RA 201.2982° · Dec -11.1613° · star
16 more points to reach Anomaly.
Spica is an epic variable star. It lies about 249.7 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Vir, shines at apparent magnitude 0.98 and has spectral type B1V.
Its spectrum reads B1V — a blue-white B-type star, with a surface tens of thousands of degrees hot and a life measured in tens of millions of years.
Look for Spica in the constellation Vir. At apparent magnitude 0.98, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.
Like any astronomical target, Spica is best seen from a dark site away from city lights, and when it is above the horizon depends on your latitude and the time of year. The visibility panel above works out tonight's viewing window for your saved location.
Spica scores 62 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the epic tier. Another 16 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 10 science badges — Variable star, Brilliant (mag < 1), Has a proper name, On the zodiac, Hot blue B-type star, Main-sequence star, Blue-white star and Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2) — each earned for a real, measurable property of the object. Rarity on Spacedle is never random: the more remarkable an object's astrophysics, the more badges it collects, the higher it scores, and the rarer it ranks.