"rises an hour before the ""Dog Star"", Sirius, of Canis Major. It is a binary star system, consisting of a yellow-white main sequence star of spectral type F5 IV-V, named Procyon A, and a faint white dwarf companion of spectral type DA, named Procyon B. Procyon B, which orbits the more massive star every 41 years, is of magnitude 10.7. Procyon A is 1.4 times the Sun's mass, while its smaller companion is 0.6 times as massive as the Sun. The system is from Earth, the shortest distance to a northern-hemisphere star of the first magnitude. Gomeisa, or Beta Canis"
"said to have slain the ocean goddess Tiamat with a great bow, and worshipped as the principal deity in Babylon. The Ancient Greeks replaced the bow and arrow depiction with that of a dog. In Greek Mythology, Canis Major represented the dog Laelaps, a gift from Zeus to Europa; or sometimes the hound of Procris, Diana's nymph; or the one given by Aurora to Cephalus, so famed for its speed that Zeus elevated it to the sky. It was also considered to represent one of Orion's hunting dogs, pursuing Lepus the Hare or helping Orion fight Taurus the Bull; and"
"Omega Canis Majoris Omega Canis Majoris, Latinized from ω Canis Majoris, is a solitary, blue-white hued star in the equatorial constellation of Canis Major. It is visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of +4.01. Based upon an annual parallax shift of just 3.58 mas as seen from Earth, this system is located roughly 910 light years from the Sun. This star has a stellar classification of B2 IV-Ve, indicating it is a Be star showing a mixed spectrum of a main sequence star and a subgiant. One of the most observed Be stars of the southern"
"as Canis Major (Laelaps) and Canis Minor (Teumessian Fox). Eratosthenes accompanied the Little Dog with Orion, while Hyginus linked the constellation with Maera, a dog owned by Icarius of Athens. On discovering the latter's death, the dog and Icarius' daughter Erigone took their lives and all three were placed in the sky—Erigone as Virgo and Icarius as Boötes. As a reward for his faithfulness, the dog was placed along the ""banks"" of the Milky Way, which the ancients believed to be a heavenly river, where he would never suffer from thirst. The medieval Arabic astronomers maintained the depiction of Canis"
"Canis Majoris itself is known as (, .) Kappa Canis Majoris Kappa Canis Majoris, Latinized from κ Canis Majoris, is a solitary, blue-white hued star in the constellation Canis Major. It is visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of +3.87. Based upon an annual parallax shift of 7.70 mas as seen from Earth, this star is located about 660 light years from the Sun. This is a B-type main-sequence star with a stellar classification of B1.5 Ve, although Hiltner et al. (1969) classified it as B1.5 IVe suggesting it is a subgiant star. The 'e' suffix"
"Nu2 Canis Majoris Nu Canis Majoris (ν Canis Majoris) is a single star in the southern constellation of Canis Major. With an apparent visual magnitude of 3.96, it is bright enough to be seen with the naked eye to the southeast of Sirius. Based upon an annual parallax shift of 50.63 mas as seen from Earth, this system is located 64.4 light years from the Sun. It is an evolved K-type giant around 4.6 billion years old. Around 1.3 times as massive as the Sun, it has expanded to around 4.9 times the Sun's diameter and 11 times its luminosity."
"Lambda Canis Majoris Lambda Canis Majoris (λ Canis Majoris) is a solitary, blue-white hued star in the constellation Canis Major. For medieval Islamic astronomers, this star, along with ζ CMa, γ Col, δ Col, θ Col, κ Col, λ Col, μ Col and ξ Col, were Al Ḳurūd (ألقرد - ""al-qird""), the Apes. Lambda CMa is visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of +4.48. Based upon an annual parallax shift of 7.70 mas as seen from Earth, this star is located about 424 light years from the Sun. At that distance, the visual magnitude is diminished"
"Nu1 Canis Majoris Nu Canis Majoris (ν Canis Majoris) is a binary star in the constellation Canis Major. It is visible to the naked eye with a combined apparent visual magnitude of 5.7. Based upon an annual parallax shift of 7.74 mas as seen from Earth, this system is located approximately 350 light years from the Sun. As of 2011, the pair had an angular separation of 17.29 arc seconds along a position angle of 264.2°. The yellow hued magnitude 5.87 primary, component A, is an evolved G-type giant star with a stellar classification of G8 III. Its magnitude 7.61"
"Xi2 Canis Majoris Xi Canis Majoris (ξ Canis Majoris) is an astrometric binary star system in the southern constellation of Canis Major. With an apparent visual magnitude of +4.54, it is visible to the naked eye. Based upon an annual parallax shift of , the system is approximately 440 light years distant from Earth. The binary nature of this system was determined based on changes in the proper motion of the visible component. Buscombe (1962) gave the white-hued primary a stellar classification of A0 V, indicating it is an A-type main-sequence star. However, Houk and Smith-Moore (1978) list it with"
