Virgo — The Spring Maiden
Article for March/April 2024
Astrology fans will associate Virgo with the early autumn — those born between August 23 and September 22 fall under this star sign. But the best time to see this constellation is actually in the spring. During March and April in the Northern Hemisphere, Virgo is visible in the southeastern sky throughout the night. It is the second largest constellation in the night sky, taking up over 1,200 square degrees, and is best spotted by finding its brightest star: Spica.
Spica is the sixteenth brightest star in the sky, but it holds a secret. What appears to us as a single blue giant star is actually a set of siblings; a binary star system of two stars, both larger and hotter than our own sun, locked together in orbit around each other. They are so close that they are indistinguishable, even with a telescope, and it was only through an analysis of its light that the star system’s true nature is revealed.
To find it, first locate the asterism of The Plough or Big Dipper, then follow the guiding rhyme “Arc to Arcturus, Speed on to Spica”. An invisible line drawn from the handle of the plough will take you to Arcturus, an orange-coloured giant star in the constellation of Bootes, and the fourth brightest star in the sky. A line down from here will arrive at Spica. In fact, along with Regulus in Leo, these bright stars make up the asterism of the Spring Triangle.
To find it, first locate the asterism of The Plough or Big Dipper, then follow the guiding rhyme “Arc to Arcturus, Speed on to Spica”.
Virgo herself is made up of 12 main stars, though some are so faint you might need a particularly dark night to see them. In very clear skies, however, one hundred and ninety stars are visible with the naked eye within the constellation borders. The constellation is also home to thousands of galaxies, including the Virgo Cluster, a group of over 1,300 galaxies (though you’ll need a telescope to see this one). She is often depicted with wings and holding a bundle of wheat represented by Spica. In fact, Spica’s name itself comes from the Latin ‘spīca virginis’, meaning “the virgin's ear of grain”
Virgo herself is made up of 12 main stars (image taken from ‘Stellarium’)
As her name hints, in mythology she is usually known as a virgin maiden. For the ancient Greeks and Romans, one of her associations is that of Demeter, the goddess of harvest and agriculture, and her daughter Persephone, who after spending half the year in the underworld, returns to bring the Spring.
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