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the zodiac

Virgo

from , ,
to ,

The Sun in front of the constellation
17 September to 31 October 2026
Brightest star
Spica
In astrological tradition
earth sign, mutable sign
Traditional ruler
Mercury
Engraving from 1690: a winged, draped figure lying horizontally, on a grid of coordinates between Libra and Leo.
Johannes Hevelius, Firmamentum Sobiescianum, Gdańsk, 1690, plate of Virgo (detail). As on a celestial globe, the sky is seen from outside, and therefore mirrored.

Astraea, Demeter, Erigone

Greeks and Romans saw several figures here. Astraea, goddess of justice, is said to have left the Earth for the sky after the Silver Age; others recognised Demeter and Persephone.

Another tradition says Dionysus placed Erigone, daughter of Icarius of Athens, and her father in the sky as Virgo and Boötes. Hyginus and Virgil are among the authors who mention it.

The ear of grain and precession

In the MUL.APIN tablets, around the 10th century BC, part of the constellation was called ‘the Furrow’, an image of the goddess Shala and her ear of grain. Spica, Latin for ‘ear of grain’, keeps that memory alive.

Hipparchus discovered the precession of the equinoxes by measuring Spica’s position during lunar eclipses in 146 and 135 BC and comparing it with Timocharis’s records: the star had shifted by about 2 degrees.

The real constellation

At 1,294 square degrees, Virgo is the largest constellation of the zodiac and the second largest in the sky after Hydra. The autumn equinox point lies within it, very close to Beta Virginis.

Spica climbs only to 28 degrees above the Brussels horizon and is highest around 10 pm in early June. In 2026 the Sun stands in front of Virgo from 17 September to 31 October, including this week.

Its stars

Alpha Virginis

Spica

Magnitude 0.97, about 250 light years away. Two hot stars orbiting each other every four days, too close to be split with a telescope.

Galaxy cluster

The Virgo Cluster

It lies 5 to 12 degrees west of Vindemiatrix, Epsilon Virginis.

M87

A galaxy and its black hole

On 10 April 2019 the Event Horizon Telescope released the image of its central black hole, the first direct image of a black hole.

3C 273

The first quasar

The first quasar ever identified, and the brightest in the sky in visible light.

In art and history

Virgo has carried an ear of grain since Babylon, and wings since the atlases.

  • Babylon‘The Furrow’ of the goddess Shala, whose ear of grain became Spica.
  • AntiquityHyginus, Virgil, Diodorus Siculus and Strabo are among the ancient authors who mention the figures of Virgo.
  • Scientific atlasesIn 1690 Hevelius engraved her winged and draped, lying along the ecliptic.

Virgo this week

Read it for pleasure, not for prophecy.

A piece written for fun, based on the real sky of 19 to 25 October 2026. It says nothing about your future.

The Sun stands in front of your stars all week, whatever the papers say about Libra and Scorpio. You were right. As usual, you’ll keep it to yourself.

Spica is hiding in the daylight. Your ear of grain is waiting for next summer; you’re better at waiting than it is.

Sources

Facts checked in the following sources; positions and times computed for Brussels.