Canis Major is a
constellationIn modern astronomy, a constellation is an area of the celestial sphere, defined by exact boundaries.The term "constellation" can also be used loosely to refer to just the more prominent visible stars that seem to form a pattern in that area.-Definitions:...
, included in the 2nd century astronomer
PtolemyClaudius Ptolemaeus , known in English as Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Greek ancestry. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer and a poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under the Roman Empire, and is believed to have been born in the town of...
's 48 constellations, and still included among the 88 modern constellations. Its name is
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
for 'greater dog', and is commonly represented as one of the dogs following
OrionOrion was a giant huntsman of Greek mythology whom Zeus placed among the stars as the constellation of Orion....
the hunter (see also
Canis MinorCanis Minor is a small constellation. It was included in the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy's 48 constellations, and is still included among the 88 modern constellations...
the 'lesser dog'). Canis Major contains
SiriusSirius is the brightest star in the night sky with a visual apparent magnitude of −1.46, almost twice as bright as Canopus, the next brightest star. The name Sirius is derived from the Ancient Greek Σείριος. The star has the Bayer designation α Canis Majoris...
, the
brightest star in the night sky, known as the 'dog star'; that star is part of the
asterismAsterism may refer to:* Asterism , a pattern of stars* Asterism , an optical phenomenon in gemstones* Asterism , a moderately rare typographical symbol denoting a break in passages...
known as the Winter Triangle in the Northern Hemisphere, or the Summer Triangle in the Southern.
There are several other fairly bright stars (in order of brightness) in Canis Major, all with Arabic names:
- ε CMa
Epsilon Canis Majoris , is the second brightest star in the constellation Canis Major, and one of the brightest stars in the nighttime sky. It has the Bayer designation "epsilon" despite being the second brightest and not the fifth brightest star in its constellation. It has the traditional name...
: (1.51v) AdharaAdhara may refer to:* Epsilon Canis Majoris, a star* Adhara, Bangladesh, a village in Bangladesh...
– Virgins
- δ CMa
Delta Canis Majoris is a star in the constellation Canis Major. It has the traditional name Wezen or Wesen. The traditional name comes from the Arabic وزن wazn, meaning a weight. Wazn is also the name for β Columbae.δ Canis Majoris is a yellow-white F-type supergiant with an apparent magnitude of...
: (1.83) Wezen – The Weight
- β CMa
Beta Canis Majoris is a star in the constellation of Canis Major. It has the traditional name Murzim, Al-Murzim or Mirzam....
: (1.98v) Murzim – The Announcer
- η CMa
Eta Canis Majoris is a star in the constellation Canis Major. It has the traditional name Aludra.Aludra shines brightly in the skies in spite of a large distance from Earth due to being intrinsically many times brighter than the Sun...
: (2.45v) Aludra – the virgin
- ζ CMa
Zeta Canis Majoris is a spectroscopic binary in the constellation Canis Major. It has the traditional name Furud or Phurud, from the Arabic فرد al-furud meaning the solitary ones...
: (3.02) Furud – Bright Single One
- γ CMa
Gamma Canis Majoris is a star in the constellation Canis Major. It has the traditional name Muliphein, not to be confused with Muhlifain, which is Gamma Centauri; both names derive from the same Arabic root, محلفين muħlifayn.γ Canis Majoris is a blue-white B-type bright giant with an apparent...
: (4.11) Muliphen – the Arabic rendering of the Greek for "dog's ear".
There are not many bright deep sky objects in this region of sky.
Canis Major is a
constellationIn modern astronomy, a constellation is an area of the celestial sphere, defined by exact boundaries.The term "constellation" can also be used loosely to refer to just the more prominent visible stars that seem to form a pattern in that area.-Definitions:...
, included in the 2nd century astronomer
PtolemyClaudius Ptolemaeus , known in English as Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Greek ancestry. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer and a poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under the Roman Empire, and is believed to have been born in the town of...
