Sirius is Dog Star and brightest star | Brightest Stars | EarthSky Sirius is Dog Star and brightest star By Deborah Byrd in Brightest Stars | Science Wire | February 10, 2016 Sirius – in the constellation Canis Major the Greater Dog – is the sky’s brightest star. It’s very easy to spot on winter and spring evenings. The star Sirius and the nearby star cluster M41 caught on January 2, 2016 in Weatherly, Pennsylvania. Photo by Tom Wildoner at LeisurelyScientist.com The brightest star visible from any part of Earth is Sirius in the constellation Canis Major the Greater Dog. Sirius is sometimes called the Dog Star. Follow the links below to learn more about Sirius, the Dog Star and brightest star. The Greater Dog looking super cute in this photo Tom Wildoner ! Brightest star is Sirius. Orion’s Belt points to Sirius How to see Sirius. Most people in the Northern Hemisphere notice Sirius in the southeast – south – or southwest on evenings from winter to mid-spring. February evenings are a grand time to see it. It’s also fun to spot Sirius as it ascends in the east before dawn on late summer mornings.

Whenever you see Sirius, you’ll recognize it easily because it is our sky’s brightest star. Although white to blue white in color, Sirius might be called a rainbow star, as it often flickers with many colors. The brightness, twinkling and color changes sometimes prompt first-time observers to report Sirius as a UFO. But these changes have nothing to do with Sirius. Rather, they are what happens when such a bright star as Sirius shines through the blanket of Earth’s atmosphere. The light from Sirius, which often appears fairly low in the sky from the mid-north latitudes, passes through a long column of air before it reaches our eyes. Changes in density and temperature of this air affect the light and cause the flickering and shimmering we see when we gaze at this star. This happens for other stars, too, but it is more noticeable for Sirius because it is so bright, and because it appears low in the sky. From the mid-northern latitudes such as most of the U.S., Sirius rises in the southeast, arcs across the southern sky, and sets in the southwest. In December, you’ll find Sirius rising in mid-evening. By mid-April, Sirius is setting in the southwest in mid-evening.

Sirius is always easy to find. It’s the sky’s brightest star! Plus, anyone familiar with the constellation Orion can simply draw a line through Orion’s Belt, to the left. This line will point to Sirius, which is roughly 8 times as far from the Belt as the Belt is wide. The Egyptian god Osiris History and mythology of Sirius. Sirius is also well known as the Dog Star, because it is the chief star in the constellation Canis Major, the Big Dog. Have you ever heard anyone speak of the dog days of summer? Sirius is behind the sun as seen from Earth in Northern Hemisphere summer. In late summer, it appears in the east before sunrise – near the sun in our sky. The early stargazers might have imagined that the double-whammy of Sirius and the sun caused the hot weather, or dog days. Sirius has been known since ancient times, and its name signified its nature as “scorching” or “sparkling.” It was associated with the Egyptian god Osiris and other gods. Ancient Egyptians noted that Sirius rose just before the sun each year immediately prior to the annual flooding of the Nile River. Although the floods could bring destruction, they also brought new soil and new life.

Fittingly, Osiris, whom Sirius may have represented, was a god of life, death, fertility and rebirth of plant life along the Nile. In India, Sirius is sometimes known as Svana, the dog of Prince Yudhistira. The prince and his four brothers, along with Svana, set out on a long and arduous journey to find the kingdom of heaven. However, one by one the brothers all abandoned the search until only Yudhistira and Svana were left. At long last they came to the gates of heaven. The gatekeeper, Lord Indra, welcomed the prince but denied Svana entrance. Yudhistira was aghast and told Lord Indra that he could not forsake his good and faithful servant and friend. His brothers, Yudhistira told the Lord, had abandoned the journey to heaven to follow their hearts’ desires. But Svana, who had given his heart freely, chose to follow none but Yudhistira. The prince told the Lord that without his dog, he would forsake even heaven. This is what Lord Indra had wanted to hear, and then he welcomed both the prince and the dog through the gates of heaven.

This Hubble Space Telescope image shows Sirius A, the brightest star in our night sky, along with Sirius B, its faint, tiny stellar companion. Sirius B is the faint, tiny dot at the lower left. Sir. Image credit: H. Bond (STScI) and M. Barstow (University of Leicester) Sirius science. Magnitude is a star’s brightness expressed by a number. The smaller the number, the brighter the star. The visual magnitude of Sirius is -1.44, lower than any other star. It is 3.5 times brighter than Arcturus in Bootes, the next brightest star easily visible from the northern hemisphere. There are brighter stars in terms of actual energy and light output, but they are farther away and hence dimmer. Normally, the only objects that outshine Sirius in our heavens are the sun, moon, Venus, Jupiter, Mars and Mercury (and usually Sirius outshines the latter two!). The next brightest star (Canopus) after Sirius, and the closest major star (Alpha Centauri) are both too far south in the sky to be easily seen from mid-north latitudes.

