What is the absolute magnitude of Spica?

Answer 1

Most of the particularly bright stars have several names; a Chinese name, and Indian name, a polynesian name, and so on. In the Middle East, the Egyptians and Babylonians had their own names, which were interpreted or modified by first the Greeks, then the Romans. The first document that we might call a star catalog was compiled by Claudius Ptolemy, a Greek who lived and worked in Alexandria, Egypt. This book survived the collapse of the Roman Empire, and was translated into Arabic, when it got the name we still use, the "Almagest".

A great number of Greek and Roman books that did not survive the fall of Rome were preserved in the Library of Alexandria in Egypt, and many of these were recopied and carried to other parts of the Persian empire. In the 1300s and 1400s, when the Spanish conquered the Arabic province of Andalusia (which we know as "southern Spain") Spanish and Christian scholars were able to obtain, and retranslate into Latin, much of what we now think of as "Roman" and Greek documents. The Almagest, Ptolemy's star catalog, was among them.

So if you're thinking about a bright or distinctive star, the name probably came from the Greek or Phoenician language, translated into Arabic, and translated back into Latin. In many cases, the name we use today is the Arabic name.

Small or dim stars are generally referred to by a catalog number, or by a Greek letter prefix and the name of the constellation in which it appears. So, "Alpha Orionis" is the brightest star in the constellation Orion. Since it is a bright and distinctive star, it has its own name; "Betelgeuse".

Answer 2

The absolute magnitude of Spica is about +0.91. This value represents the intrinsic brightness of the star, which is the amount of light it would emit if situated at a standard distance of 10 parsecs from Earth.

Answer 3

Its around 2.26 solar radii from pole to pole (where one solar radii is our suns radius) and around 2.78 solar radii across the equator - so its a flattened, squashed sphere or oblate spheroid shape. Vega is a rapidly rotating star. It only takes only 12.5 hours to rotate once, meaning that the star bulges out more at the equator.

Answer 4

All stars are made primarily of hydrogen, with lesser amounts of helium and trace amounts of heavier elements. The precise composition of each star is a little different, depending on the mass and age of the star.

Answer 5

Vega (Alpha Lyrae) is a blue-tinted white main sequence star in the constellation Lyra.

It has a spectral class of A0V

Answer 6

As one of the brightest stars in the night sky, Vega would have been discovered when people first walked on the Earth (Northern Hemisphere only though).

Answer 7

Vega, as with all visible stars, is in the Milky Way Galaxy - Our Galaxy

Answer 8

The star Vega was renamed in the International Star Registry in 2003. The name is now "Ayline Anderson Dearie Duquette".

Answer 9

Most stars contain large amounts of hydrogen, less helium, and small amounts of heavier elements.

Answer 10

Spica (α Vir, α Virginis, Alpha Virginis) is the brightest star in the constellation Virgo.

It has an absolute magnitude of -3.55