's 48 constellations, and still included among the 88 modern constellations. Its name is
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
for 'greater dog', and is commonly represented as one of the dogs following
OrionOrion was a giant huntsman of Greek mythology whom Zeus placed among the stars as the constellation of Orion....
the hunter (see also
Canis MinorCanis Minor is a small constellation. It was included in the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy's 48 constellations, and is still included among the 88 modern constellations...
the 'lesser dog'). Canis Major contains
SiriusSirius is the brightest star in the night sky with a visual apparent magnitude of −1.46, almost twice as bright as Canopus, the next brightest star. The name Sirius is derived from the Ancient Greek Σείριος. The star has the Bayer designation α Canis Majoris...
, the
brightest star in the night sky, known as the 'dog star'; that star is part of the
asterismAsterism may refer to:* Asterism , a pattern of stars* Asterism , an optical phenomenon in gemstones* Asterism , a moderately rare typographical symbol denoting a break in passages...
known as the Winter Triangle in the Northern Hemisphere, or the Summer Triangle in the Southern.
Notable features
There are several other fairly bright stars (in order of brightness) in Canis Major, all with Arabic names:
- ε CMa
Epsilon Canis Majoris , is the second brightest star in the constellation Canis Major, and one of the brightest stars in the nighttime sky. It has the Bayer designation "epsilon" despite being the second brightest and not the fifth brightest star in its constellation. It has the traditional name...
: (1.51v) AdharaAdhara may refer to:* Epsilon Canis Majoris, a star* Adhara, Bangladesh, a village in Bangladesh...
– Virgins
- δ CMa
Delta Canis Majoris is a star in the constellation Canis Major. It has the traditional name Wezen or Wesen. The traditional name comes from the Arabic وزن wazn, meaning a weight. Wazn is also the name for β Columbae.δ Canis Majoris is a yellow-white F-type supergiant with an apparent magnitude of...
: (1.83) Wezen – The Weight
- β CMa
Beta Canis Majoris is a star in the constellation of Canis Major. It has the traditional name Murzim, Al-Murzim or Mirzam....
: (1.98v) Murzim – The Announcer
- η CMa
Eta Canis Majoris is a star in the constellation Canis Major. It has the traditional name Aludra.Aludra shines brightly in the skies in spite of a large distance from Earth due to being intrinsically many times brighter than the Sun...
: (2.45v) Aludra – the virgin
- ζ CMa
Zeta Canis Majoris is a spectroscopic binary in the constellation Canis Major. It has the traditional name Furud or Phurud, from the Arabic فرد al-furud meaning the solitary ones...
: (3.02) Furud – Bright Single One
- γ CMa
Gamma Canis Majoris is a star in the constellation Canis Major. It has the traditional name Muliphein, not to be confused with Muhlifain, which is Gamma Centauri; both names derive from the same Arabic root, محلفين muħlifayn.γ Canis Majoris is a blue-white B-type bright giant with an apparent...
: (4.11) Muliphen – the Arabic rendering of the Greek for "dog's ear".
Deep sky objects
There are not many bright deep sky objects in this region of sky. The only
Messier objectThe Messier objects are a set of astronomical objects first listed by French astronomer Charles Messier in his "Catalogue des Nébuleuses et des Amas d'Étoiles" included in the Connaissance des Temps for 1774...
in Canis Major is
Messier 41Messier 41 is an open cluster in the Canis Major constellation. It was discovered by Giovanni Batista Hodierna before 1654 and was perhaps known to Aristotle about 325 BC. M41 lies about four degrees almost exactly south of Sirius...
(NGC 2287), an
open clusterAn open cluster is a group of up to a few thousand stars that were formed from the same giant molecular cloud, and are still loosely gravitationally bound to each other. In contrast, globular clusters are very tightly bound by gravity. Open clusters have been found only in spiral and irregular...
of visual magnitude 4.6. It is located about 4 degrees directly south of Sirius. Messier 41 is roughly 2350 light years away from Earth, contains about 8,000 stars, and is about 24 light years in diameter. It is also noted for containing a number of K-class stars.
The band of the
Milky WayThe Milky Way, or simply the Galaxy, is the galaxy in which the Solar System is located. It is a barred spiral galaxy that is part of the Local Group of galaxies...
goes through Canis Major and therefore background
galaxiesA galaxy is a massive, gravitationally bound system that consists of stars and stellar remnants, an interstellar medium of gas and dust, and an important but poorly understood component tentatively dubbed dark matter. The name is from the Greek root galaxias [γαλαξίας], meaning "milky," a reference...
are hidden behind
interstellar dustCosmic dust is a type of dust composed of particles in space which are a few molecules to 0.1 mm in size. Cosmic dust can be further distinguished by its astronomical location; for example: intergalactic dust, interstellar dust , interplanetary dust and circumplanetary dust .In our...
clouds. However, in 2003,
Canis Major DwarfThe Canis Major Dwarf galaxy is located in the same part of the sky as the constellation Canis Major. The galaxy contains a relatively high percentage of red giant stars, and is thought to contain an estimated one billion stars in all....