At 8.6 light-years distance, Sirius is one of the nearest stars to us after the sun. (A light year is nearly 6 trillion miles!) In fact it is the nearest star easily visible to the unaided eye from most of the northern hemisphere. Classified by astronomers as an “A” type star, it is much hotter than our sun, with about surface about 17,000 degrees F (the sun is about 10,000 degrees F). With slightly more than twice the mass of the sun and just less than twice its diameter, Sirius still puts out 26 times as much energy. It is considered a normal (main sequence) star, meaning that it produces most of its energy by converting hydrogen into helium through nuclear fusion. Sirius has a small, faint companion star appropriately called The Pup. That name signifies youth, but in fact the companion to Sirius is a dead star called a white dwarf. Once a mighty star, today The Pup is an Earth-sized ember too faint to be seen without a telescope. The position of Sirius is RA: 06h 45m 08.9s, dec:-16° 42′ 58″.

Image Credit: Yuuji Kitahara History of Astrology: Canis Major History of Astrology Monday, September 11, 2006 | Posted by Karima Lachtane | | | Edit Post From my Book 'The Secret of Anubis' Canis Major also known as Big Dog, Great Dog star this constellation is the most visible on the night sky, mostly because of the Always shining Sirius, which in itself is called the Dog Star. It is said that the Big dog is responsible for the Northern hemisphere 'dog- days', this is a traditional hot period in the late summer. Old traditions say that the Dog Star awaken at the same time as the Sun (Meaning The dog star raises at the same time the Sun does). Besides the Big Dog, the star image of the 'little dog' is located, called Canis Minor- Little Dog, and this dog is often mentioned in old Greek manuscripts. Sirius was an object of wonder and veneration to all ancient peoples throughout human history. In the ancient Vedas this star was known as the Chieftain's star; in other Hindu writings, it is referred to as Sukra, the Rain God, or Rain Star.

The Dog is also described as "he who awakens the gods of the air, and summons them to their office of bringing the rain." The dog Sirius is one of the watchmen of the Heavens, fixed in one place at the bridge of the Milky Way, keeping guard over the abyss into incarnation. The Dog Star is a symbol of power, will, and steadfastness of purpose, and exemplifies the One who has succeeded in bridging the lower and higher consciousness. LEGENDS ABOUT THE CONSTALLATION : CANIS MAJOR Sirius is a very bright shining star, it is the nose of the constellation called Canis Major, also known as the Great dog constellation. In Greek mythology, Canis Major and Canis Minor were the hunting dogs of Orion, they are some times called Orion's guard dogs. Orion is hunting the great bear (Unas major) which is the constellation in front of Orion. Canis major is seen as a more seriously dog, whereas Canis Minor was a more playful dog. In one old legend, the two dogs are sitting patiently under a table, where Gemini is sitting and dining.

The faint stars that can be seen around these constellations (Canis Major, Canis Minor and Gemini), are said to be the bread crumbs which Gemini fed the dogs with. The ancient Greeks believed that Canis Major was a very fast runner. In Greek culture Canis Major (as the fast runner) was called Laelaps. Laelaps was said to have won a race over the fastest Fox in the world. Zeus was so honoured by the victory of Laelaps that he placed him in the heavens among the stars. Canis Major and Canis Minor | Temple of the Earth and Stars Canis Major and Canis Minor by Oraia Helene This time around we are looking at the constellation of Canis Major, the Great Dog. And as you might expect, where we have a major we have a minor, so I’ll also talk briefly about little Canis Minor, the Little Dog, which is a much smaller constellation but is often paired with Canis Major as the two canine companions of Orion the Hunter. The most famous attribute of Canis Major is its alpha star, Sirius, also known as the Dog Star.

This is the brightest star in the sky (outside of our own sun, of course), both because of its inherent brightness and its nearness to our solar system at “only” 8.6 light years away. It is easily found by tracing the three stars of Orion’s belt down and to the left if you’re in the northern hemisphere. They’ll point directly to a bright, blue-white star dogging the hunter’s heels, as it were. It actually has a small, white-dwarf companion that orbits at a distance; this star is sometimes called the Pup. The name Sirius derives from the Greek word for “scorcher.” And while this constellation is most noticeable to us in the winter sky, when it is riding high, its rising just before sunrise (called its heliacal rising) announced the annual flooding of the Nile that was so important to the ancient Egyptians. This happened in the summer, and its position so close to the sun led to the belief that the light and heat of “the scorcher,” when added to that of the sun, gave us the long, hot days of summer that we still call “the dog days” after the Dog Star.

