Virgo is quite a bright constellation high in the sky during the Spring. Virgo is the second largest constellation in the sky narrowly missing that title by 8 square degrees. Its brightest star, Spica, is the 16th brightest in the sky and forms a sheave of wheat in the left hand of Virgo.
Virgo is a zodiacal constellation representing the dates between August 23 and September 23. Virgo also has many myths associated with it. A myth that has been discussed in previous blog entries is that of Icarius who was killed by the shepherds. His daughter, Erigone, was so overcome with grief she hanged herself. Dionysus, the god of the grape harvest, placed both of them in the sky as Boötes and Virgo. Virgo has been known to be Astraea, the virgin goddess of purity and innocence. Astraea was always associated with the goddess of justice, Dike. These two companions share the sky as Virgo and Libra.
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| Virgo (Artist Interpretation) |
The Virgo cluster of a couple thousand galaxies lies partially within the constellation's borders. Due to this fact, eleven Messier objects can be found in Virgo. I've only given the constellation a cursory scan with my telescope and I could see many galaxies. The image below shows my observation record from May 2, 2017.
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| Virgo Observation Record |
The arms are quite easily navigated with the naked eye. The Virginids form a set of meteor showers radiating from various locations in Virgo throughout the year. The maximum hourly rate among them barely reaches ten per hour so they are not really discussed a lot.
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