Constellations

The Deep Photographic Guide to the
Constellations

The constellation of the month
MAY

Virgo

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Names:

Latin: Virgo (Vir)
English: Virgin Spanish: Virgen
German: Jungfrau French: Vierge

The constellation of Virgo fills the entire image above (see lines). The field of this big constellation even spans a bit further out and does not completely fit into our standard field of view of about 40 x 25 degrees.

In mid of May the above field culminates at about 21:30 LT. The declination of Virgo ranges from -22 to +14 degrees. To find it at the sky you should have a look south of the constellations of Leo and Bootes. Brightest star is Spica (seen at the bottom) with visual magnitude of 1 and bluish spectral type B2.

Virgo is famous for its galaxies. The Virgo-Coma cluster of galaxies is several times larger than our own local group of galaxies. The cluster lies on the border between the constellations Virgo and Coma Berenices. The southern part of it is visible on the upper right of the above image. (See enlargements of deep sky objects.) Further objects for the observer are possible planets, since the ecliptic crosses Virgo. This makes Virgo a sign of the zodiac.

© all photographs taken by Till Credner and Sven Kohle