Canis Major is also home to the open cluster M41, which is actually visible to the naked eye under clear, dark conditions. It looks like a faint, fuzzy star, but a telescope or binoculars will reveal a collection of stars within a small patch of sky about the same size as the full moon; it’s a nice one to look for, and depending on how dark your skies and how good your instruments are, you might see a dozen to several dozen of the roughly 100 stars in this cluster. There are several other, much fainter open clusters in this constellation, as well as some nebulae and two spiral galaxes. There are several other relatively bright stars in Canis Major, as well, but their brightness, like their names, tend to be overshadowed by the brilliance and popularity of Sirius. Canis Minor, the Little Dog, is one of the smallest constellations in the sky, consisting of only two main stars. Its alpha star, Procyon, is named for its positioning; Procyon comes from the Greek meaning “before the dog,” as this star has its heliacal rising shortly before Sirius does.

It would therefore be taken as a harbinger of the dog star and the flooding of the Nile that came with it. (Galen, however, applied this name, Procyon, to Sirius, as its position at the front of its constellation meant that it went before the rest of the dog.) Procyon is overshadowed by Sirius in another way, as well – its brightness. Procyon is actually the seventh brightest star in the night sky, but this is easily overlooked in comparison with its larger, brighter neighbor, Sirius. You can find Canis Minor by drawing another line through Orion, across his shoulders to the left (when viewing in the northern hemisphere.) So the Little Dog sits to the upper left of the Great Dog, and you can make a nice equilateral triangle – called the Winter Triangle – by connecting Sirius in Canis Major, Procyon in Canis Minor, and Betelgeuse, Orion’s shoulder in the upper left of that constellation. In Greek mythology, Canis Major and Canis Minor are often viewed as a pair, most popularly representing the hunting dogs of Orion.

But Canis Major in particular, or at least the dog star Sirius, has also been linked to other dogs in Greek myth, including one of the hounds of Actaeon, the unfortunate hunter who was turned into a stag by Artemis after glimpsing her bathing. In earlier times, the name of the constellation was usually applied only to Sirius itself, and the “Great” part of the “Great Dog” was not as a form of contrast with the Little Dog, but simply a comment on the brightness of the star. Canis Minor was simply called Procyon until later Roman times, when it was sometimes called Catellus, the Puppy. Procyon was sometimes attributed to a dog named Maera in Greek myth, however. This dog was the companion of Icarius, who was the first to learn the art of wine-making from Dionysus. When the wine made some shepherds drunk, they at first thought they had been poisoned, and killed Icarius in retribution. His dog, Maera, ran to Icarius’ daughter, Erigone, and brought her to where her father’s body lay.

Both daughter and dog killed themselves in grief, and Zeus placed all three of them in the sky – Icarius as the constellation Bootes, Erigone as Virgo, and Maera as Procyon or Canis Minor. The “dog star” Sirius has a long history in human myth and culture, itself. I’ve already mentioned its importance to the ancient Egyptians in terms of the flooding of the Nile. In that culture, the star was known as Sihor or Sopdet, and later as Sothi or Sothis, which was its Greco-Egyptian name, and it was identified with the goddess Isis. In China, however, Sirius was called the Wolf, and a number of Native North American tribes gave it names related to dogs and wolves, adding to the canine attributions for this star. For the Polynesians it was an important navigational star, which I mentioned briefly when I talked about the star Arcturus in the constellation Boötes , which is another important star in guiding Polynesian canoes on their long voyages across open ocean. A Polynesian myth states that before Sirius became the brightest star, that distinction belonged to a star called Mata-riki in the constellation of Taurus.

Sirius, jealous of the other star’s brightness, conspired with the god Tane to do something about Mata-riki’s incessant bragging. They chased him all over the heavens, but in the end Tane took the star Aldebaran, also in Taurus, and threw it very hard. The bright star Mata-riki was shattered into pieces, leaving the bright cluster we know as the Pleiades. In fact, Mata-riki means “Little Eyes,” and the story says they still whisper to each other, though they don’t dare brag out loud anymore. The prominence of Sirius in myth and mystical teachings has continued to the present day. Sirius is important in Theosophy as a source of the wisdom of the Ascended Masters. Dion Fortune called it “the Sun behind the Sun.” And, of course, a number of people who claim to have been contacted by alien beings, either in person or via channeled information, pinpoint those beings as coming from Sirius. Magically, Agrippa lists both Sirius and Procyon as belonging to the fixed stars.