"Gamma Canis Majoris Gamma Canis Majoris (γ Canis Majoris, abbreviated Gamma CMa, γ CMa), also named Muliphein, is a star in the constellation of Canis Major. It is unclear exactly why this relatively faint star was given the 'gamma' designation, but possibly because it is in the same part of the constellation as Sirius (alpha) and Mirzam (beta). ""γ Canis Majoris"" (Latinised to ""Gamma Canis Majoris"") is the star's Bayer designation. It bore the traditional name ""Muliphein"", not to be confused with ""Muhlifain"", which is Gamma Centauri; both names derive from the same Arabic root, محلفين ""muħlifayn"". In 2016, the"
"Xi1 Canis Majoris Xi Canis Majoris, Latinized from ξ Canis Majoris, is a Beta Cephei variable star in the constellation Canis Major. It is approximately 1,400 light years from Earth. ξ Canis Majoris is a blue-white B-type star. It has generally been assigned a luminosity class of III (giant) or IV (subgiant), for example B1III or B0.5IV. Comparison of its properties with model evolutionary tracks suggest that it is a main sequence star about three quarters of the way through its main seuence lifetime. The apparent magnitude varies from +4.33 to +4.36 with a period of 5.03 hours. Its pulsations"
"Kappa Canis Majoris Kappa Canis Majoris, Latinized from κ Canis Majoris, is a solitary, blue-white hued star in the constellation Canis Major. It is visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of +3.87. Based upon an annual parallax shift of 7.70 mas as seen from Earth, this star is located about 660 light years from the Sun. This is a B-type main-sequence star with a stellar classification of B1.5 Ve, although Hiltner et al. (1969) classified it as B1.5 IVe suggesting it is a subgiant star. The 'e' suffix indicates it is a rapidly rotating Be star"
"Mu Canis Majoris Mu Canis Majoris (μ Canis Majoris) is a binary star system in the southern constellation of Canis Major. The pair can be located a little to the southwest of the point midway between Gamma and Theta Canis Majoris, and the components can be split with a small telescope. The system is faintly visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of 5.12. Based upon an annual parallax shift of just 2.62 mas as seen from Earth, this system is located roughly 1,200 light years from the Sun. Grotius assigned the name Isis to this star,"
"Nu3 Canis Majoris Nu Canis Majoris, Latinized from ν Canis Majoris, is a binary star system in the southern constellation of Canis Major. It is visible to the naked eye with a combined apparent visual magnitude of 4.41. Based upon an annual parallax shift of 7.74 mas as seen from Earth, this system is located about 420 light years from the Sun. The primary member, component A, is an evolved, orange-hued giant/bright giant hybrid with an apparent magnitude of +4.63 and a stellar classification of K0 II-III. It is most likely (96% chance) on the horizontal branch. The star has"
"Omicron2 Canis Majoris Omicron Canis Majoris (ο² CMa, ο² Canis Majoris) is a star in the constellation Canis Major. Since 1943, the spectrum of this star has served as one of the stable anchor points by which other stars are classified. It has an apparent visual magnitude of 3.043, making it one of the brighter members of the constellation. The distance to this star is roughly 2,800 light years (800 parsecs), with a 34% margin of error. This is a massive supergiant star with a stellar classification of B3 Ia, indicating that, at the age of around 7 million years,"
"spears them and all three are placed in the sky as the constellation '. To the Boorong people of Victoria, Sigma Canis Majoris was ' (which has become the official name of this star), and its flanking stars Delta and Epsilon were his two wives. The moon (', ""native cat"") sought to lure the further wife (Epsilon) away, but assaulted him and he has been wandering the sky ever since. Canis Major is a constellation in the Southern Hemisphere's summer (or northern hemisphere's winter) sky, bordered by Monoceros (which lies between it and Canis Minor) to the north, Puppis to"
"Omicron1 Canis Majoris Omicron Canis Majoris (ο CMa, ο Canis Majoris) is a red supergiant star in the constellation Canis Major. It is a variable star in the constellation of Canis Major. Johann Bayer gave two adjacent stars the Bayer designation of ο Canis Majoris in 1603, but without distinguishing between the stars. John Flamsteed gave the two omicron stars his own numbered designations of 16 and 24 Canis Majoris in the early 18th century. Friedrich Wilhelm Argelander labelled the stars as ο and ο in his atlas ""Uranometria Nova"". Nicolas Louis de Lacaille labelled it c Canis Majoris, but"
