Archive
05/26/11 – Ephemeris – The bright star Spica
Thursday, May 26th. Today the sun will be up for 15 hours and 10 minutes, setting at 9:14. The moon, 2 days past last quarter, will rise at 3:04 tomorrow morning. Tomorrow the sun will rise at 6:03.
The bright star below and left of the planet Saturn these evenings is the 15th brightest night time star in the sky, called Spica. I’ve found that some pronounce it “Speeka”. Either is correct. It is the stalk of wheat the constellation Virgo is holding. Spica is actually two stars in a tight 4 day orbit of each other. They are both reasonably matched in mass and brightness. Astronomers give it a spectral type B which is a slightly blue star. I found out that once photographing a lunar eclipse near Spica, The star came out very blue. The twin stars of Spica are 260 light years away. I’m glad the stars are young now. They will have a very interesting future as they age and interact in the next few million years.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Follow the Spike to Spica, 5/26/2011
Note the unlables Saturn near Spics. The cross near the handle of the Big Dipper ro tail of Ursa major is the zenith at 11 p.m.
05/19/11 – Ephemeris – The bright star Spica
Thursday, May 19th. Today the sun will be up for 14 hours and 57 minutes, setting at 9:07. The moon, 2 days past full, will rise at 11:47 this evening. Tomorrow the sun will rise at 6:09.
The large constellation of Virgo the reclining maiden is midway up the sky in the south when it gets dark. Virgo contains mostly faint stars in a large area of sky left of and below Leo the lion, but it has a few bright stars. Virgo’s brightest star Spica, can be found from the handle of the Big Dipper, overhead, following the arc to the star Arcturus, and straightening to a spike to Spica, the 16th brightest night time star. The planet Saturn is above and right of it. Spica is supposed to be a stalk of wheat held in Virgo’s hands. The star and Virgo itself were symbols of a bountiful harvest. The sun used to be in Virgo at the end of summer. In Egypt it was the goddess Isis, and at least one ancient temple was oriented to Spica’s setting point.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Virgo and Spica in the evening this month
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 