In addition to ruling dogs, as might seem obvious for the Dog Star, Sirius rules beryl, savine (a poisonous species of juniper), mugwort, dragonwort, and the tongue of a snake. Its image, that of a hound and a little virgin, bestows honor, as well as the goodwill and favor of both men and the spirits of the air. It also offers the power to pacify kings, princes, and other noblemen. The image of the constellation Canis Major as a whole, meanwhile, is said to protect against plague as well as against wild animals. Procyon, the brightest star in Canis Minor, rules agate, the flowers of the marigold, and pennyroyal. The magical image of Procyon is that of a rooster, or of three little maids. It brings one good favor from gods, spirits, and men alike, preserves one’s health, and protects against witchcraft. So that’s a little look at these two dogs of the sky, currently brightening up my winter nights as they loyally follow Orion on the hunt.

And I can’t swear to it, but I think I’ve seen my dog looking up at Sirius from time to time – she’s oddly attentive to bright things in the sky, which started with airplanes but spread to planets as well. Maybe she’s getting secret messages from the dog star, telling her of course she deserves a cookie and the best spot on the couch. But then, she already knew that. Canis Major: Facts, Myth, Star Map, Major Stars, Deep Sky Objects | Constellation Guide Constellation Guide Constellations: A Guide to the Night Sky Canis Major Constellation Canis Major is a constellation in the southern sky. Its name means “the greater dog” in Latin. Canis Major represents the bigger dog following Orion , the hunter in Greek mythology. The dog is often depicted pursuing a hare, represented by the constellation Lepus . The smaller dog is represented by the neighboring constellation Canis Minor . Both constellations were first catalogued by Ptolemy in the 2nd century.

Canis Major is home to Sirius , the brightest star in the sky, as well as to several notable deep sky objects: the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy, the open cluster Messier 41 , the emission nebula NGC 2359 (also known as Thor’s Helmet ), and the colliding spiral galaxies NGC 2207 and IC 2163. FACTS, LOCATION & MAP Canis Major Map, by IAU and Sky&Telescope magazine Canis Major is the 43rd biggest constellation in the sky, occupying an area of 380 square degrees. It is located in the second quadrant of the southern hemisphere (SQ1) and can be seen at latitudes between +60° and -90°. The neighboring constellations are Columba , Lepus , Monoceros , and Puppis . Canis Major contains one Messier object, the star cluster Messier 41 (NGC 2287), and has four stars with known planets. The brightest star in Canis Major, Sirius ( Alpha Canis Majoris ), is also the brightest star in the night sky. There are no meteor showers associated with the constellation.

Canis Major belongs to the Orion family of constellations, along with Canis Minor , Lepus , Monoceros , and Orion . MYTH Canis Major is commonly taken to represent the “greater dog” following the hunter Orion in Greek myth. The constellation is depicted as a dog standing on its hind legs, pursuing a hare, represented by the constellation Lepus . Canis Major was described by Manilius as “the dog with the blazing face” because the dog appears to hold Sirius , the brightest star in the sky, in its jaws. In mythology, Canis Major is associated with Laelaps, the fastest dog in the world, one destined to catch anything it pursued. Zeus gave Laelaps to Europa as a present, along with a javelin that could not miss. The gift proved to be an unfortunate one, as Europa herself was killed accidentally by her husband Cephalus, who was out hunting with the javelin. Cephalus took the dog to Thebes in Boeotia (a Greek province north of Athens) to hunt down a fox that was causing some trouble there. Like Laelaps, the fox was extremely fast and was destined never to be caught.

Once the dog found the fox and started chasing it, the race did not appear to have an end in sight. Zeus himself finally ended it and turned both animals to stone. He placed the dog in the night sky as the constellation Canis Major. MAJOR STARS IN CANIS MAJOR Sirius – α Canis Majoris (Alpha Canis Majoris) Sirius A and Sirius B, photo: Hubble Space Telescope, credit: ESA, NASA, H. Bond (STScI) and M. Barstow (University of Leicester) Sirius, also known as the Dog Star , is the brightest star in the sky and the fifth nearest star system to the Sun. Sirius is a binary star with an apparent visual magnitude of -1.42. It is only 8.6 light years distant. The brighter component, Sirius A, is a white main sequence star and the companion, Sirius B, is a white dwarf that orbits the primary every 50 years. The distance between the two stars varies between 8.1 and 31.5 astronomical units. The companion is not visible to the naked eye. Sirius A belongs to the spectral class A1V, and the dwarf to DA2.

Sirius A has twice the mass of the Sun and is 25 more luminous. Sirius B is almost equal to the Sun in mass (0.98 solar masses) and is one of the most massive white dwarfs known. Sirius A has an absolute visual magnitude of 1.42 and Sirius B, 11.18. The age of the star system is estimated to be between 200 and 300 million years. The name Sirius comes from the Greek Σείριος (Seirios), which means “scorching,” “glowing” or “searing.” In ancient times, the star rose just before sunrise during the hottest summer period, the so-called Dog Days. Greeks and Romans believed the star was somehow responsible for the summer heat. Sirius A and Sirius B artwork, credit: NASA, ESA, G. Bacon (STScI) In Egypt, Sirius marked the flooding of the Nile. The star’s heliacal rising, just before the annual flooding and the summer solstice, played a crucial role in the Egyptian calendar during the Middle Kingdom era.