"Delta Canis Majoris Delta Canis Majoris (δ Canis Majoris, abbreviated Delta CMa, δ CMa), also named Wezen, is a star in the constellation of Canis Major. It is a yellow-white F-type supergiant with an apparent magnitude of +1.83. Since 1943, the spectrum of this star has served as one of the stable anchor points by which other stars are classified. Delta Canis Majoris is the third-brightest star in the constellation after Sirius and Adhara, with an apparent magnitude of +1.83, and is white or yellow-white in colour. Lying about 10 degrees south southeast of Sirius, it only rises to about"
"Pi Canis Majoris Pi Canis Majoris (π Canis Majoris) is a binary star system in the southern constellation of Canis Major. It is visible to the naked eye, having an apparent visual magnitude of +4.69. Based upon an annual parallax shift of 33.80 mas as seen from Earth, this system is located 96.5 light years from the Sun. The star is moving in the general direction of the Sun with a radial velocity of −37.9 km/s. It will make it closest approach in around 733,000 years when it comes within . The brighter primary, component A, is an F-type main-sequence"
"this conclusion has been refuted subsequently as the number of orbits analysed was low and their trajectories too disparate to confirm a link. They last from 4 to 15 December, peaking over 10 and 11 December. Canis Minor Canis Minor is a small constellation in the northern celestial hemisphere. In the second century, it was included as an asterism, or pattern, of two stars in Ptolemy's 48 constellations, and it is counted among the 88 modern constellations. Its name is Latin for ""lesser dog"", in contrast to Canis Major, the ""greater dog""; both figures are commonly represented as following the"
"Sigma Canis Majoris Sigma Canis Majoris (σ Canis Majoris, abbreviated Sig CMa, σ CMa), also named Unurgunite, is a variable star in the southern constellation of Canis Major. It is approximately from the Sun and has an average apparent visual magnitude of +3.41. ""σ Canis Majoris"" (Latinised to ""Sigma Canis Majoris"") is the system's Bayer designation. The star bore the traditional name of ""Unurgunite"" in the culture of the Boorong, a clan of the indigenous Maligundidj people of northwestern Victoria in Australia, who saw it as an ancestral figure who fights the moon, flanked by his wives (the stars Delta"
"Tau Canis Majoris Tau Canis Majoris (τ CMa, τ Canis Majoris, 30 CMa) is a multiple star system in the constellation Canis Major. It is approximately 5,000 light years distant and is the brightest member of the open cluster NGC 2362. τ Canis Majoris lies at the center of the very young open cluster NGC 2362 which contains several hundred stars. It is by far the brightest member of the cluster and the only one to have evolved away from the main sequence. A number of stars were catalogued by John Herschel as companions: component B is a 10th magnitude"
"thought to be significant contributors to interstellar dust. The band of the Milky Way goes through Canis Major, with only patchy obscurement by interstellar dust clouds. It is bright in the northeastern corner of the constellation, as well as in a triangular area between Adhara, Wezen and Aludra, with many stars visible in binoculars. Canis Major boasts several open clusters. The only Messier object is M41 (NGC 2287), an open cluster with a combined visual magnitude of 4.5, around 2300 light-years from Earth. Located 4 degrees south of Sirius, it contains contrasting blue, yellow and orange stars and covers an"
"Ursa Major Ursa Major (; also known as the Great Bear) is a constellation in the northern sky, whose associated mythology likely dates back into prehistory. Its Latin name means ""greater (or larger) she-bear"", standing as a reference to and in direct contrast with nearby Ursa Minor, the lesser bear. In antiquity, it was one of the original 48 constellations listed by Ptolemy (2nd century AD), and is now the third largest constellation of the 88 modern constellations. Ursa Major is primarily known from the asterism of its main seven relatively bright stars comprising the ""Big Dipper"", ""the Wagon"", ""Charles's"
"opposite side of the sky from ""Papsukal"", the True Shepherd of Heaven in Babylonian mythology. Canis Minor was also given the name ""DAR.LUGAL"", its position defined as ""the star which stands behind it [Orion]"", in the ""MUL.APIN""; the constellation represents a rooster. This name may have also referred to the constellation Lepus. ""DAR.LUGAL"" was also denoted ""DAR.MUŠEN"" and ""DAR.LUGAL.MUŠEN"" in Babylonia. Canis Minor was then called ""tarlugallu"" in Akkadian astronomy. Canis Minor was one of the original 48 constellations formulated by Ptolemy in his second-century Almagest, in which it was defined as a specific pattern (asterism) of stars; Ptolemy identified"
