Stars · Star
A star whose effective temperature has been measured as about 24,800 K. Explore its views, where their colours came from, and palettes you can use.
Featured palette: Calculated blackbody colour at 24,800 K (Calculated from this model)
#A6BEFF
#A6BEFFAbout Spica
A star whose effective temperature has been measured as about 24,800 K.
| Classification | Star |
|---|---|
| Identifiers | α Virginis |
| Spectral type | B1Vspectral type (SIMBAD * alf Vir; ref 1953ApJ...117..313J) · CDS, Strasbourg |
| Effective temperature | 24,800 Keffective temperature (photosphere) · arXiv |
| Distance | 250 light-years ± 13 light-yearsdistance from parallax 13.06 ± 0.7 mas (SIMBAD; ref 2007A&A...474..653V) · CDS, Strasbourg |
Why these colours?
Calculated blackbody colour at 24,800 K
The colour a perfect blackbody at 24,800 K would have, calculated with the CIE 1931 2° observer and shown as chromaticity only, so the brightest channel is full. A real star’s spectrum has absorption lines and is not a perfect blackbody, so this is a model, not a photograph. The temperature is a mean for a rapidly rotating, gravity-darkened star in one model.
From: Calculated blackbody colour at 24,800 K Calculated visible-colour model
Colour clusters describe pixels in an image; they cannot identify a mineral, a gas or a physical temperature. Shares of pixels describe the sampled region of the image, not the object’s surface.
Colours from selected views
Palettes sampled from identified images and regions, or calculated from a documented model. These values describe each image or model, not one permanent colour of Spica.
Calculated blackbody colour at 24,800 K
Calculated from this model · Calculated blackbody colour at 24,800 K
#A6BEFFRGB 166, 190, 255region average
See where these colours came from
Creative palettes inspired by Spica
A design derived from the selected representation. It is not a scientific colour measurement. Each colour keeps the sampled colour it was made from.
Inspired by Spica
Inspired by this object
#38466CRGB 56, 70, 108from #A6BEFF#778DCARGB 119, 141, 202from #A6BEFF#D1DEFERGB 209, 222, 254from #A6BEFF
Colours of the first view of Spica with their lightness spread evenly, for a design palette.
Explore the views and the 3D model
Pick a colour from the image. Click or tap the picture to read a colour. Picked colours are yours, not catalogue samples.
Schematic sphere A plain sphere tinted with the anchor colour of the named view; it shows no surface detail and no measured shape. Objects are enlarged or scaled for inspection unless stated otherwise.
Use these colours
Every palette above opens in the palette generator. With JavaScript you can also add colours to your cosmic palette, save them, make a gradient or pattern, preview them in a design or a room (you choose which colour goes on which surface), check digital accessibility and export them. Each colour keeps the view and sample it came from.
Paint matches compare digital swatches for design inspiration. They are not physical equivalents of light from space. Edits create a new design palette. The original representation remains unchanged.
Sources
- Modeling the Hα emission surrounding Spica using the Lyman continuum from a gravity-darkened central star (2021) — arXiv
- Stars in an Exoplanet World — NASA
- CIE 1931 2° colour-matching functions (CIE 018:2019, Table 6) — CIE
- SIMBAD astronomical database — CDS, Strasbourg
Image credits
Images were resized once for the web; colours were measured from the published files (k-means in OKLab, pcke-oklab-kmeans-1); calculated colours use the CIE 1931 2° observer. Facts last reviewed 25 October 2026. Catalogue pcke-cosmos-2026-10-25, page revision d27528022319. No ESA, ESO or NASA endorsement is implied.