, the closest
satellite galaxyA satellite galaxy orbits a larger galaxy due to gravitational attraction. Although a galaxy is made of a large number of objects which are not connected to each other, it has a center of mass, which represents a weighted average of the positions of each component object...
to Earth, was found within the constellation.
History
In Europe, Canis Major has been associated with dogs from early times. The name of
SiriusSirius is the brightest star in the night sky with a visual apparent magnitude of −1.46, almost twice as bright as Canopus, the next brightest star. The name Sirius is derived from the Ancient Greek Σείριος. The star has the Bayer designation α Canis Majoris...
, its brightest star, means "scorching star", since the summer heat occurred just after Sirius'
heliacal risingThe heliacal rising of a star occurs when it first becomes visible above the eastern horizon at dawn, after a period when it was hidden below the horizon or when it was just above the horizon but hidden by the brightness of the sun.Each day after the heliacal rising, the star will appear to rise...
. The
Ancient GreeksAncient Greece is the civilisation belonging to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth. It is generally considered to be the seminal culture which provided the...
referred to such times in the summer as
dog days, as only dogs would be mad enough to go out in the heat, leading to the star being known as the
Dog Star. Consequently, the constellation was named after it, as 'The Big Dog'.
Mythology
In early classical Europe, Canis Major represented the dog
LaelapsLaelaps was a Greek mythological dog who never failed to catch what he was hunting. In one version of Laelaps' origin, he was a gift from Zeus to Europa. The hound was passed down to King Minos. Minos had been cursed by his wife; he ejaculated scorpions and spiders that would devour the genitals...
, a gift from
ZeusIn Greek mythology, Zeus is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky and thunder. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull, and oak. In addition to his Indo-European inheritance, the classical "cloud-gatherer" also derives certain iconographic traits from the...
to
EuropaEuropa was a Phoenician woman of high lineage in Greek mythology, from whom the name of the continent Europe has ultimately been taken. The story of her abduction by Zeus in the form of a white bull was a Cretan story, as Kerényi points out; "most of the love-stories concerning Zeus originated...
; or sometimes the hound of
ProcrisIn Greek mythology, Procris was the daughter of Erechtheus, king of Athens and his wife, Praxithea. She married Cephalus, the son of Deioneus. Procris had at least two sisters, Creusa and Orithyia...
, Diana's nymph; or the one given by
AuroraEos is, in Greek mythology, the Titanic goddess of the dawn, who rose from her home at the edge of Oceanus, the Ocean that surrounds the world, to herald her brother Helios, the sun....
to
CephalusCephalus is an Ancient Greek name, used both for the hero-figure in Greek mythology and carried as a theophoric name by historical persons. The word kephalos is Greek for "head", perhaps used here because Cephalus was the founding "head" of a great family that includes Odysseus...
, so famed for its speed that
ZeusIn Greek mythology, Zeus is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky and thunder. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull, and oak. In addition to his Indo-European inheritance, the classical "cloud-gatherer" also derives certain iconographic traits from the...
elevated it to the sky.
It was also considered to represent Orion's hunting dog, pursuing
LepusLepus is a constellation lying just south of the celestial equator. Its name is Latin for hare. Lepus was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations...
the
HareHares and jackrabbits are leporidaes belonging to the genus Lepus. Hares less than one year old are called leverets.Hares are very fast-moving...
or helping Orion fight
TaurusTaurus is one of the constellations of the zodiac. Its name is Latin for bull, and its symbol is , a stylized bull's head. Taurus is a large and prominent constellation in the northern hemisphere's winter sky, between Aries to the west and Gemini to the east; to the north lie Perseus and Auriga,...
the
BullCattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
; and is referred to in this way by Aratos,
HomerHomer is a legendary ancient Greek epic poet, traditionally said to be the author of the epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey...
and
HesiodHesiod was a Greek oral poet. His date is uncertain but leading scholars , agree that Hesiod lived in the latter half of the eighth century BCE. Since at least Herodotus's time , Hesiod and Homer have generally been considered the earliest Greek poets whose work has survived, and they are often...
