Just in time for summer, I've borrowed someone's copy of Starry Night Pro and dug out the free binoculars that came with some casino trip.
I miss my Redshift 3 College Edition... I mean, it's right here, but it was always so cantankerous. Then again, I was used to it. It took several arguments with SNP to keep it from going into spacecraft mode and flying around the universe.
There's a strip mall across the street with nothing in it but a brightly lit sign letting all midnight traffic on this lonesome road know that space is for lease. Grrr. Light pollution. Gr.
I tried looking for satellites without luck. (Stupid mall sign - not only did the building obscure my mountain view but...) So, I found Jupiter (those bright planets are always comforting) then navigated to the blue baby on the right. Spica!
I haven't forgotten everything I learned in Texas, but it was a lower latitude and I was always looking east, away from the trees and houses in other directions. Now I'm looking west, so all the constellations are flip-flopped. Just imagine when I get to Australia...
Spica is an important star to know because it's so bright. (Really, it could get into any college. Hyuk hyuk.) Okay, not top 10 bright, but really close. Say, 14th brightest. Maybe 16th.
Is it the star Hipparchus used to note equinox precession? Maybe. (Am I just going to restate everything I read in Wikipedia? Perhaps.) Do you know what equinox precession is? Most people don't realize that the sun only rises in true east (or sets in true west) twice a year - the rest of the time it's wobbling all over. Oops, wait, wrong data point. Okay, most people don't know that the North Star we have today is not the one we've always had. Sometimes we don't even have a star that comes so close to being true north. Good ole Polaris. Yes, the Earth wobbles like a top, so North Stars change. We're just a very wobbly planet.
The name "Spica" comes from words meaning "Virgo's ear of grain." (If you're the rare sort of person who can visualize the constellations as the images for which they're named, think of it as a bit of wheat/corn being held in the maiden's hand.)
Spica is a binary star. Actually, it's probably about four stars. Maybe three. It's also a variable star, which means the amount of light we see coming from it tends to wobble. Do you notice a trend?
Back in the day, which is to say the medieval period, Spica was considered one of the top magic stars. If you know your Agrippa, this shouldn't be news to you. I don't know my Agrippa at all, but I'd swear there is a line in a movie that goes like that. Anyway, if you want to make a talisman to hold the star's powerful hoohah, be sure to use emeralds and sage in your ritual.
Spica is a Class B star, making it very blue and pretty and luminous. (The B does not stand for Blue. You don't want to know what the B stands for. It has to do with a sort of outdated system related to classifying hydrogen lines. Do you want to see my H-R diagram again? )
70 Virginis is Spica's notable neighbour. (Spica is 67 Virginis.) 70 V has a planet. Back in the day, this time meaning ten years ago, there were only nine planets. Remember that? Nine planets. Now we've got all these weird gravity fluctuations we call planets, and our own Pluto is on the outs.
Spica is also near, so to speak, the Sombrero Galaxy. I ask you - who does not love the Sombrero Galaxy?
Spica is 262 light years away. You are never going to get to go there. It's not the kind of star that lives long anyway. Maybe it is already dead.
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