Virgo is the second largest constellation in the sky (the largest being Hydra), but there is considerable space between its stars. The Sun passes through this constellation from late September through the end of October, which is the time of the Autumn Equinox. Thus, it is Virgo that announces the harvest but, like many other constellations along the Ecliptic, it is not particularly bright and very difficult to locate. Virgo can be seen during Spring and Summer in the Northern Hemisphere and during Autumn and Winter in the Southern Hemisphere. However, nothing of this constellation may be found with the naked eye.

The origin of Virgo as both a mother and virgin can be traced to prehistoric times and it is often associated with birth and new life. By tradition, this is the only female figure counted among the constellations of the Zodiac. She is usually depicted either holding an ear of wheat or carrying the Scales of Libra, the adjoining constellation. Virgo is unique in that it is the only constellation containing all the Bayer stars with no additional superscript letters or numbers...just the Greek alphabet from Alpha to Omega. Since the beginning of recorded history, Virgo has been thought to represent a vast array of deities. In antiquity, she may have been Isis, the Egyptian protectress of both the living and the dead and the principal Mother Goddess, also known as the Goddess of Fertility. In the Sumerian-Chaldean civilizations, she was known as Ishtar or Inanna, which means "Queen of Heaven." The Sumarians in particular perceived her as an ambitious, aggressive and demanding Goddess of Love. In Ancient Rome, she was depicted as Ceres, the Goddess who oversaw the growth of food plants and harvests...especially corn...and to the Greeks, she was Demeter, Goddess of Agriculture. To the Hindus she was Kauni the Maiden, mother of the great God Krishna, and to the Persians she was Khosha which means "Ear of Wheat." In the Assyrian culture, it has been suggested that she may have been Baalita, wife of the God Baal. The Hebrews called this constellation Bethulah, meaning "Abundance in Harvest." However, the original Virgo is believed to be the early Babylonian Goddess of Grain named Nidoba.

This contellation's single bright first magnitude star is Spica, derived from the Latin for "ear" of corn. Also known as Alpha Virginus, Spica is a white-blue star which is approximately 300 light years away from the Earth and is located a little above the curve from the seven stars of the Big Dipper. This binary star, sometimes referred to as the "Virgin's Spike," marks the ear of corn held in the left hand of the constellation. Virgo contains over 2,000 galaxies...spirals, barred spirals, lenticulars and ellipticals may also be found within this constellation...due to the fact that this area of the heavens is in the same line of sight as the Virgo cluster of galaxies, the greatest concentration of galaxies in the Earth's region of the universe. The cluster, of which the Milky Way is a distant member, is part of the Local Supercluster, an even larger group of galaxies which are bound together by the invisible forces of gravity. The light which reaches Earth from these galaxies today began its long journey at approximately the same time the dinosaurs became extinct...some sixty million years ago. The brightest of these is known as the Sombrero Galaxy, an edge-on galaxy so called because a dark dust lane cuts along its equator, giving it the appearance of a sombrero hat.

Another object of interest within this constellation is Gamma Virginis, also known as Porrima. The sisters Porrima and Postverta attended Carmenta, the Roman Goddess of Prophecy and Writing, who assisted women in labor and was able to foretell the future of the newborn. Gamma Virginis, Virgo's second brightest object, has a variable yellow light and shines on the waist of the Virgin. It is a splendid double star consisting of two stars each. Locked together in an endless revolving circle, these stars orbit around their center of gravity. Theta Virginis is a white star with two companions, both rather faint, and Phi Virginis is a fixed binary. Three meteor showers seem to have their origin from this constellation: (1) the Eta Virginids; (2) the Theta Viginids; and (3) the Pi Virginids. However, none of these meteor showers, whose durations occur from the end of February through mid-April, are particularly strong. The brightest known quasar, Virginis, may also be found within this constellation. Three billion light years from Earth, it is the most distant object likely to be seen by amateur astronomers through their telescopes.

A large Equatorial constellation located between Leo the Lion and Libra the Scales, Virgo is also bordered by Crater the Cup, Corvus the Crow, Hydra the Sea-Serpent, Bootes the Herdsman and Coma Berenices the Hair of Berenice.