Lambda Virginis
star
Lambda Virginis (λ Virginis, abbreviated Lambda Vir, λ Vir) is a binary star system in the zodiac constellation of Virgo. With an apparent visual magnitude of 4.5, it is bright enough to be seen with the naked eye. Based upon parallax measurements, the system is about 173 light-years away from the Sun. Its two components are designated Lambda Virginis A (formally named Khambalia ) and B.
Nomenclature
λ Virginis (Latinised to Lambda Virginis) is the system's Bayer designation. The designations of the two components as Lambda Virginis A and B derives from the convention used by the Washington Multiplicity Catalog (WMC) for multiple star systems, and adopted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU).
The system occurs in the lunar station that was given the name χαμβαλια (khambalia)
in a Coptic manuscript list of lunar stations, which Crum concluded were either in "debased" Greek or in a few cases Coptic equivalents of Greek names. Given that the Greeks are not known to have used lunar stations, the origin of the names is unknown.
Allen's source
translates the name as "the crooked-clawed", and identifies it with the Greek word γαμψωλή gampsôlê, which Liddell & Scott identify as a variant of γαμψότης gampsotês "crookedness, of talons". (Coptic has no /ɡ/ sound, and so often substitutes k for g in Greek words, though not usually kh.)
In 2016, the IAU organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN decided to attribute proper names to individual stars rather than entire multiple systems.
“Lambda Virginis” enters the record as star. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Lambda, Virginis and star can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Lambda Virginis” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Lambda, Virginis and star provides the most credible route into that argument.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q968611. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2016.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Lambda Virginis” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.