Spica (star)

Spica A
Spectral	B1 III-IV
Type	Subgiant
Luminosity	12,100 LSol
Absolute magnitude	−3.5
Mag Terra	1.04 (15th)
Temperature	22,400° K
Mass	10.25 MSol
Radius	7.40 RSol

Spica B
Spectral	B2 V
Type	Main Sequence
Luminosity	1,500 LSol
Absolute magnitude	−1.5
Mag Terra	1.04 (15th)
Temperature	18,500° K
Mass	6.97 MSol
Radius	3.64 RSol

Spica C
Spectral	??
Type
Luminosity	LSol
Absolute magnitude
Temperature	° K

Spica D
Spectral	??
Type
Luminosity	LSol
Absolute magnitude
Temperature	° K

Spica E
Spectral	??
Type
Luminosity	LSol
Absolute magnitude
Temperature	° K

Spica (otherwise known by the alternate names Azimech, Alaraph, and Alpha Virginis) is a binary star system comprised of a blue-white subgiant star of spectral class B1 orbited by a blue-white main sequence companion star of spectral class B2.

Description (Specifications)

Spica lies approximately 260 light years from Terra. It has a luminosity 13,400 L_Sol, and a mass of ~11 M_Sol.

• Spica is the brightest of the rotating ellipsoidal variables, its apparent magnitude varying between +0.92 and +1.04 as Spica B orbits its primary Spica A in a slightly elliptical path over a 4.0145 day period.
• The two stars are separated by 0.12AU.
• Spica is also a variable of the Beta Cephei type.
• Spica is the 15th brightest star as seen from Terra, it is the 52nd brightest star in the galaxy, and one of the brightest in Charted Space.
• Spica is not a significantly large star.
• There is evidence that Spica is in fact multiple, with three other fainter components in addition to Spica A and Spica B.

The Spica star system lies approximately 76.6pc from Terra, and is located in a Coretrailing/Trailing direction from Terra at bearing 316.1^o Galactic Longitude and +50.8^o North Galactic Latitude. It lies close to the center of the Spica Nebula.

History & Background (Dossier)

Though it is in the same local area of space, Spica A and Spica B are NOT the primary stars of the world Spica/Spica (Spica 2205). The primary stars of the world Spica are a binary pair (K4 II / M7 V) that lies very close to the actual location of the binary stars named Spica A and Spica B, which likely lend the world, subsector, and sector their names.

Image Repository

TravellerMap (T5SS):
[1]

References & Contributors (Sources)

This article has metadata.

This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Spica. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. The text of Wikipedia is available under the Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Mongoose Publishing or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• MegaTraveller CD-ROM: Preliminary Traveller Map (Hand-drawn)
• EXTERNAL LINK: SIMBAD @ University of Strasbourg: [2]
• EXTERNAL LINK: STARS (University of Illinois - Prof. Jim Kaler): [3]
• Traveller Wiki Editorial Team
• Author & Contributor: Rimguy
• Author & Contributor: WHULorigan
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science