Home Page

Valley Skies

Newsletter Home Page

Constellations:
Virgo, the Virgin

Genitive: Virginis
Abb: Vir
Dec: +14.6° to -22.2°
RA:  11hr 35min to 15hr 8m

The next constellation in our trip through the sky is another zodiacal constellation. Virgo rides along the ecliptic with Spica (67 Alpha Virginis) just below the ecliptic.

In my search for mythology this month, I found many different claimants for the title. They include Medusa, Minerva (Roman), Tyche, Isis and Atargatis, the Syrian goddess of fertility... even the Virgin Mary holding Christ during the middle ages in Europe, and Kanya, mother of Krishna in India.

The Greek myth centers around Demeter, the Goddess of the earth, her daughter Persephone and Hades, god of the underworld. Hades at one time came up from his world to see the surface above. While on the surface Aphrodite had her son Eros (Cupid) fire an arrow at Hades in an attempt to enlarge her realm. After being struck by the arrow, Hades saw Persephone picking flowers in a meadow instead of Aphrodite. He fell deeply in love with Persephone and took her to his underground world. Demeter in a rage over the loss of her daughter cast a curse on the Earth making the land barren. and pleaded with Zeus to force the return of their daughter. Zeus agreed so long as Persephone had not eaten anything while underground, but she had eaten seeds from a Pomegranate. Because of this, Zeus ruled that Persephone could reside on the surface for only half of the year and the other half was spent underground with Hades. Demeter agreed and lifted her curse for just the time that Persephone was on the surface. Thus, in spring as Persephone rises from the underworld the earth is fruitful, and in fall, the earth goes barren as she descends back to the underworld.

Exploring in Virgo

To start our hops, first find the Big Dipper. Follow the arch of the handle to Arcturus (Alpha Boötis) and continue the arch down to Spica. Spica marks the bottom of the seven star Y asterism that is in Virgo.

The Y is almost on its side this month and not too hard to find. At the north tip of the Y is a yellow giant star named Vindemiatix (vin-DEE-my-A-trix) - 47 Epsilon Virginis - from here we look back in time. From Vindemiatix move 4 ½° W to M60 (NGC 4649), a giant E1 galaxy. Just to the north in the same field of view is M60's companion an Sc-type galaxy NGC4647 that is very faint. Continue WNW from M60 to M59 (NGC 4621), an E3 galaxy that appears oval with a bright core. About 1° NW of M59 is a barred spiral galaxy, M58 (NGC 4579). M58 is considered to be very close to our galaxy in mass and size, just 41 million l.y. away. Move a ½° SW to the "Siamese Twins," NGC4568 & NGC4567; these Sc galaxies are also known together as VV 219 in the catalogue of interacting galaxies.

Head NNW from the twins about 1½° to M89 (NGC4552); look for a round glowing patch with a bright center. Just over ¾° NE of M89 at the border of Virgo and Coma Berenices is the Sb+ spiral galaxy M90 (NGC 4569); it appears as an elongated oval with a bright core. In pictures it has nice dust lanes in it that may be visible in a large scope.

Move 1° SW from M90 to the giant elliptical galaxy M87 (NGC 4486), this galaxy is huge containing 780 billion solar masses. It is also known as Virgo "A", and has very strong radio and X-ray signals coming from it. My books also talk about it having jets of material spewing from the core as well as numerous globular clusters and a possible black hole, making this a very interesting galaxy. In the same field of view there are five faint galaxies in a semicircle around the western side ranging from 10th to 13th magnitude that you may be able to see.

1° NW of M87 you will find a bright pair of elliptical galaxies in a patch of fainter galaxies. The two are M86 to the north and M84 to the south. M86 is circular with a slightly brighter center. M84 looks a little oval and has a brighter core.

Time to take a short hop outside of the mass of galaxies to relocate. SE of Denebola (tail of Leo) is the star 9 Omicron Virginis (on my planisphere it is located just off the 12h line below +10 Dec.). From here go east 2¼° to a multiple star, then continue 3° more E to a yellowish 6.37- mag. star. From this star, hop ¼° SSE to M49 (NGC 4472). This is another giant elliptical galaxy with a total mass of about one trillion suns. M49 appears oval with a uniform luminosity across most of it.

Hop a little less than 3° SSW to 17 Virginis; this is a wide double star and M61 (NGC 4303) is about a ½° to the south. M61 is a face-on Sc-type spiral galaxy with visible arms and dust lanes.

M104 (The Sombrero galaxy) is actually in Virgo, I found it by a star hop from Corvus. I will describe it in more detail when I write about the constellation of Corvus the Crow. Until then if you get a chance to see it, it is a real nice looking galaxy and high on my list of favorites.

There are around 3,000 known galaxies in the Virgo/Coma Cluster (most of them are visible only photographically). I have covered only 18 of the galaxies just in Virgo, There are many more to find and see. I hope this gives you a good start discovering this huge cluster of galaxies.

Happy Star-Hopping...Eric Reichenbach

Copyrighted © 2000 by Stockton Astronomical Society
Lasted Updated: 11/30/2000
http://www.stocktonastro.org/Newsletter/CON_Virgo.html