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48 free Virgo trivia questions with answers — science & nature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Virgo trivia quiz covers the sixth sign of the zodiac from every side. The astrology questions ask about the maiden's dates, Mercury rulership, earth element, negative polarity, opposite sign and Hindu equivalent. The astronomy questions turn to the biggest constellation in the zodiac: Spica the ear of grain, the arc-to-Arcturus trick for finding it, the Bowl of Virgo, Vindemiatrix, the equinox point that now sits inside its borders, the thousand-galaxy Virgo Cluster, M87 and the first photograph of a black hole, the Sombrero Galaxy, the first quasar and the first exoplanets. The mythology is rich: Astraea the star-maiden of justice who abandoned Earth, Demeter and Persephone and the pomegranate seeds, the Eleusinian Mysteries, Erigone and her faithful dog, Parthenos and the broken wine jar, the Babylonian Furrow and Frond of Erua, the Egyptian wheat harvest and the medieval Virgin Mary. Difficulty runs from easy to expert and is shown on every question, so the quiz suits a Virgo birthday, a pub quiz or an astronomy club night. Every answer was checked against a reference page and each question carries its citation. Try our Zodiac, Astrology and Planets quizzes next.
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Q 01Gamma Virginis, a celebrated close double star, is known by which proper name?
Porrima
Porrima is Gamma Virginis, a pair of near-twin F-type stars that orbit each other roughly every 169 years; the name comes from a Roman goddess of prophecy.
Q 02Virgo is which sign in the order of the zodiac?
6th
Virgo is the 6th of the twelve signs when counted from Aries; it closes the first half of the zodiac wheel before the second six signs begin.
Q 03Which planet rules Virgo in traditional astrology?
Mercury
Mercury pulls double duty, ruling Gemini as well; some astrologers also count Virgo as Mercury's sign of exaltation.
Q 04Virgo belongs to which classical element?
Earth
Virgo is an Earth sign: each of the four classical elements takes three signs, and Virgo is the middle one of the three earth signs, read as practical and grounded.
Q 05Which sign sits directly opposite Virgo on the zodiac wheel?
Pisces
Pisces lies 180 degrees from Virgo, directly across the zodiac wheel; both are mutable signs, each closing out a season.
Q 06Under the tropical zodiac the Sun is in Virgo between roughly which dates?
August 24 to September 23
Under the tropical zodiac the Sun is in Virgo from about August 24 to September 23, though it only enters the actual constellation Virgo around September 16, some three weeks after the sign begins.
Q 07Which degrees of the zodiac does Virgo span?
150th to 180th
Each sign takes 30 degrees of the 360-degree ecliptic, and Virgo's slice runs from the 150th to 180th degree, counted from the first point of Aries.
Q 08In traditional zodiacal body lore, which part of the body does Virgo rule?
The intestines
Virgo rules the intestines: the medieval 'zodiac man' assigns every sign a body region from head to feet, and Virgo's share is the belly and bowels, the seat of digestion.
Q 09What is Virgo called in Hindu astrology?
Kanya
Kanya also means maiden, and Hindu astrologers class it as an earth sign ruled by Budha, their Mercury.
Q 10Virgo is the largest constellation of the zodiac and the second-largest in the whole sky after which one?
Hydra
Hydra, the water snake, is the only constellation larger than Virgo; Virgo ranks second by area among the 88 constellations and is by far the largest of the twelve on the zodiac.
Q 11How many days does the Sun take to cross the constellation Virgo, longer than any other?
44
The Sun takes 44 days to cross Virgo, from about September 16 to October 30, the longest solar passage through any constellation because Virgo is so wide along the ecliptic.
Q 12Which of these key points on the ecliptic lies within the boundaries of Virgo?
The autumn equinox point
The autumn equinox point, where the Sun crosses the celestial equator heading south each September, has sat inside Virgo for more than two thousand years; precession moves it only one degree per 72 years, so it stays for centuries yet.
Q 13What does the name of Virgo's brightest star mean in Latin?
Ear of grain
Q 21The constellation is famous for containing a huge cluster of what?
Galaxies
The Virgo Cluster is a vast swarm of galaxies near the border with Coma Berenices, the nearest rich cluster to our own Local Group and the gravitational heart of our corner of the universe.
Q 22Approximately how many members does the Virgo Cluster contain?
About 1,300
The Virgo Cluster holds about 1,300 members by the usual count, with some tallies approaching 2,000; a 6-inch telescope can show around 160 of them on a clear night.
