Star profile
Sigma Virginis
Cool red starWhat is Sigma Virginis
Sigma Virginis is a semi-regular M1 red giant, swollen to 75 times the Sun's radius and radiating over a thousand times its luminosity from a lukewarm 3,890-kelvin surface. At 675 light-years, it breathes through several overlapping periods of 23 to 34 days, a complex respiration that gently dims its reddish light. It glows quietly among the wheat ears of the Maiden, far from Spica's blaze.
Where it is and when to see it
Sigma 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 April: the Sun sits at the opposite point of the sky and the star culminates around midnight. How high it climbs above the horizon depends on the latitude you watch from.
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The signature wall
Stelvia's sky works like a signature wall: anyone can leave their name and a message on a real star, and that signature goes up on the map for everyone to read. Signing is free.
A signature without a lock can be replaced by someone else's. The lock makes the signature permanent and lets you choose a symbolic name for the star, always shown next to the star's catalogue identifier. How the lock works
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A public signature from a real person. The chosen name is a symbolic denomination within Stelvia, with no official standing or IAU recognition: the sky is not for sale and belongs to no one.
Astronomical data for Sigma Virginis
- Constellation
- Virgo
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.78
- Distance
- 675.4 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 199.401° · Dec 5.470°
- Catalogue
- HIP 64852 · HD 115521
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
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
- 61 Virginis4.74
- 69 Virginis4.76
- Psi Virginis4.77
- ElgafarPhi Virginis4.81
- Xi Virginis4.84