Australian Sky Telescope MayJune 2017

44 AUSTRALIAN SKY & TELESCOPE May | June 2017

ESO

W

hich is by far the longest

constellationofthezodiac?As

you may know, it’s the lady of

the zodiac, Virgo. The Sun travels 44°

throughVirgo,thusalmost^1 / 8 rather

than^1 / 12 of the zodiac falls in Virgo. The

Sun is within the constellation’s bounds

in early spring. In May, however, Virgo

is well-placed for observation in the

north, as shown in our all-sky map on

pages 42–43.

Many deep sky observers prize

Virgo for just one thing: the vast Virgo

Galaxy Cluster, composed of dozens of

galaxies visible through small amateur

telescopes and hundreds to thousands

visible through larger ones. I want to

make a suggestion about observing the

galaxies of Virgo and of its neighbouring

constellations on autumn evenings.

But first I want to speak in praise of the

oft-undervalued stars of Virgo and the

wonderful passes of Solar System objects

through the constellation.

The long, lovely, recumbent, and

lambent maiden. Recumbent means

lying back, usually in a leisurely

fashion. Virgo seems to be doing just

that on the ecliptic. Although Virgo’s

prime gem, 1st-magnitude Spica, lies

a few degrees south of the ecliptic, the

line of Virgo’s head and body from Beta

(β) Virginis through Eta (η), Gamma

(γ) and Theta (θ) lies just north of the

ecliptic. Again and again, we see the

Moon and planets glide or step past one

star after another in scenic sequence.

Lambent means shining with light

that licks over an object as it flickers,

the objects here being the stars of Virgo.

Except for Spica, these stars are often

dismissed as being dim. But Epsilon (ε)

Virginis is brighter than magnitude

3.0, and seven more stars in Virgo, in

addition to Spica, are brighter than 4.0.

Twenty-three of Virgo’s stars twinkle

between magnitudes 4.0 and 5.0. In a

dark sky or with binoculars, then, there

are a lot of stars to see here. Of course,

those totals are not as impressive when

you consider that Virgo covers the

second-largest area of the sky of any of

the 88 constellations.

The names of Virgo’s flames. In

A Dictionary of Modern Star Names,

our leading contemporary experts

on the subject, Kunitzsch and Smart,

seem strict about the proper names

of stars. But they accept six stars

and eight star-names in Virgo: Alpha

(α) Virginis (Spica or Azimech), Beta

(Zavijava), Gamma (Porrima), Epsilon

(Vindemiatrix or Almuredin), Eta

(Zaniah) and Iota (ι) (Syrma). They

also give 14 star names from Antonin

Becvar’s 1951 Atlas of the Heavens,

noting that the origins of only two of

these names have been figured out.

One of the unexplained 12 is Heze for

Zeta (ζ) Virginis. Another is Arich, the

superb double star Gamma Virginis,

though Porrima is already in popular

use for it. Another star, named neither

by Kunitzsch and Smart, nor by Becvar,

has been called Auva. This is Delta (δ)

Virginis, also known by the supposedly

Sumerian name, Lu Lim.

A fairly bright star without a proper

name is Theta Virginis. It’s a pretty

triple star, but even R. H. Allen’s classic

Star-Names and Their Meanings included

only one name reputedly applied to it

alone, from ancient India: Apami-Atsa,

‘the Child of the Waters’.

A gala for galaxies. Whatever else

Virgo is, she’s definitely the woman with

the galaxies. Ever since the Dobsonian

revolution, amateur astronomers have

had access to thousands of them. We

have the Messier marathons of March.

Why not hold ‘Galaxy Gazes’ in late

April or early May? How many galaxies

can you see in one night? Or one

evening? Or, viewing the richest groups,

in one hour?

Virgo’s

flames

The stars of this outsized

constellation burn brighter

than expected.

Galaxies galore inhabit Virgo, including M87 (centre).

UNDER THE STARS by Fred Schaaf