The constellation of Virgo, the Maiden // E. Slawik, NOIRLab, NSF, AURA, and M. Zamani
Click below to read some history about Virgo and some of the named stars in the constellation! There's also an annotated image!
Virgo, the Maiden, is one of the original 48 constellations listed by Greek astronomer Ptolemy. It is the second-largest constellation on the sky and the largest zodiac constellation. Early myths associated Virgo with a wheat goddess, such as the Babylonian goddess Shala and the Greek goddess Demeter. Later myths associated her with a virgin or the goddess of justice, Dike, with her scales of justice (Libra) nearby.
In order of brightness, the named stars are:
Spica (α Virginis) a binary system about 250 light years away. Its name comes from the Latin phrase spīca virginis meaning "the virgin's ear of grain." This is a holdover from when Virgo was seen as a goddess of wheat.
Porrima (γ Virginis) is a binary star system about 38 light years away. The name comes from Roman mythology: Porrima was one of the goddesses of prophecy. She was also a protector against the dangers of childbirth.
Vindemiatrix (ε Virginis) is a solitary yellow giant star about 110 light years away. Its name comes from the Latin word vindēmiātrix meaning "the grape-harvestress."
Heze (ζ Virginis) is a binary star system about 74 light years away. It was given its name in the 1951 book, Atlas Coeli, by Czech astronomer Antonín Bečvář. However, we don't know what it means.
Minelauva (δ Virginis) is a solitary red giant star about 198 light years away. It comes from the Arabic phrase min al-ʽawwāʼ meaning "in the lunar mansion of 'awwa", although we don't know what 'awwa means.
Zavijava (β Virginis) is a solitary yellow-white star about 36 light years away. Its name comes from the Arabic phrase zāwiyat al-cawwa’ meaning "corner of the barking [dog]."
Zaniah (η Virginis) is a triple star system about 246 light years away. Its name comes from the Arabic word zāwiyah meaning "corner."
Syrma (ι Virginis) is a binary star system about 72 light years away. Its name comes from the Arabic word sirmā referring to a "train [of a garment]."
Kang (κ Virginis) is a solitary orange giant star about 255 light years away. Its name comes from the Chinese words Kàng Sù (亢宿) meaning "neck."
Khambalia (λ Virginis) is a binary star system about 173 light years away. Its name comes from the Greek word gampsotês meaning "crookedness."
Apamvatsa (74 Virginis) is a solitary red giant star about 400 light years away. Its name comes from Indian astronomy, the word Āpaṃvatsa meaning "calf of the waters."
Elgafar (φ Virginis) is a binary star system about 118 light years away. The name comes from the Arabic word al-ghafr of unknown meaning.
Finally, Lich (PSR B1257+12) is a pulsar with a planetary system! the name was decided by a planetarium in Italy, giving the name Lich to the pulsar, an undead creature. Meanwhile, its three planets were given the names Draugr, Poltergeist, and Phobetor, supernatural beings in Norse, German, and Greek mythology, respectively.
sorry for being obsessed with the monster of my own creation. as if that’s my fault.
[image description: a digital drawing of my oc, zavijava solidago. he’s a brown skinned man with long, layered grey hair. he’s wearing a golden robe that exposes his chest and one shoulder, and is covered in jewelry. in the second drawing, he’s bleeding from the throat, nose and mouth. end id]
He liked feeling the feeling of wind in his hair, he liked the smell of his best friend’s hair, he liked to watch the sunrise, he liked the taste of fresh baked bread. He liked being alive, and he liked living.
And, most of all, he liked his little brother.
Acamar was special.
Zavi had always said it, always sworn by it. Acamar was special, Acamar was going to change things, was going to bring something new to the Solidago name that wasn’t just old musty money and marriages of duty. He was going to change things.
Peter was dubious, in that adorable way he always was.
“I don’t know what you expect that kid to do,” He said, leaning against the big willow tree by the lake on Solidago family grounds, not looking down at his friend’s head where it sat in his lap as he wound Zavijava’s hair into braids and circlets, graceful fingers adding flowers as he went. Zavijava didn’t have to worry about his hair getting tangled, he knew, he never had, not with Peter. “He’s not- I don’t know, I don’t know if he can do it.”
“Hey,” Zavijava said, catching his hands in his own. Finally, Peter’s eyes came down to land on his. “Hey it’s not like that. It’s not- I don’t want anything from him, I just think… I think he’s going to do something big whether we want him to or not.”
“What like- like kill somebody?” Peter giggled, leaning down to kiss the little bump on Zavi’s nose bridge. “Not really the best prediction, huh?”
