We use cookies to deliver essential features and to measure their performance. Learn more.
Help us keep TheSkyLive 100% free & ads-free, donate now!
Home
Search Objects
Major Solar System Objects
Comets
Asteroids
Spacecrafts
Star Maps
Orbits
public  Greenwich, UK Greenwich, UK  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 7:23 
Transit: 12:14 
Sunset: 17:05
sunny   (Daytime)  
What's Visible Now • Tonight Timeline
Search  close
All Constellations » Virgo » 

Spica - α Virginis (alpha Virginis)

Below the horizon.  Rise: 23:00 | Tran: 4:04 | Set: 9:04
Alt: -38.82°   Az: 307.39°   Direction: North-West

Spica, also designated as α Virginis (alpha Virginis), is a variable and multiple giant star of spectral class B1 in the constellation of Virgo.

Spica visual magnitude is 0.98, making it the 15th brightest star in the sky. Because of its brightness, Spica is clearly visible to the naked eye when observed from locations with dark skies, and should be also quite easily visible from light polluted areas.

Image of Spica - α Virginis (alpha Virginis) star
DSS2 image of Spica. The red arrow shows the motion of Spica during the next 10000 years (-6.83 arcmin in Right Ascension and -4.67 arcmin in declination);

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

13h 26m 31s
-11° 17’ 29”
09h 23m 26s
22h 49m 57s

J2000

13h 25m 11s
-11° 09’ 41”

Galactic Coordinates

316.11°
50.84°

Finder Chart

loader
  Loading map...
Finder chart for Spica - α Virginis (alpha Virginis).

Magnitude, Color, Spectral Class

0.98
Giant

-3.55
B1III
14354K

The red dot in the diagram below shows where Spica is situated in the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram.

HR Diagram
H-R diagram showing the position of Spica. Attribution: Richard Powell / CC BY-SA

Star System Properties

Spica is a visual double star which can be observed only with the help of very large telescopes. The table below shows key information about the Spica double sysyem:

0.98
2.48
1.5
0 arcsec

Distance, Radial Speed, Proper Motion

Spica is distant 262.06 light years from the Sun and it is moving far from the Sun at the speed of 1 kilometers per second.

80.39
262.06
1 km/s
-0.041 arcsec/y
-0.028"/y

Alternative Designations

Spica
α Virginis
(alpha Virginis)
67 Virginis
SAO157923
SAO157923

Visibility from Your Location

Today's Spica - α Virginis (alpha Virginis) rise, transit and set times from Greenwich, UK are the following (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 101.3°
Max altitude: 27.2°
Azimuth: 258.7°