Alpha Virginis is known as Spica: the "ear of wheat" that the goddess is carrying. Spica is a blue-white eclipsing binary with a period of just over four days.
SPICA (Alpha Virginis). Spica, the luminary of Virgo, becomes prominent in the southeast in northern spring evenings, and can easily be found by following the curve of the Big Dipper's handle through Arcturus and then on down.
(sp´k), brightest star in the constellation Virgo; Bayer designation Alpha Virginis; 1992 position R.A. 13h24.8m, Dec. −11°07&minut;. A bluish-white star of spectral class B1 V, its apparent magnitude averages about 0.
The brightest star in Virgo is [8774] Spica ("ear of grain" or "wheat"), alpha Virginis. Spica is the 15th brightest star in the sky. It lies 260 light-years from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 1.04.
Virgo (the Virgin) is usually associated with fertility and is often represented as a young woman holding a sprig of wheat in her left hand (the bright star Spica, alpha Virginis) and a palm leaf in her right.
 See also: Star, Magnitude, Constellation, Period, Light
  
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