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Facts and Info About the Canis Major Constellation

Canis Major, known primarily for Sirius, the brightest star at sky, follows Orion faithfully over
the winter sky within the Northern Hemisphere. So, why exactly did the ancients name hot,
hazy summer days following a constellation seen mainly during winter?
Left: A constellation map of Leo (Image credit: Torsten Bronger at Wikimedia Commons,
GNU Free Documentation license.)

Right: Public Domain Image: Canis Major, with Sirius marking its snout, shown from the
Uranographia of Johann Bode (1801).
Center: This photo on the constellation Canis Major shows, enlarged inside their true color,
the leading "naked eye" stars comprise the design with the constellation. Image thanks to

1. The Image of: Canis Major, the Great Dog.

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2. Right Ascension: 7h
3. Declination: 20??
4. Genitive: Canis Majoris
5. Symbolism: The greater dog
6. Area: 380 sq. deg. (43rd)
7. Main stars: 8
8. Bayer/Flamsteed stars: 32
9. Stars with known planets: 3
10. Brightest star: Sirius ( CMa) (1.46m)
11. Nearest star: Sirius ( CMa) (8.6 ly)
12. Messier objects: 1
13. Meteor showers: None
14. Bordering constellations: Monoceros, Lepus, Columba, Puppis
15. Visible at latitudes: between +60?? and 90??
16. Best visible: At 21:00 (9 p.m.) over the month of February
Center: M41 (Image Credit: NASA at Wikipedia Commons

1) Canis Majoris (a.k.a. Sirius): Only 8.6 light years away which has a magnitude of '1.47,
Sirius (known as 'The Dog Star") shines as being the brightest star inside sky (following your
Sun, certainly). More than twice the mass from the Sun, it surpasses old Sol in absolute
luminosity by 23 times!
Deer Hunter 2016 Hack Online 2) M41(NGC 2287)

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: Because Canis Major lies at the Milky Way, dust clouds obscure much deep sky objects.
However, M41 is undoubtedly an open cluster containing 8,000 stars about 2,350 light years
away.
1) The heliacal rising of Sirius told ancient Egyptians the annual Nile floods would soon
begin. Perhaps that is why, the Egyptians used Sirius to appraise the length with the year.
2) Although once linked to Laelaps, your dog of these speed that Zeus immortalized it by
placing it within the heavens, on the earliest times Canis Major has become known as being
the Dog of Orion, faithfully near the Hunter's feet while chasing Lupus the Hare throughout
the sky.
3) We get the name 'Dog Star" through the Ancient Egyptians, who named the star after their
god Osirus, who had one's body of any man as well as the head of a pet dog.
4) Plutarch associated the star Sirius with 'leader" instead of 'heat."
5) Native Austrialians known the Sirius itself just as one Eagle.
6) Sanskrit writings refer to it as 'Deer-slayer" and 'Hunter."
1) Canis Majoris is in reality a double star. The brighter star (Sirius A) we come across is
really a white main sequence star while its companion (Sirius B) is often a 8.4 magnitude
white dwarf circling Sirius A every fifty years.
2) We get the saying 'dog era of summer" through the Egyptians plus the Romans as a result
of Sirius. During occasions, Sirius and also the Sun rose while doing so inside the summer.
These ancients believed the Dog Star caused dozens of hot summer days for the reason that
star added its heat for the Sun's heat. Homer, Caesar, Cicero as well as Virgil all wrote of
Sirius since the reason behind summer heat. Roman farmers even sacrificed fawn-colored
dogs to appease the gods avoiding hot summers.
3) Sirius was crowned the first star to obtain its velocity measure when, in 1868, Sir William
Huggins, noticed a red shift within the spectrum in the star. His calculations were off by about
5 times, but at the very least he got the direction right.
4) Although the name Sirius derives from your Latin 'Sirius," the Latin term probably merely
copied the Greek name 'Seirios," meaning 'glowing" or 'Scorcher."
5) Edmond Halley (yes, the Comet guy), comparing his measurements of Sirius to Ptolemy's,
in 1718 took over as first astronomer to prove stars weren't 'fixed" as well as use a proper
motion.
The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Astronomy and Space, Ian Ridpath, Editor

Exploration from the Universe, Third Edition, George O.Abell


Star Names ' Their Lore and Meaning, Richard Hinckley Allen

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