Star
A close binary of hot blue giant stars so near each other that their mutual gravity distorts them into egg shapes.
| Type | Star |
|---|---|
| Distance from Earth | 250 ly |
| Diameter | 10,390,000 km |
| Mass | 2.27 × 10³¹ kg |
| Temperature | 22,027°C |
| Rotation period | 100.8 hours |
| Apparent magnitude | 0.98 |
| Redshift | 0 |
| Hemisphere | Southern |
| Discovered | 150 |
Stars spend most of their lives fusing hydrogen into helium in their core, and it's the balance between that outward pressure and gravity pulling inward that fixes how big and how bright a star gets.
At 10,390,000 km across, Spica is 7.5 times the diameter of the Sun.
Its mass is 11 times the mass of the Sun.
The light reaching us from Spica tonight left it around 250 years ago.
Its surface sits at 22,300 K, hotter than the Sun at 5,772 K, which is what sets its colour.
It has been on record since the year 150.
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