Along with the stars Rigel in Orion , Aldebaran in Taurus , Capella in Auriga , Pollux/Castor in Gemini , and Procyon in Canis Minor , Sirius forms the Winter Hexagon (or Winter Circle) asterism, which appears prominently in the northern sky between December and March. Sirius is also part of the Winter Triangle (or the Great Southern Triangle), together with Procyon in Canis Minor and Betelgeuse in Orion constellation . Adhara – ε Canis Majoris (Epsilon Canis Majoris) Adhara is the second brightest star in Canis Major and the 24th brightest star in the night sky. Its name comes from the Arabic aðāra, which means “virgins.” It is a binary star that lies about 430 light years from Earth. The primary component belongs to the spectral class B2 and has an apparent magnitude of 1.5. It is one of the brightest known ultraviolet sources in the sky. The companion star has an apparent magnitude of 7.5 and is located 7.5’’ away from the primary.

About 4.7 million years ago, Adhara was the brightest star in the sky. It was only 34 light years distant and had a magnitude of -3.99. No other star has ever been as bright since, nor is one expected to be in the next five million years. Wezen – δ Canis Majoris (Delta Canis Majoris) Wezen is a yellow-white F-type supergiant approximately 1,800 light years distant. It has an apparent magnitude of 1.83. It is the third brightest star in Canis Major. Wezen can be found about 10 degrees southeast of Sirius . Its name is derived from the Arabic al-wazn“, meaning “the weight.” The star’s estimated age is 10 million years, which means that it will become a red supergiant within the next 100,000 years, and eventually a supernova. Murzim – β Canis Majoris (Beta Canis Majoris) Murzim (Al-Murzim, Mirzam) is a blue-white giant with brightness varying between magnitude 1.95 and 2.00.

It is approximately 500 light years distant. The star’s name comes from the Arabic word for “the herald,” presumably referring to Murzim’s position in the sky. (The star rises before Sirius , i.e. it heralds it.) Murzim is classified as a Beta Cephei variable, a star that exhibits variations in brightness as a result of pulsations of its surface. Aludra – η Canis Majoris (Eta Canis Majoris) Aludra is an Alpha Cygni type variable star, with luminosity varying between magnitude 2.38 and 2.48. It is a blue supergiant, approximately 3,000 light years distant, and already approaching the final stages of its life. It is expected to become a supernova within the next few million years. The star’s name is derived from the Arabic al-‘aðrā, meaning “the virgin.” Along with Adhara, Wezen and Omicron-2 Canis Majoris, Aludra was one of the stars known as the Virgins.

Tau Canis Majoris Cluster (NGC 2362), photo: NASA, JPL-Caltech, Harvard-Smithsonian CfA τ Canis Majoris (Tau Canis Majoris) Tau CMa is an eclipsing spectroscopic binary star about 3,200 light years from Earth. It is the brightest star of the open cluster NGC 2362 (Caldwell 64), which is why the cluster is sometimes called the Tau Canis Majoris Cluster. The star is an O-type blue supergiant classified as a Beta Lyrae type variable. Its brightness varies between magnitude 4.32 and 4.37 with a period of 1.28 days. Phurud – ζ Canis Majoris (Zeta Canis Majoris) Phurud (or Furud) is a spectroscopic binary star. Its name comes from the Arabic phrase al-furud, which means “the solitary ones.” The star lies about 336 light years from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 3.02. The brighter component is a blue-white B-type main sequence dwarf. The companion is an unseen star.

The two orbit around a common centre once every 675 days. Muliphein – γ Canis Majoris (Gamma Canis Majoris) Muliphein is a blue-white B-type right giant, approximately 402 light years distant. It has an apparent visual magnitude of 4.11. DEEP SKY OBJECTS IN CANIS MAJOR Messier 41 (M41, NGC 2287) Messier 41 (NGC 2287), Atlas Image mosaic courtesy of 2MASS/UMass/IPAC-Caltech/NASA/NSF Messier 41 is an open cluster located four degrees south of Sirius . It is 25-26 light years in diameter and between 190 and 240 million years old. The cluster contains about 100 stars, with the brightest one being a K3-type giant located near the centre of the cluster. M41 also contains several red giants. The cluster is approximately 2,300 light years distant. It has an apparent magnitude of 4.5.

