Spica, designated α Virginis, is the brightest object in the constellation of Virgo and one of the 20 brightest stars in the night sky. Analysis of its parallax shows that it is located 250 ± 10 light years from the Sun. It is a spectroscopic binary star and rotating ellipsoidal variable; a system whose two stars are so close together they are egg-shaped rather than spherical, and can only be separated by their spectra. The primary is a blue giant and a variable star of the Beta Cephei type.
