Constellation
The largest zodiac constellation, home to the Virgo Cluster of thousands of galaxies.
| Type | Constellation |
|---|---|
| Area of sky | 1,294 sq° |
| Brightest star | Spica |
| Brightest star magnitude | mag 0.97 |
| Hemisphere | Southern |
| Zodiac constellation | Yes |
| Discovered | 150 |
A constellation is a pattern drawn on the sky rather than a physical grouping: its stars are usually unrelated and sit at wildly different distances, just lined up as seen from Earth.
Virgo covers 1,294 square degrees of sky, which is 3.1 percent of the whole celestial sphere.
That makes it the 2nd largest of the 88 constellations the International Astronomical Union recognises.
It sits in the southern sky, and it is one of the twelve constellations the Sun passes through over a year.
Its brightest star reaches magnitude 0.97, bright enough to pick out with the naked eye under a dark sky.
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