe.
The place is the Virgo constellation?
Virgo is between the constellations Leo and Libra on the ecliptic.
How will you uncover the Virgo constellation?
To hunt out Virgo, the best technique is to first discover the Massive Dipper, which must be subsequent to Polaris (the North Star). Then, draw an arc extending from the Massive Dipper’s take care of, until you uncover the sensible star Arcturus of the constellation Boötes. If one then extends a line to the ecliptic, the brightest star of Virgo (Spica) must be seen barely beneath the ecliptic. All that is left is to trace out the rest of the constellation!
What variety of stars are throughout the Virgo constellation?
Counting on what variety of stars you embrace contained in the constellation, there are each 9 or 15 main stars. Just some of them are double stars that are very shut to 1 one other. Inside the fundamental house of Virgo, there are some 160 stars contained in the seen brightness of the human eye.
Additional sources
Uncover the sky throughout the Virgo cluster with this image of the Coma Berenices constellation. Uncover M9, a vivid, spiral galaxy situated throughout the Virgo cluster of galaxies courtesy of NASA. See NGC 4388, a galaxy throughout the constellation Virgo in lovely factor resulting from this Hubble Home Telescope image.
Bibliography
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Encyclopaedia Britannica, inc. (n.d.). Virgo. Encyclopaedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/place/Virgo
Garner, R. (2017a, October 19). Messier 49. NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/operate/goddard/2017/messier-49
Garner, R. (2017b, October 19). Messier 87. NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/operate/goddard/2017/messier-87
Garner, R. (2017c, October 19). Messier 104 (The sombrero galaxy). NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/operate/goddard/2017/messier-104-the-sombrero-galaxy
Garner, R. (2018, March 16). Messier 58. NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/operate/goddard/2018/messier-58
Lawrence, P. (2023, March 29). A info to star Vindemiatrix, the lip of the bowl of Virgo. Vindemiatrix, the lip of the Bowl of Virgo | BBC Sky at Night Journal. https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/vindemiatrix
McClure, B., & Whitt, Okay. Okay. (2023, Might 16). Virgo the maiden in Northern Spring Skies. EarthSky. https://earthsky.org/constellations/virgo-heres-your-constellation/
NASA. (n.d.). Exoplanet-catalog – exoplanet exploration: Planets previous our picture voltaic system. NASA. https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exoplanet-catalog/7134/psr-b125712-b/
Universe Info. (n.d.). Virginids meteor bathe (information, particulars, when, the place). Universe Info. https://www.universeguide.com/meteorshower/virginids
Virgo constellation. Constellation Info. (n.d.). https://www.constellation-guide.com/constellation-list/virgo-constellation/