Virgo Constellation: The Ultimate Guide

In Egyptian mythology, the goddess Isis represents the constellation, Virgo. She is responsible for instilling in humanity the practices of motherhood, medicine, marriage, and witchcraft.

It is also one of the constellations that appear in the Dendera Zodiac, the oldest recorded star calendar in Egypt.

In Greek mythology, the constellation of Virgo personifies Persephone, daughter of the harvest goddess Demeter. According to the myth, the Earth was always spring, but Hades, the underworld god, kidnapped Persephone one day.

Her mother, Demeter, abandoned her role as goddess of the Earth because of her pain due to the loss of her only daughter.

Zeus agreed with Hades to return Persephone to Demeter because he should not eat anything until his return. But the god of the underworld would purposely give Persephone a grenade.

Thus, Persephone was returned to her mother, but she had to return to the underworld for four months of the year because of the grenade she had eaten.

In this way, the months that Persephone (Virgo) spends in the underworld are when the constellation cannot be seen in the sky. When it reappears, it is spring in the northern hemisphere.

Different cultures in the world have interpreted the shape of the constellation of Virgo as a woman. The Catholic Church associated him with the Virgin Mary during the Middle Ages. Since then, that image has not undergone much change.

To date, Virgo is still represented with the image of a female figure in horoscopes, being the largest constellation of all the constellations of the zodiac.

Virgo is usually represented as a maiden with angel wings holding two ears of wheat, and one of them is marked with the star Spica, the brightest in the constellation.

Virgo is located in the third quadrant of the southern hemisphere (SQ3) and is observable at latitudes between + 80° and -80°, occupying a vast region.

This means that we can see the constellation of the night sky from almost all parts of the world, even in the areas of Antarctica that are closer to the equator.

Virgo is visible from North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia.

Virgo is a seasonal constellation, which is not visible throughout the year. We can see Virgo in the Northern Hemisphere from mid-March to the end of June. In the southern hemisphere, it is seen in autumn and winter.

The best time to observe the constellation Virgo is late April and early May.

Although Virgo is the largest zodiac constellation of all, it has a diffuse shape. Its pattern is not as defined as that of other constellations.

So, to find, you must first locate the constellation of Big Dipper if you are in the northern hemisphere.

Using the handle curve of the Big Dipper's constellation, you’ll need to draw an imaginary curved line or an arc from the end of the bucket to the star Arcturus.

Then, it remains only to extend that line to reach the star Spica, the brightest in Virgo. Once you've located Spica, the rest of the constellation will be easier to see.

The bordering constellations of Virgo are Boötes, Coma Berenices, Corvus, Crater, Hydra, Leo, Libra, and Serpens.

Virgo belongs to 12 zodiacal constellations alongside Gemini, Taurus, Cancer, Leo, Aries, Libra, Scorpius, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces.

Virgo's brightest star is Spica, also known as Alpha Virginis, with an apparent magnitude of 0.98. In addition, Virgo is the constellation with the most exoplanets since it has 20 stars with confirmed planetary systems.

The constellation Of Virgo has 15 named stars assigned by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Those stars are Elgafar, Flegetonte, Heze,Kang, Khambalia, Lich, Malmok, Minelauva, Mönch, Porrima, Spica, Syrma, Vindemiatrix, Zaniah, and Zavijava.

It also contains a great diversity of variable stars and binary stars.

Spica is the brightest star in Virgo, with an apparent visual magnitude of 1.04. Spica comes from the Latin spīca Virginis, meaning "spike of Virgo".

It is a non-eclipsing close binary star system. It means that the two stellar components do not eclipse each other but distort their luminosity through their gravitational interactions.

It is located 260 light-years away from the solar system and is one of the closest massive double stars to the Sun.

Spica has a variable type stellar classification of type Beta Cephei. In other words, it is a main-sequence star with brightness variations due to the pulsations of its surface.

Spica was likely the star that helped the Greek astronomer and mathematician Hipparchus discover the recession of the equinoxes in 127 BC.C.

Also known as Porrima, this is the second brightest star in Virgo. It is located 38.6 light-years from our solar system. It is a binary star composed of two stars of apparent magnitude+3.48 and +3.50, practically identical in all aspects.

Each of them has four times the luminosity of the Sun and is 20% larger. Both stars are yellow-white from the primary sequence of spectral type F0V and have a surface temperature of 7100 K.