Q 23By what older name is the Virgo Supercluster also known?
The Local Supercluster
The star's name is Latin for 'ear of grain', the spike of grain the maiden holds in classical star maps; Ptolemy's Greek name for the star, Stachys, means the same thing.
Q 14Roughly how far away is the Virgo Cluster?
About 54 million light-years
The Virgo Cluster lies about 54 million light-years away, near enough that its brightest members show in small telescopes, and its distance is a key rung of the cosmic distance ladder.
Q 15Roughly how far away is Alpha Virginis, the constellation's brightest star?
250 light-years
Alpha Virginis lies about 250 light-years away; it is a close binary whose two egg-shaped stars distort each other as they orbit in just four days.
Q 16Which ancient astronomer is thought to have discovered precession using data from Alpha Virginis?
Hipparchus
Hipparchus, around 129 BC, compared his measured position of Alpha Virginis with the one Timocharis had recorded a century and a half earlier and found it had shifted about two degrees, revealing precession.
Q 17Along with Arcturus and Denebola, Virgo's brightest star forms which seasonal asterism?
The Spring Triangle
The Spring Triangle links Arcturus, Denebola and Virgo's brightest star across the northern spring sky; adding Cor Caroli turns it into the Great Diamond of Virgo.
Q 18Which planet last passed in front of Alpha Virginis, in 1783, and will next do so in 2197?
Venus
Venus passed in front of Alpha Virginis on 10 November 1783 and is next due to do so in September 2197; lying about two degrees from the ecliptic, the star is covered by the Moon far more often.
Q 19Five of the constellation's brighter stars form an asterism known as what?
The Bowl of Virgo
The Bowl of Virgo is the cup-shaped asterism traced by five of the constellation's brighter stars, among them Gamma and Epsilon Virginis; with Alpha and Theta Virginis added, the figure forms a Y.
Q 20Which proper name belongs to Epsilon Virginis, a yellow giant some 110 light-years away?
Vindemiatrix
Vindemiatrix is Epsilon Virginis, a yellow giant about 110 light-years away; its Latin name means 'grape-gatherer', because its dawn rising once marked the start of the grape harvest.
The Local Supercluster is the older name for the Virgo Supercluster, a grouping some 110 million light-years across whose clusters and groups, our Local Group among them, surround the Virgo Cluster.
Q 24Which galaxy in Virgo hosted the first-ever direct image of a black hole, released in April 2019?
Messier 87
Messier 87, the giant elliptical at the heart of the Virgo Cluster, was the Event Horizon Telescope's target; its April 2019 image showed a bright ring of hot gas around the shadow of the central black hole.
Q 25Roughly how massive is the central black hole imaged by the Event Horizon Telescope in 2019?
About 6.5 billion suns
The Event Horizon Telescope team weighed that black hole at about 6.5 billion suns, more than a thousand times the roughly 4 million of the Milky Way's own central black hole.
Q 26How many globular clusters orbit M87, compared with 150 to 200 for the Milky Way?
Around 15,000
Around 15,000 globular clusters swarm M87 by common estimates, with other counts near 12,000, against a few hundred for the Milky Way; the galaxy also fires a jet some 5,000 light-years long.
Q 27Which nickname belongs to M104, lying about ten degrees west of Virgo's brightest star?
The Sombrero Galaxy
The Sombrero Galaxy, Messier 104, is a nearly edge-on spiral whose bright bulging core and broad disc look like a wide-brimmed Mexican hat; it lies about 30 million light-years away.
Q 28M104's hat-like look comes from a large central bulge and what other feature?
A prominent dust lane
A prominent dust lane rings M104's disc and, seen nearly edge-on, cuts darkly across the glowing bulge like a hat brim; Spitzer infrared images later revealed a halo far larger than expected.
Q 29Virgo contains 3C 273, notable as the first-ever identified example of what?
A quasar
A quasar is the blazing core of a remote galaxy powered by a feeding black hole; 3C 273, identified by Maarten Schmidt in 1963, was the first recognised, and at magnitude 12.9 it is within reach of amateur telescopes.
Q 30Roughly how far away is 3C 273?
2.4 billion light-years
3C 273 lies some 2.4 billion light-years away, at redshift 0.158; even so, a luminosity trillions of times the Sun's keeps it at magnitude 12.9, within reach of a modest telescope.