Welcome to learn the sky, your go-to resource to help you find the
constellations in the night sky. We hope that you continue to go outside observe
the Stars and share what you have learned with others. If you like what you
see here be sure to click the subscribe button below. My name is Janine, and in
this video we will review how to find the constellation called Virgo. This
constellation is classified as a zodiacal one, which means that the Sun
passes through it at some point throughout the year. If we take a look at
this picture you are looking directly at Virgo, and some of the bright stars that
stand out can be used to help you find this constellation. Virgo is not a
particularly bright constellation, but it is very large and easy to find. It is the
second largest constellation in the sky and it can be seen during the spring
months, in the northern hemisphere. Its main bright star is called Spica and
it's this bright blue star that's situated right here. This star tends to
outshine all of the rest of the stars in the constellation pattern. So let's go
ahead and take a look at what this pattern looks like. This is one version
of the pattern of Virgo, and if you didn't pick out this shape in the
earlier photo it's totally okay, don't worry. When I go outside and observe this
constellation Spica is really the only star that I see in the entire
constellation. The rest of the stars tend to just fade out into the background, but
this ends up being a very good thing because Virgo is so dim there are a lot
of other celestial objects like galaxies that will shine through this
constellation. So Virgo is really known for all the celestial objects that are
situated inside of its boundaries, rather than the bright stars that are
associated with the pattern. The best way to find Virgo is to use the Big Dipper
in the larger constellation of Ursa Major and you
use the handle to arc to Arcturus and speed to Spica and if you can remember
that phrase, arc to Arcturus and speed to Spica, you should be able to find where
the rest of Virgo sits. Just remember that Spica is the only really bright
star in the constellation, and the rest of the stars are pretty faint, and
Arcturus, Spica, and Regulus make up the asterism called the Spring Triangle, and
this is just another tool you can use to help find these constellations. You can
also use Ursa Major to point downwards, to help you find Leo. Regulus is often
called the heart of the lion, so again you arc to Arcturus and speed to Spica.
Let's take a closer look at the constellation pattern of Virgo and see
how all the other constellations surround it and how you can use those
constellations to help you find it. So Virgo has her head here, her two arms, and
her two legs, and if you don't find this pattern it's okay,
like I said Spica is really the only bright star in this constellation and
Spica represents an ear of wheat that she is holding right here, and we won't
go into the mythology of this constellation but Virgo is known to
represent many of the female deities in past ancient mythologies and that's all
we'll say for now because her mythology is quite extensive, but here we're just
gonna focus on how to find the constellation. So if you can find where
Arcturus is, by using the Big Dipper, you arc to Arcturus and speed to Spica, you
should be able to easily find this constellation, and then in front of Virgo
you have a small portion of Leo, right here, and this bright star is called
Denebola, okay, and then Libra is behind the constellation of Virgo, and if we wanted
to take a look at where the Sun passes through this is where the ecliptic runs
through. So the ecliptic as a reminder is a path of the Sun,
now I want to give you some practice on how to find Virgo. So when we look at
this picture maybe you're not gonna point out a lot of patterns in the
beginning, but you want to take a closer look, hopefully you can find at least one
pretty bright star that stands out from the rest, and then the other star pattern
you want to look for is the Big Dipper, okay, remember that the Big Dipper is an
asterism it's a smaller star pattern in the bigger constellation known as Ursa
Major. So if you can find the Big Dipper in this photo you should be able to find
Virgo. So let's point it out here, so here is where the Big Dipper is, okay. So you
use the handle of the Big Dipper to arc to Arcturus, and then you speed to
Spica. So again you arc to Arcturus, and then you speed to Spica.
So this whole area is all Virgo. So a very large portion of the sky, and if you
know where Virgo is perhaps you can find where Leo is. Let's go ahead and trace
out where these constellations are so you're not too lost as you're looking at
it. So here will backtrack, this is the Big
Dipper in the bigger constellation known as Ursa Major.
So you arc to Arcturus, and then you speed to Spica. Here's another version of
what the constellation pattern may look like. Remember that patterns can vary
from culture to culture and country to country. So we arc to Arcturus and we
speed to Spica, and then here is where Leo is, here's where Leo is, and just as a
quick review you can use the Big Dipper to help you find Polaris, which is the
North Star that never moves, and then you can also use the pointer stars to help
you find the Leo, okay. So keep in mind this is a very large portion of the sky
and use this as practice to help you find Virgo. Now that you're familiar with
the pattern of Virgo let's take a look at the bright stars that are situated
within this constellation, and in reality Spica is the only bright star that
stands out in this entire constellation. So we're gonna focus there, Spica is
Latin for "ear of wheat", which is why you often find Virgo depicted holding a
grain of wheat, and this star is not one star but actually two stars that are
situated 260 light years away. So these close binary stars are blue giant stars,
which means they're very large, they're very bright, and they're very hot, and
they orbit each other every four days, and the sizes of them vary. One of the
stars is about 10 times the mass of the Sun, and 7 times the Sun's radius, where
the other star is only 7 times the mass of the Sun and 3.6 times the Sun's
radius. So they're both larger than the Sun, but one is bigger than the other, and
the more massive of the two is likely to explode into a supernova later on in its
life. So this is a very interesting system that we've got going on, that's
very different from our own solar system. So to do a final review on Virgo. Virgo
is best seen during the spring months and it's classified as a zodiacal
constellation, which means that the Sun passes through it at some point during
the year. The best way to find it is to use the handle of the Big Dipper
to arc to Arcturus and speed to Spica. It's not a very bright constellation,
it's pretty dim, there's only that bright star Spica that stands out in the entire
large constellation in the sky, but there are lots of celestial objects to see.
Every red dot on here is some sort of galaxy that is waiting to be observed by
you. So thank you so much for watching! If you have any questions be sure to leave
them in the comments below and remember go outside, keeps observing the Stars, and
share what you have learned with others. We hope to see you back soon, thank you!