It was discovered by the Italian astronomer Giovanni Batista Hodierna in the 17th century. Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy The Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy (CMa Dwarf) is an irregular galaxy, roughly elliptical in shape, that is believed to be the nearest neighbouring galaxy to the solar system. It is approximately 25,000 light years distant from Earth and 42,000 light years away from the Galactic Centre. Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy artwork, author: NASA The Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy contains about a billion stars, among them a significant number of red giants. The galaxy was first discovered in 2003 by an international team of astronomers. It is a difficult object to observe because it lies behind the plane of the Milky Way, obscured by stars, dust and gas. Because the galaxy’s main body is highly degraded, the Canis Major Dwarf is believed to be severely affected by the Milky Way’s gravitational field. There are a number of globular clusters associated with the galaxy, among them NGC 1851, NGC 1904, and NGC 2808.

These clusters are thought to be remnants of the dwarf’s globular cluster system before the galaxy started getting pulled apart and swallowed into the Milky Way. Emission nebula NGC 2359 (Thor’s Helmet), photo: Roberto Mura NGC 2359 – Thor’s Helmet NGC 2359 is an emission nebula in Canis Major. It is about 30 light years in size, and some 15,000 light years distant from Earth. The nebula is formed around the central Wolf-Rayet star, an extremely hot giant which is about to explode as a supernova. NGC 2207 and IC 2163 NGC 2207 and IC 2163 are colliding spiral galaxies in Canis Major. They are approximately 80 million light years distant. The galaxies were discovered by the English astronomer John Herschel in 1835. They have apparent magnitudes of 12.2 and 11.6, respectively.

Three supernovae have been observed in NGC 2207 in recent decades; SN 1975A in 1975, SN 1999ec in 1999, and SN 2003H in 2003. The galaxies are in the process of tidal stripping, with the larger galaxy pulling stars and other material from the smaller one. Colliding spiral galaxies NGC 2207 and IC 2163, photo: ESO Astronomy Canis Major, the Great Dog | StarDate Online Canis Major, the Great Dog Canis Major, the Great Dog Canis Major loyally follows its mythical master, Orion, across the southern skies of winter. The brightest star in Canis Major also is the brightest in the entire night sky — brilliant Sirius, which is just 8.6 light-years away. That's only twice as far as our closest stellar neighbor. Because it is the brightest star of the Great Dog, Sirius is known as the Dog Star. Its first appearance in the dawn sky in August heralds the "dog days" of summer. Sirius is actually a double star .

The star that we see as Sirius is about 20 times brighter than the Sun. It is also hotter and more massive than the Sun. Its companion is known as Sirius B, and is nicknamed The Pup. It is a white dwarf -- the hot, dense core of a star that was once like Sirius itself. At the end of its life, the star blew its outer layers into space, leaving only the core. Sirius B is as massive as the Sun but less than one percent as bright. It shines simply because it's still hot. Canis Major's second-brightest star is Adhara. It is well below Sirius, in one of the dog's legs. It is about 425 light-years away. It emits about a thousand times more visible light than Sirius does, so if it were moved to the same distance as Sirius, it would look about 200 times brighter than Sirius does. Because the surface of Adhara is extremely hot, the star emits more ultraviolet energy than visible light. If our eyes were tuned to the ultraviolet, Adhara would outshine every other star in the night sky.

One interesting sight in Canis Major is a star cluster known as M41 , which is about 2,300 light-years away. It's visible to the unaided eye as a faint smudge of light below Sirius. Binoculars or a small telescope reveal a swarm of several dozen stars. Constellation of Canis Major - Knowle Astronomical Society - Astronomy in Solihull, the West Midlands, and Warwickshire Constellation of Canis Major Canis Major The best months for seeing Canis Major, (the Great Dog) in the evening sky are January & February. The constellation is easily found by using the belt stars of Orion as a signpost. Following the line of these three down to the left leads to a brilliant white star. This is Sirius, the brightest star in the heavens at magnitude -1.46. Sirius, also known as the “Dog Star”, owes its brightness to its proximity. At 8.6 light years, it is the third closest star system to us after Alpha Centauri and Barnard’s Star. Sirius is in fact a very average main sequence star which outputs a mere 23 times the visual light of our own Sun.

Its surface temperature is almost 4,000OK higher than the Sun’s at 9,600OK. Sirius is a double star. As long ago as the 1840’s Friedrich Bessel detected a slight “wobble” in its tiny proper motion across the sky, implying gravitational interaction with an unseen companion. The faint secondary Sirius B, or “The Pup” was eventually imaged through a telescope for the first time by Alvan Clark in 1862. The Pup is a “white dwarf”, a type of star that has exhausted its hydrogen fuel and collapsed down into a very dense state. Just a spoonful of the degenerate matter from Sirius B would weigh several tons. As well as the brightest first magnitude star, Canis Major also possesses the brightest second magnitude star in the heavens. This is Adhara, one of a group of three second magnitude stars at the southern end of the constellation which are known as “The Virgins”. Unfortunately Adhara never climbs more than about 9 degrees above the horizon at our latitude.

