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Concept
Spica
Summary
Spica is the brightest object in the constellation of Virgo and one of the 20 brightest stars in the night sky. It has the Bayer designation α Virginis, which is Latinised to Alpha Virginis and abbreviated Alpha Vir or α Vir. Analysis of its parallax shows that it is located 250 light-years from the Sun. It is a spectroscopic binary star and rotating ellipsoidal variable; a system whose two stars are so close together they are egg-shaped rather than spherical, and can only be separated by their spectra. The primary is a blue giant and a variable star of the Beta Cephei type.
Spica, along with Arcturus and Denebola—or Regulus, depending on the source—forms the Spring Triangle asterism, and, by extension, is also part of the Great Diamond together with the star Cor Caroli.
In 2016, the International Astronomical Union organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN's first bulletin of July 2016 included a table of the first two batches of names approved by the WGSN; which included Spica for this star. It is now so entered in the IAU Catalog of Star Names. The name is derived from the Latin spīca virginis "the virgin's ear of [wheat] grain". It was also anglicized as Virgin's Spike.
α Virginis (Latinised to Alpha Virginis) is the system's Bayer designation. Johann Bayer cited the name Arista.
Other traditional names are Azimech 'æzImEk, from Arabic السماك الأعزل al-simāk al-ʼaʽzal 'the unarmed simāk (of unknown meaning, cf. Eta Boötis); Alarph, Arabic for 'the grape-gatherer' or 'gleaner', and Sumbalet (Sombalet, Sembalet and variants), from Arabic سنبلة sunbulah "ear of grain".
In Chinese, 角宿 (Jiǎo Xiù), meaning Horn (asterism), refers to an asterism consisting of Spica and ζ Virginis. Consequently, the Chinese name for Spica is 角宿一 (Jiǎo Sù yī, the First Star of Horn).
In Hindu astronomy, Spica corresponds to the Nakshatra Chitrā.
As one of the nearest massive binary star systems to the Sun, Spica has been the subject of many observational studies.
Official source
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