“No, no, nothing like that!” Zavijava laughed, turning his head to escape his friend’s lips. “Ah, gross, get offa me. I mean, he’s going to do something regardless of expectations is all. It’s a good thing.”
“Mm. A good thing,” Peter hummed, looking up at the leaves above them. “I don’t know…”
“Watch,” Zavijava said, sincerely and seriously as anything. “He’s going to be big someday.”
“Mmm.”
A crash came from the house, followed by the familiar high pitched scream of Zavijava’s mother, and he sighed. “Today, though, he’s very small, and in very big trouble.”
“Do you want me to drop by tonight?”
“You can drop by anytime, baby,” Zavi wiggled his eyebrows, and Peter puffed out his cheeks at him, deft fingers easily tying two braids together in a tight knot. “Oh, come on, Petey, that’s not fair.”
Peter chuckled, pinching his cheeks and leaning in to kiss him again. “Go save your brother, loverboy.”
Zavijava chuckled, standing up, running his fingers through his hair until he got all the braids and knots out, pinching one of the flowers between his fingers and smiling as he jogged up the stairs to the house.
Acamar had apparently been playing with his new wooden toy eagle that actually flew when thrown, and had thrown it through one of the big windows out back.
Of course, their mother sent him to bed without dinner.
Something about how he stood there after, though, staring after her, haunted Zavijava for the rest of his life- the way he didn’t blink, staring at the back of her head as if he was imagining it bashed open.
Zavijava didn’t like it.
Acamar was a good kid- one of the best kids Zavijava knew. He liked music, and art, and would put on sock puppet shows for Peter and Zavi sometimes. He wasn’t violent- the sight of a dead bird in the garden made him cry for hours on end once. This was unlike him.
This wasn’t the kid he knew.
Although, he thought, tentatively, worriedly, the last couple weeks, Acamar had been acting… oddly.
“Amma,” He called to his mother, Tadmor, who paused at the foot of the stairs. “I… do you have a moment?”
“Depends,” She sneered. “What asinine question are you going to pose to me?”
“Have you noticed that Acamar’s been a bit… snappish, recently?”
“Mmm. I assume it’s the influence of those girls he’s been hanging out with- the Helleborus brats.”
“He hasn’t… he hasn’t been hanging out with them, they’ve been bullying him.”
“Then that may be it,” Tadmor shrugged absently. “It’s none of my concern.”
“It should be,” Zavijava muttered. “It’s your son.”
“What was that?”
“Peter and I are leaving. Soon. And we’re taking Acamar with us,” Zavijava said, instead, raising his chin. “So if you want to say goodbye-”
“God,” Tadmor rolled her eyes. “Always so dramatic. You’ve threatened to leave before-”
“-Amma,” A soft voice came from the top of the stairs. “What’s going on.”
“Your brother is saying he and his little boyfriend are leaving,” Tadmor said, turning to Deneb, who sat at the top, face blank as always. “Empty threats as always-”
“We’ll leave tonight, just you watch-”
“Fine,” She scoffed. “Good.”
He watched her ghost her way up the stairs, gently taking Deneb’s elbow in her own, leading xem away.
With a low groan, Zavijava rubbed his eyes, pressing his thumbs into the soft skin below his eyeballs, before jogging up the stairs after her and slipping into his bedroom.
He waited until the rest of the house had gone to bed, before sneaking down the hallway to Acamar’s room, and knocking.
“Ac?”
There was a snuffling sound, then an animalistic whimpering, and then, Acamar’s tiny, pained voice, said, “What?”
“Are… are you okay?”
“Mmph,” Acamar’s footsteps hit the floor, padding across the room. “What?”
“You’ve been… I don’t know, acting weird. It’s scaring me,” Zavijava whispered, pressing his forehead against the door. “And…”
The lock clicked.
He paused, staring at the doorknob.
The door hadn’t opened, Acamar hadn’t spoken, his footsteps hadn’t left the door. But it was unlocked now.
“I… I was thinking we could leave,” He said, finally, opening the door slowly. “Tonight, even. Peter’s on his way-”
“I’m so hungry.”
“I-” Zavi squinted at the darkness. He couldn’t make anything out- not Acamar, not the furniture, not the window. “Okay? I can grab some food for you from the kitchens-”
“Not for that,” Acamar whined. “I want warm meat…”
“I can… I can cook you something-” Tiny hands grabbed the back of Zavijava’s sweater, shoving him to the floor. He yelped, catching himself on the heels of his hands. His palms stung from where he landed, wincing as he felt Acamar lean his whole weight onto his back, his ribcage creaking. “Ac-”
“I want warm meat-” Acamar hissed into his ear, and when Zavijava twisted his neck, he saw a glimpse of sharp, sharp teeth. “And you smell like it.”
