12 Virgins, a star in Virgo
12 Virgins is a star in the constellation Virgo. At 167 light years away, it shines at an apparent visual magnitude of 5.83.
12 Virgins (HIP 59608)
12 Virgins is a star in the constellation Virgo. At 167 light years away, it shines at an apparent visual magnitude of 5.83. It is moving through the Galaxy at a speed of 22.9 km/s relative to the Sun.
Sky position: RA 12h 13.4m, Dec +10° 15.7'
Common designations: 12 Virgins, 12 Virginis, HR 4650, HD 106251, GJ 3716, HIP 59608, Gaia DR3 3906361133255335296
12 Virgins has the spectral type kA3hF2mF2.
How to find 12 Virgins in the sky
12 Virgins lies in Virgo. With a declination of +10° 15.7', it is visible from the entire Northern Hemisphere and from the Southern Hemisphere down to about latitude 80° S. It is bright enough to see with the naked eye under dark skies. It is highest in the sky at local midnight around April, which makes the weeks around that month the best time to observe it.
Tabulated data for 12 Virgins
Astrometry and spectroscopy
| Right Ascension (J2000) | 183.35808025° (12h 13.4m) |
| Declination (J2000) | 10.26233970° (+10° 15.7') |
| Galactic Longitude | 273.16301883° |
| Galactic Latitude | 70.90412161° |
| Proper motion RA | -93.22 mas/yr |
| Proper motion Dec | -8.35 mas/yr |
| Parallax | 19.49 ± 0.05 mas |
| Spectral Type | kA3hF2mF2 |
| Radial Velocity | 2.30 km/s |
Photometry
| Band | Magnitude | Abs. Mag. |
|---|---|---|
| B | 6.09 | 2.54 |
| V | 5.83 | 2.28 |
| I | 5.61 | 2.06 |
| J | 5.41 | 1.85 |
| H | 5.33 | 1.77 |
| K | 5.24 | 1.69 |
Colour index B-V: +0.27
Derivations
- Heliocentric distance: 51.31 pc (167 light years) (0.3% margin of error)
- Absolute visual magnitude: 2.28
- Transverse velocity: 22.8 km/s
- Space velocity relative to the Sun: 22.9 km/s
- Galactic position (X, Y, Z): 0.9 pc, -16.8 pc, 48.5 pc
- Galactic velocity (U, V, W): -18.7 km/s, -13.1 km/s, -1.8 km/s
Data: Extended Hipparcos Compilation (XHIP) and SIMBAD.