Star profile
Rho Virginis
Variable starWhat is Rho Virginis
It belongs to the rare family of Lambda Boötis stars: a hot white whose atmosphere shows an anomalous shortfall of iron and other metals — barely a tenth of what the Sun carries. At 118 light-years away in Virgo, it also counts among the Delta Scuti pulsators, with faint oscillations no greater than a hundredth of a magnitude every few hours. A disc of dust, or an interstellar cloud being traversed, explains the gentle infrared excess it radiates.
Where it is and when to see it
Rho 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 49° above the horizon.
- From New York it culminates about 60° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 46° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere north of 80° S.
It ranks no. 28 in brightness among the 99 stars of Virgo in our catalogue. To find it, start from Spica, the brightest: it lies about 24° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 120 years ago.
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Astronomical data for Rho Virginis
- Constellation
- Virgo
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.88
- Distance
- 118.3 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 190.471° · Dec 10.236°
- Catalogue
- HIP 61960 · HD 110411
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Other stars in Virgo
Virgo has 99 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- SpicaAlpha Virginis0.98
- PorrimaGamma Virginis2.74
- VindemiatrixEpsilon Virginis2.85
- Sigma Virginis4.78
- ElgafarPhi Virginis4.81
- Xi Virginis4.84
- 78 Virginis4.92
- HIP 692694.93