ABSTRACT

Most of Virgo is contained in the map, together with parts of Coma, Crater, Corvus, Hydra, Libra and Bootes. The only first-magnitude star is Spica, but there are many interesting objects - notably in the “bowl” of Virgo, bounded on the far side by Beta Leonis or Denebola. Spica is 260 light-years away. It is an excessively close binary; the real distance between the two components must be less than 21 million kilometres, and the orbital period is a mere 4 days, so that normal telescopes show Spica as a single star. Gamma Virginis, at the base of the “bowl”, is a celebrated binary. Sigma Virginis is another red star, making up a triangle with Delta and Epsilon. To its left on the map is CW Virginis, which is a magnetic variable but almost constant in light; its magnitude is 4.9.