Canis Major has one more second magnitude star, Mirzam, which is the most famous example of a special type of pulsating variable known as the “Beta Canis Majoris” variables after Mirzam’s Bayer designation. All four of these second magnitude stars lie at much greater distances from us than Sirius and are far more intrinsically luminous. Wezen is the most powerful. Shining from a distance of about 2,000 light years this star probably produces about 60,000 times the light of our Sun. Lying in the direction of the winter Milky Way, Canis Major is rich in open clusters. The most famous of these is M41, a few degrees south of Sirius. At fourth magnitude, this large cluster is visible to the naked eye and has been known about since ancient times. As with the rest of the constellation it is too far south to be seen at its best from the UK, but nevertheless it is a fine sight through a telescope or even binoculars. Another excellent cluster for telescopes is NGC 2362, which surrounds the star Tau Canis Majoris.

If as is suspected, Tau is a true member of this cluster it must be another extremely luminous star since NGC 2362 lies several thousand light years away. Star Tales – Canis Major Origin: One of the 48 Greek constellations listed by Ptolemy in the Almagest Greek name: Κύων (Kyon) Four dogs are to be found among the constellations: Canis Major, Canis Minor, and the two hunting dogs, Canes Venatici, but Canis Major is undoubtedly the top dog. Indeed, Ptolemy in the Almagest called it simply Κύων (Kyon), the Dog. Canis Major is dominated by Sirius, popularly termed the Dog Star, the most brilliant star in the entire night sky; almost certainly the constellation originated with this star alone. Aratus referred to Canis Major as the guard-dog of Orion, following on the heels of its master and standing on its hind legs with Sirius carried in its jaws. Manilius called it ‘the dog with the blazing face’. Canis Major seems to cross the sky in pursuit of the hare, represented by the constellation Lepus under Orion’s feet.

To the north of it scampers Canis Minor, the smaller dog, either having lost the scent or sniffing out different prey. Canis Major on Chart XVIII of Johann Bode’s Uranographia (1801). Bode depicted the dog with Sirius marking its snout. Classical Greek descriptions, though, placed Sirius in the dog’s jaws. Mythologists such as Eratosthenes and Hyginus said that the constellation represented Laelaps, a dog so swift that no prey could outrun it. This dog had a long list of owners, one of them being Procris, daughter of King Erechtheus of Athens and wife of Cephalus, but accounts differ about how she came by it. In one version the dog was given to her by Artemis, goddess of hunting; but a more likely account says that it is the dog given by Zeus to Europa, whose son Minos, King of Crete, passed it on to Procris. The dog was presented to her along with a javelin that could never miss; this turned out to be an unlucky gift, for her husband Cephalus accidentally killed her with it while out hunting.

Cephalus inherited the dog, and took it with him to Thebes (not Thebes in Egypt but a town in Boeotia, north of Athens) where a vicious fox was ravaging the countryside. The fox was so swift of foot that it was destined never to be caught – yet Laelaps the hound was destined to catch whatever it pursued. Off they went, almost faster than the eye could follow, the inescapable dog in pursuit of the uncatchable fox. At one moment the dog would seem to have its prey within grasp, but could only close its jaws on thin air as the fox raced ahead of it again. There could be no resolution of such a paradox, so Zeus turned them both to stone, and the dog he placed in the sky as Canis Major, without the fox. Sirius, the dazzling dog star The name of the star Sirius comes from the Greek word seirios (Σείριος) meaning ‘searing’ or ‘scorching’, highly appropriate for something so brilliant. In Greek times its rising at dawn just before the Sun marked the start of the hottest part of the summer, a time that hence became known as the Dog Days.

‘It barks forth flame and doubles the burning heat of the Sun’, said Manilius, expressing a belief held by the Greeks and Romans that the star had a heating effect. The Roman writer Pliny the Elder considered it common knowledge. ‘Who is not aware that the heat of the Sun increases at the rising of the Lesser Dog-star,’ he asked in his Natural History of AD 79. The ancient Greek writer Hesiod wrote of ‘heads and limbs drained dry by Sirius’, and Virgil in the Georgics said that ‘the torrid Dog Star cracks the fields’. Even though the name Sirius was known as far back as the time of Hesiod, Ptolemy in the Almagest called it Κύων, ‘the Dog’, the same name as for the whole constellation. He described it as ‘the star in the mouth’. However, Johann Bayer in his Uranometria star atlas placed it not in the mouth but on the dog’s snout. Bayer was followed in this by Bode in Uranographia , although not by Hevelius or the classically correct Flamsteed . Germanicus Caesar specified the effects that the rising of Sirius with the Sun was supposed to have.