Easily- too easily- Acamar flipped Zavijava over, one hand covering his nose and mouth. Something was wrong with his face. It was too thin, his eyes too light, his teeth too long.
“Ac,” Zavijava muttered through his hand. “Ac, what-”
And then Acamar reared back, and dove forward, and he bit him.
It wasn’t just a bite- it was a ripping, tearing mouthful of meat, and Zavijava was suddenly breathing through the massive hole in his neck, rather than his nose.
He was awake nearly the whole time.
That was something that wouldn’t get told later on, something that people wouldn’t repeat. He was awake nearly the whole time as his baby brother, the one he said would change the world, ripped him apart, chewed him up, spat out the bits he couldn’t eat.
He must have passed out at some point, though, because when he blinked, Acamar was gone and his head was in someone’s lap.
“You’re okay,” Peter said, and they were back under the willow tree. “You’re okay.”
Zavijava gazed up at him, and laughed, incredulously. “Petey, hey.”
“Hey,” Peter said, and he was crying, hard, so hard that he could barely speak. “Hey, no, don’t try to speak.”
“Why?”
“I can’t understand you.”
“What do you mean,” Zavijava said, but his vocal chords had been taken in the first bite. “I need to say goodbye.”
“Come on, you’re going to be okay.”
Zavi lifted a hand, placing it on Peter’s face. His vision was fading, but he wasn’t under the tree anymore, he knew that. “Hey. Goodbye.”
“Hey,” Peter gasped, sobbing. Zavijava could feel his tears on his face. “Hey, no, come on, Zavi, come on, I love you, I love you-”
And then Zavijava stood behind him, staring at the back of his head.
He blinked, looking around.
Acamar was still in the room apparently, laying in a pool of blood that seemed to come from his head. A broken vase sat beside him, seemingly tossed to the side by a desperate Peter.
A desperate Peter who was hunched over his dead body.
“Hey,” He choked out. “Petey.”
Peter didn’t look up.
He buried his body in the garden, under the willow tree.
Acamar came out at one point, limping, his speech slurred, his face covered in blood and vomit, sobbing and crying, but Peter hit him with the shovel until he retreated. Zavijava watched him go, silently, stupidly. He knew he could follow him- should follow him, even, but he didn’t.
He didn’t want to leave Peter.
When the sun rose again, as it did every morning, Zavi lost himself.
He became one with the rays, became part of the golden light, became love itself.
But the sun didn’t leave Peter.
Once or twice, it tried to find Acamar, but he was apparently good enough at hiding from the sun that it stood no chance. It wasn’t sure if it was guilt, or if Acamar somehow knew what had become of Zavijava’s soul, if he knew he was looking for him. It didn’t matter.
The sun knew a lot.
It knew the truth about Zavijava’s “Petey,” knew his family tree, knew he was a liar. It knew his true name. It knew about his secret immortality.
And so, it searched, and it waited.
Not even immortality could outlive the sun, after all.
[image description: a comic with two pages. the first page is split into six panels, while the second is a full page drawing. in the first page, walt and bryce are talking. walt says "i mean, if you got to come back, why didn't he?" bryce stares at him for a panel before sighing and looking away. walt says "no, sorry, i didn't mean-" but bryce cuts him off and says "yes you did. it's fine." in the second page, walt and zavijava embrace, their faces close as if they're going to kiss. the words at the bottom read "you really loved him, didn't you?" end id]
some silly goofy zavi doodles because i realised i didn't have a real design for him [image description: a digital drawing of zavijava solidago. he's a brown skinned man man with long grey hair. a sun tattoo is visible on one shoulder. he's wearing a skimpy red mean girls santas dress, a santa hat, tall leather boots, sunglasses and long gloves. he's standing with one hand on his him, smirking confidently. end id] [image description 2: an uncolored digital drawing of zavijava solidago and walt kent. walt is a teen boy with a short wavy muller. they have an arm around zavijava, who is sitting, and are leaning in. both are smiling mischeiviously. end id]
[image description: a digital drawing of zavijava and acamar solidago. zavijava is a young man with brown skin and dark grey hair. he's wearing a blue top and dark pants. he's wearing a lot of jewelry. he's holding acamar's hand and smiling gently. acamar is a 7 year old child with cream colored hair. it's wearing a purple sweater and lavender skirt and looks nervous. end id]