Vindemiatrix is a yellow giant star of spectral type G8 III with a temperature of 5040 K on its surface and the third-largest star in the constellation Virgo.

Its luminosity is 83 times that of the Sun. It is also 11.4 times larger and estimated to be at least 560 million years old.

It rotates on itself with a rotational speed of 1.69 km/s. So it mites an intense amount of X-rays, which indicates that it has a tremendous magnetic activity on its surface.

X Virginis is an orange giant star of spectral type K2III that lies 293 light-years from the solar system, with an effective temperature of 4445 ± 70 K and an apparent magnitude of +4.66.

In 2009, a massive extrasolar planet was discovered orbiting around it using the star's radial velocity variations. The provisional name of this planet is "X Virginis b." It has 11.1 times the mass of Jupiter and orbits X Virginis every 835.5 days.

In August 2015, new measurements confirmed the second variability in radial velocity that corresponds to a second extrasolar planet around the star, which has the name of HD 110014 c.

61 Virginis is a yellow dwarf classification star of spectral type G5V with a surface temperature of 5558 K. It is one of the closest stars to our solar system, as it is only 27.8 light-years away.

In 2009 it was officially announced the discovery of three extrasolar planets in orbit around 61 Virginis, with masses between 5 and 25 times the mass of the Earth.

The three planets have the names of:

• 61 Virginis b: This is the closest planet to 61 Virginis, has a mass5.1 times that of Earth, and takes four days to complete a lap around its star.
• 61 Virginis c: The second closest planet in this system, it has a mass 18.2 times that of Earth, and its orbital period is 28 days.
• 61 Virginis d: With a mass 22.9 times that of Earth, this is the third closest planet to the star 61 Virginis and takes 123 days to complete its orbital period.

The three planets orbit very close to their star; if we compare it with our Solar System, the three will be within the orbit of Venus, so it is thought that in the three planets very high temperatures, above 100 ° C, so it is not likely to host liquid water.

Virgo contains more than thirteen thousand galaxies. It also houses the Virgo Cluster, a group of more than 2000 galaxies scattered over a vast region and eleven other galaxies belonging to the Messier catalog.

It is the brightest galaxy in the Virgo Cluster. It is merging with the dwarf irregular galaxy UGC 7636, from which it has already ripped off part of its gas. In about 8,000 million years, it will be absorbed by M49.

M87 is a giant elliptical galaxy. It is the largest and most luminous galaxy in the northern part of the Virgo Cluster.

The galaxy contains a very active galactic nucleus, a high-intensity source of high-frequency radiation. It gives off a jet of energetic plasma that extends more than 4900 light-years and travelat speeded close to that of light.

M58 is 68 million light-years away and is a galaxy with an active galactic nucleus possibly containing a black hole at its center with 70 million solar masses.

It also contains an ultra-compact nuclear ring (UCNR), being one of the few known spiral galaxies to possess it.

The constellation Virgo is associated with a meteor shower called "The Virginids," which can be seen from January 25 to April 15.

The best date to observe the Meteor Shower is April 11-12.

• In ancient times the constellation of Virgo held two scales instead of two spikes, as it was merged with the current constellation of Libra.
• The constellation of Virgo is the one that contains the most galaxies of all the constellations of the zodiac.
• Virgo contains one of the largest collections of stars with extrasolar planets.

• Since Virgo is a zodiac constellation, it belongs to the zodiac family's constellations.
• Virgo means "Virgin," derived from Greek mythology. The story is about Demeter, the Greek goddess of agriculture. Other stories also identify it as the virgin goddess  Iustitia, better known as  Astraea.
• Virgo is a southern constellation, but we can see it from all the northern hemisphere countries. The best time to observe Virgo is in late April and early May.  
• Virgo is easy to locate as it is the second-largest constellation of all. The best way is to trace a curved line from the handle of the Big Dipper constellation.
• Virgo's brightest galaxy is M49, merging with the galaxy UGC 7636.
• The strongest meteor shower in Virgo is "The Virginids."

1. https://www.constellation-guide.com/constellation-list/virgo-constellation/
2. http://www.seasky.org/constellations/constellation-virgo.html
3. https://theskylive.com/sky/constellations/virgo-constellation
4. https://earthsky.org/constellations/virgo-heres-your-constellation/