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, when it culminates around midnight.
- From London it culminates about 42° above the horizon.
- From New York it culminates about 53° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 52° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere north of 86° S.
It ranks no. 29 in brightness among the 99 stars of Virgo in our catalogue. To find it, start from Spica, the brightest: it lies about 15° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 180 years ago.
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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
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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
- ElgafarPhi Virginis4.81
- Xi Virginis4.84
- Rho Virginis4.88
- HIP 692694.93
- 89 Virginis4.96