Spica
HR 5056 · HIP 65474 · α Vir
👁️ Naked-eye
📋 A written introduction is coming — for now this page shows official values only.
Star
- Apparent magnitude
- 0.97 mag
- Parallax
- 13.06 mas → about 249.7 light-years away
- Spectral type
- B1V
- Right ascension
- 201.2982°
- Declination
- -11.1613°
- Designation
- HR 5056
- Bayer designation
- α Vir
- HIP number
- 65474
- IAU name adopted
- 2016-06-30
- Name language
- Latin
- Name origin (IAU)
- Its ancient Roman name meaning "the Ear of Grain", after the star's Greek name στάχυς of identical meaning (in turn having obvious origins among the Babylonians and Sumerians). Reapplied in Early Modern times.
Source:IAU Working Group on Star Names · checked 2026-11-02 ↗ESA Hipparcos Catalogue (ESA Gaia Archive) · checked 2026-11-03 ↗
Related
Constellation
In everyday life
- Light from this object takes about 250 years to reach Earth — the light you see tonight left around AD 1776 (official distance ÷ speed of light).
- At magnitude 1 it is bright enough for the naked eye (limit about 6) — look from somewhere dark.
- Declination -11.2° — it rises above the horizon in Seoul (37.6° N), so it is visible from Korea in the right season.