Month Best Visible
May
Hemisphere Visible
Northern and Southern
Besides Spica, other bright stars in Virgo include β Virginis (Zavijava), γ Vir (Porrima), δ Virginis (Auva) and ε Virginis (Vindemiatrix). The star 70 Virginis has one of the first known extrasolar planetary systems with one confirmed planet 7.5 times the mass of Jupiter.
The Greeks and Romans associated Virgo with their goddess of wheat, Demeter-Ceres who is the mother of Proserpina-Persephone. Alternatively, she was sometimes identified as the virgin goddess Iustitia or Astraea, holding the scales of justice in her hand as the constellation Libra.
