Virgo

Virgo is a Zodiacal constellation otherwise known as the Virgin. It is one of the 48 Greek constellations originally described by the 2nd century astronomer Claudius Ptolemy (Wikipedia). Virgo remains one of the 88 modern constellations defined by the International Astronomical Union (Wikipedia).

Virgo (abbrev. = Vir; genitive = Virginis) covers 1294 square degrees or 3.14% of the celestial sphere making it the 2nd largest constellation. It contains 169 stars brighter than apparent magnitude 6.5, the brightest star being Spica (Alpha Virginis).

An image of the 2012 conjunction of Saturn in Virgo can be seen at Virgo and Saturn.

For more information see the entries for Virgo at Wikipedia and U. Wisconsin. For a chart of Virgo, see Vir (IAU).






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