Healthy crops it strengthens, but those with shrivelled leaves or feeble roots it kills. ‘There is no star the farmer likes more or hates more’, according to Germanicus. ‘Hardly is it inferior to the Sun, save that its abode is far away’, wrote Manilius, anticipating the modern view that stars are bodies like the Sun only vastly more distant. Yet, in contradiction of the supposed heating effects of Sirius, Manilius continued: ‘The beams it launches from its sky-blue face are cold’. That description of the colour of Sirius is in contrast to Ptolemy’s surprising reference to it as reddish, which has caused all manner of arguments. In fact, Manilius was nearly correct, for Sirius is a blue-white star, even larger and brighter than the Sun. It lies 8.6 light years away, making it one of the Sun’s closest neighbours. It has a white dwarf companion star, visible only through telescopes, that orbits it every 50 years. In 14th-century Europe, Sirius was also known as Alhabor or Alabor, an Arabic name that can be found on astrolabes of the time.

Geoffrey Chaucer used the name Alhabor for Sirius in his celebrated Treatise on the Astrolabe written in or around 1391. He based his description on astrolabes such as this English example which had a dog’s head to indicate the position of the star. However, astronomers eventually settled on the original Greek name in preference to the Arabic alternative. Beta Canis Majoris, which precedes Sirius across the sky, is known as Mirzam, from the Arabic al-Mirzam. According to the Arabic astronomer al-Sūfī, the Arabs gave this name to any star that preceded a bright star. Hence it was also applied to Beta Canis Minoris, which precedes Procyon, and Gamma Orionis, which precedes Betelgeuse, but it is the attribution to Beta Canis Majoris which has stuck. Ptolemy listed 11 stars as lying around the constellation but not forming part of it. Of these, nine were later used by Petrus Plancius to create a new constellation, Columba, the dove; one was transferred to Monoceros; and one was eventually incorporated in Canis Major.

Chinese associations Chinese astronomers knew Sirius as Tianlang, ’celestial wolf’, or simply Lang, ‘wolf’; it was said to symbolize invasion and plunder. Other stars of Canis Major provide a good illustration of how Chinese constellations could be remodelled by different astrologer/astronomers. Take Junshi, for example, representing a market for soldiers to buy provisions and barter goods. In one version, this was a ring of 13 stars, including Nu and Xi Canis Majoris, extending into present-day Lepus. At its centre was Yeji, a pheasant, represented by Beta Canis Majoris (Mirzam). But an alternative interpretation identifies the pheasant as Nu-2 Canis Majoris, with Beta one of a ring of 6 stars (rather than 13) making up Junshi. Similar malleability can be seen in the case of Hushi, the bow and arrow. In one depiction the bow, Hu, was represented by the arc of stars from Kappa via Epsilon, Sigma, Delta, and Tau Canis Majoris to Xi Puppis.

A line from Eta via Delta to Omicron-2 Canis Majoris was Shi, an arrow, pointing at Lang in a show of defiance against thieves and raiders. But another version sees the bow as an altogether larger figure, extending well into Puppis and with Delta Canis Majoris as the tip of the arrow. The whole bow-and-arrow figure was sometimes known simply as Hu. © Ian Ridpath. All rights reserved Canis Major Encyclopedia > Science and Technology > Astronomy and Space Exploration > Constellations Canis Major Canis Major (kāˈnĭs) [ key ] [Lat., = greater dog], constellation lying near the celestial equator, SE of Orion. Known as the Large Dog ( Canis Minor is the Small Dog), it was associated with the figure of a dog by many cultures; the ancient Greeks identified it as one of Orion's hunting dogs, while the Scandinavians called it Sigurd's dog. It contains Sirius , the brightest star in the heavens, also known as the Dog Star. Other bright stars in Canis Major are Adhara (Epsilon Canis Majoris), Mirzam (Beta Canis Majoris), and Wezen (Delta Canis Majoris).

The constellation reaches its highest point in the evening sky in February. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. See more Encyclopedia articles on: Constellations Advertisement Advertisement Canis Major - Large Dog Canis Major Large Dog MythologyMetricsTargetsStar Names Canis Major, also known as the Large Dog, is located southeast of the constellation Orion . Along with its smaller brother, Canis Minor , these gods are the faithful companions of the hunter and chase their quarry across the sky. The brightest star is Sirius which is also known as the “Dog Star” and “The Sparkling One” is the brightest star in the sky. Sirius is the southernmost star of the Winter Triangle which along with Betelgeuse and Procyon form a nearly perfect equilateral triangle. Genitive

Question: Canis Major is also known as what?
Answer: The Dog Star