Star profile

Pi Virginis

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

What is Pi Virginis

Pi Virginis is a binary in the zodiacal Virgin, 384 light-years away: two components orbiting each other every 283 days without resolving in any telescope. The primary is a rare metallic-lined Am star, white and hot at around eight thousand degrees, twice the Sun's mass and sixty-eight times its light. The companion, nearly half as massive, completes a pair invisible to the eye and perceptible only through the dance of its spectrum.

Where it is and when to see it

Pi 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 45° above the horizon.
From New York it culminates about 56° above the horizon.
From Sydney it culminates about 49° above the horizon.

It can be seen from anywhere north of 83° S.

It ranks no. 19 in brightness among the 99 stars of Virgo in our catalogue. To find it, start from Spica, the brightest: it lies about 27° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).

The light you see today left it about 380 years ago.

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Astronomical data for Pi Virginis

Constellation: Virgo
Apparent magnitude: 4.65
Distance: 384.2 light years
Coordinates (J2000): RA 180.218° · Dec 6.614°
Catalogue: HIP 58590 · HD 104321

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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