Vindemiatrix
Vindemiatrix, the third-brightest star of Virgo, is in the southwest at nightfall. It’s far to the upper right of Spica, Virgo’s brightest star. Vindemiatrix is a giant — a bloated star that’s...
View ArticleDistant Planet
If at first you don’t succeed, keep looking. That’s a lesson from planet searches being conducted at the McDonald and Keck observatories. Two decades of observing scores of stars have yielded a special...
View ArticleGamma Virginis
Many stars — and perhaps most of them — travel in pairs. The stars are siblings — they were born together, from the same cloud of gas and dust. In most cases, the twin stars aren’t much alike. In a few...
View ArticleMoon and Spica
The two stars that make up Spica — the brightest star of Virgo — are monsters. Both are much bigger, brighter, and heavier than the Sun. That means they’ll have much shorter lifespans than the Sun. And...
View ArticleMoon and Spica
Virgo is a popular location for exoplanets, including the first ones ever confirmed. There’s no special reason for it, except perhaps for the size of the constellation — it’s the largest member of the...
View ArticleMoon and Spica
The Moon stands near the middle of the largest member of the zodiac tonight, the constellation Virgo. Spica, the maiden’s brightest star, is close to the Moon as darkness falls, and the Moon will slide...
View ArticleSombrero Galaxy
The Sombrero Galaxy has taught us a lot. It provided important details about the birth, scale, and evolution of the universe. And it’s a good laboratory for studying the birth of stars and the feeding...
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Virgo
In mythology, Virgo was associated with the harvest. It represented a harvest goddess or the daughter of a goddess. The constellation’s brightest star, Spica, was a stalk of wheat held in her hand....
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