Star profile
78 Virginis
Variable starWhat is 78 Virginis
78 Virginis holds a quiet place in astronomical history: in 1947 Horace Babcock detected in it the first magnetic field ever measured on a star other than the Sun. It is a chemically peculiar Ap star, threaded by a global magnetic dipole of about 3.3 kilogauss and laced with strontium and chromium at the surface. Its brightness wavers gently every 3.7 days as it turns its magnetic patches towards us, 185 light-years off.
Where it is and when to see it
78 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 78 Virginis
- Constellation
- Virgo
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.92
- Distance
- 184.8 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 203.533° · Dec 3.659°
- Catalogue
- HIP 66200 · HD 118022
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
- ElgafarPhi Virginis4.81
- Xi Virginis4.84
- Rho Virginis4.88
- HIP 692694.93
- 89 Virginis4.96