"Zeta Canis Majoris Zeta Canis Majoris (ζ Canis Majoris, abbreviated Zeta CMa, ζ CMa), also named Furud, is a spectroscopic binary in the constellation of Canis Major. ""Zeta Canis Majoris"" is the star's Bayer designation assigned by the German astronomer Johann Bayer in 1603. The traditional name ""Furud"" or ""Phurud"" derives from the Arabic ""ألفرد"" ""al-furud"" meaning 'the bright single ones' or, perhaps by a transcriber's error, from ""Al Ḳurūd"" (""ألقرد"" - 'al-qird'), the Apes, or ""Al Agribah"" (""أل أغربة""), the Raven by Al Sufi, referring to the surrounding small stars with some of those of Columba (ζ CMa, Lambda"
"to identify a planet orbiting Nu Canis Majoris. An orbital fit produced a minimum mass estimate of with an orbital period of 2.1 years and an eccentricity of 0.23. Star spots were ruled out as a source for the signal with a false-alarm probability of 98.7%. Nu2 Canis Majoris Nu Canis Majoris (ν Canis Majoris) is a single star in the southern constellation of Canis Major. With an apparent visual magnitude of 3.96, it is bright enough to be seen with the naked eye to the southeast of Sirius. Based upon an annual parallax shift of 50.63 mas as seen"
"13 Canis Majoris—as Kappa and Kappa respectively, but subsequent cartographers such as Francis Baily and John Bevis dropped the fainter former star, leaving Kappa as the sole Kappa. Flamsteed's listing of Nu, Nu, Nu, Xi, Xi, Omicron and Omicron have all remained in use. Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky at apparent magnitude −1.46 and one of the closest stars to Earth at a distance of 8.6 light-years. Its name comes from the Greek word for ""scorching"" or ""searing"". Sirius is also a binary star; its companion Sirius B is a white dwarf with a magnitude of"
"the east and southeast, Columba to the southwest, and Lepus to the west. The three-letter abbreviation for the constellation, as adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1922, is 'CMa'. The official constellation boundaries, as set by Eugène Delporte in 1930, are defined by a quadrilateral; in the equatorial coordinate system, the right ascension coordinates of these borders lie between and , while the declination coordinates are between −11.03° and −33.25°. Covering 380 square degrees or 0.921% of the sky, it ranks 43rd of the 88 currently-recognized constellations in size. Canis Major is a prominent constellation because of its many"
"Eta Canis Majoris Eta Canis Majoris (η Canis Majoris, abbreviated Eta CMa, η CMa), also named Aludra, is a star in the constellation of Canis Major. Since 1943, the spectrum of this star has served as one of the stable anchor points by which other stars are classified. ""η Canis Majoris"" (Latinised to ""Eta Canis Majoris"") is the star's Bayer designation. The traditional name ""Aludra"" originates from the Arabic: ""العذراء"" ""al-adhraa"" 'the virgin'. This star, along with Epsilon Canis Majoris (Adhara), Delta Canis Majoris (Wezen) and Omicron Canis Majoris (Thanih al Adzari), were ""Al ʽAdhārā"" (""العذاري""), 'the Virgins'. In 2016,"
"Majoris forms a naked eye pairing with ξ Canis Majoris a little less than a degree away. The Washington Double Star Catalog lists two 14th magnitude companions about away. In addition, an unseen close companion is suspected due to some faint emission lines in the spectrum that are best explained by a Be star invisible against the brighter primary. Xi1 Canis Majoris Xi Canis Majoris, Latinized from ξ Canis Majoris, is a Beta Cephei variable star in the constellation Canis Major. It is approximately 1,400 light years from Earth. ξ Canis Majoris is a blue-white B-type star. It has generally"
"CMa (Aludra), were Al ʽAdhārā (ألعذاري), the Virgins. Omicron2 Canis Majoris Omicron Canis Majoris (ο² CMa, ο² Canis Majoris) is a star in the constellation Canis Major. Since 1943, the spectrum of this star has served as one of the stable anchor points by which other stars are classified. It has an apparent visual magnitude of 3.043, making it one of the brighter members of the constellation. The distance to this star is roughly 2,800 light years (800 parsecs), with a 34% margin of error. This is a massive supergiant star with a stellar classification of B3 Ia, indicating that,"
"NR Canis Majoris NR Canis Majoris also known as HR 2853, HD 58954, and HIP 36186, is a Delta Scuti variable star with a spectral classification of F2V, which varies by a few hundredths of a magnitude over roughly 16 hours. It is located to the east of Sirius, and east of Gamma Canis Majoris, practically on the border with Puppis. NR Canis Majoris is 85.88 pc from the Sun, according to Hipparcos, and has a mass of 1.5 solar masses. It is about 2 billion years younger than the Sun. NR Canis Majoris will eventually become the brightest star"