Vindemiatrix (Epsilon Virginis)
Vindemiatrix (Epsilon Virginis) is a star in the constellation Virgo, magnitude 2.8.
The grape-harvester — a yellow giant whose dawn rising once called the vintage.
Vindemiatrix means “the grape-harvestress”. The ancient Greeks called the star Protrygeter, and its first appearance in the dawn sky was taken as the signal to start picking grapes. The name came down to us through Latin, with medieval variants such as Provindemiator and Protrigetrix.
Today it is a yellow giant of 2.7 times the Sun’s mass, about 700 million years old. It has used up its core hydrogen and settled into what astronomers call the red clump: helium fuses into carbon at its centre, wrapped in a shell where hydrogen still burns. It has grown to 12 times the Sun’s width and shines 82 times as brightly.
Since 1943 its spectrum has been one of the fixed anchor points that astronomers use to sort other stars by type.
Vindemiatrix (Epsilon Virginis) is 110 light-years away: the light we see from it set off around 1915, 8 years before Edwin Hubble showed that other galaxies exist.
Did you know?
- Part of the Barker. With Zavijava, Porrima, Zaniah and Minelauva, Vindemiatrix formed the Arabic star group Al-ʽAwwāʼ, “the Barker”.
- The Second Eastern General. In Chinese astronomy it is the fourth star of the Left Wall of the Supreme Palace Enclosure, representing the Second Eastern General.
A yellow star of magnitude 2.8 in the north of Virgo, about 13 degrees north-north-east of Porrima. It is a popular jumping-off point for star-hopping west into the rich field of the Virgo galaxy cluster.
When and where to see it
It is best placed in the evening sky around May, when it crosses the meridian at about 10 pm local time (around midnight in April). It can be seen from everywhere north of 79°S and never sets north of 79°N.
At its highest it stands 51° up from 50°N, 66° up from 35°N, 79° up from the equator, 44° up from 35°S.
Facts
- Type
- Star
- Constellation
- Virgo
- Designations
- Epsilon Virginis, ε Vir, 47 Vir, HR 4932, HD 113226, HIP 63608
- Magnitude
- 2.8
- Position
- RA 13h 2.2m, Dec +10° 58′ (J2000)
- Spectral type
- G8III-IIIb
- Colour
- orange (B−V 0.92)
- Distance
- 110 light-years
- Discovered
- Known since antiquity
Open AstroPilot to see when Vindemiatrix (Epsilon Virginis) is highest tonight from your location, how easy it is with your telescope or binoculars, and an eyepiece view.