Star profile

4 Virginis

3D likeness based on its real data · class A · ~8,500 K

What is 4 Virginis

4 Virginis opens Flamsteed's count for the Virgin, a white A-type star about 193 light-years away. Its light left around 1833, when European astronomers were measuring stellar parallaxes for the first time and beginning to calibrate the scale of the cosmos. In the largest zodiacal constellation, this small white light stands as a first marker on the edge of an almost infinite field.

Where it is and when to see it

4 Virginis lies in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is March, when it culminates around midnight.

From London it culminates about 47° above the horizon.
From New York it culminates about 58° above the horizon.
From Sydney it culminates about 48° above the horizon.

It can be seen from anywhere north of 82° S.

It ranks no. 47 in brightness among the 99 stars of Virgo in our catalogue. To find it, start from Spica, the brightest: it lies about 31° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).

The light you see today left it about 190 years ago.

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Astronomical data for 4 Virginis

Constellation: Virgo
Apparent magnitude: 5.31
Distance: 193.0 light years
Coordinates (J2000): RA 176.979° · Dec 8.246°
Catalogue: HIP 57562 · HD 102510

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Other stars in Virgo

Virgo has 99 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.

See all 99 stars in Virgo