Valerie Grzyb, age 12, of Portland, Maine, for her question:

Where is the constellation Virgo?

Virgo, the Virgin, is one of the constellations of the Zodiac. It is one of a circle of 12 starry constellations that parade across our night skies with the changing seasons. Before long; it will be time to start looking, for Virgo appears in our spring skies. First place the Zodiac path across the sky, the wide highway traveled by the sun, the moon, and the major planets. Look where it touches the eastern horizon and wait for Virgo to rise.

You can identify the sprawling constellation from its shape and from a very bright star near its center. The shape is a wide letter Y with an extra tail that loops around and up¬ ward. The bright star is Spica and you can get your bearings by tracing its position from the Big Dipper. Continue the curved handle of the dipper in an arch to a vivid star called Arcturus. From Arcturus make a sharp left turn and continue to a very bright star that will be Spica, right in the middle of the constellation Virgo.