. The
ancient GreeksAncient Greece is the civilisation belonging to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth. It is generally considered to be the seminal culture which provided the...
refer only to one dog, but by
RomanAncient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea, it became one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
times,
Canis MinorCanis Minor is a small constellation. It was included in the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy's 48 constellations, and is still included among the 88 modern constellations...
appears as Orion's second dog.
Sirius was considered a dog in its own right, early Greek mythology sometimes the constellation to represent a two-headed dog. As such, together with the area of the sky that is deserted (now considered as the new and extremely faint constellations
CamelopardalisCamelopardalis, from Greek καμηλοπάρδαλις , is a large but faint constellation in the northern sky. Its name is Latin for giraffe. The constellation was first described by Jakob Bartsch in 1624, but was created earlier by Petrus Plancius...
and
LynxLynx is a constellation in the northern sky, introduced in the 17th century by Johannes Hevelius. It is named after the lynx, a genus of cat. It is a very faint constellation; its brightest stars form a zigzag line.-History:...
), and the other features of the area in the
ZodiacIn astronomy, the zodiac is the ring of constellations that lines the ecliptic, which is the apparent path of the Sun across the sky over the course of the year. The Moon and planets also lie within the ecliptic, and so are also within the constellations of the zodiac. In astrology, the zodiac...
sign of
GeminiGemini is the third astrological sign in the Zodiac, originating from the constellation of Gemini. In western astrology, this sign is no longer aligned with the constellation as a result of the precession of the equinoxes. In astrology, Gemini is considered a "masculine", positive sign. It is...
(i.e. the
Milky WayThe Milky Way, or simply the Galaxy, is the galaxy in which the Solar System is located. It is a barred spiral galaxy that is part of the Local Group of galaxies...
, and the constellations
GeminiGemini is one of the constellations of the zodiac. Its name is Latin for "twins", and it is associated with the twins Castor and Pollux in Greek mythology. Its symbol is . It lies between Taurus to the west and the dim Cancer to the east, with Auriga and Lynx to the north and Monoceros and Canis...
,
OrionOrion, often referred to as "The Hunter," is a prominent constellation located on the celestial equator and visible throughout the world. It is one of the largest, most conspicuous, and most recognizable in the night sky...
,
AurigaAuriga is a constellation in the northern sky. Its name is Latin for 'charioteer' and its stars form a shape that has been associated with the pointed helmet of a charioteer. It was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and is included among the 88 modern...
, and
Canis MinorCanis Minor is a small constellation. It was included in the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy's 48 constellations, and is still included among the 88 modern constellations...
), this may be the origin of the myth of the cattle of
GeryonIn Greek mythology, Geryon , son of Chrysaor and Callirrhoe and grandson of Medusa, was a fearsome giant who dwelt on the island Erytheia of the mythic Hesperides in the far west of the Mediterranean. A more literal-minded later generation of Greeks associated the region with Tartessos in southern...
, which forms one of The Twelve Labours of
HeraclesIn Greek mythology, Heracles or Herakles , Alcides or Alcaeus , was a divine hero, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus...
.
Roman myth refers to Canis Major as
Custos Europae, the dog guarding
EuropaEuropa was a Phoenician woman of high lineage in Greek mythology, from whom the name of the continent Europe has ultimately been taken. The story of her abduction by Zeus in the form of a white bull was a Cretan story, as Kerényi points out; "most of the love-stories concerning Zeus originated...
but failing to prevent her abduction by Jupiter in the form of a bull; and as
Janitor LethaeusCerberus, in Greek and Roman mythology, is a multi-headed hound which guards the gates of Hades, to prevent those who have crossed the river Styx from ever escaping...
, the watchdog.
Visualizations
Depending on the faintness of stars considered, Canis Major can be shown to resemble a dog facing either above or below the
eclipticThe ecliptic is the apparent path that the Sun traces out in the sky during the year, appearing to move eastwards on an imaginary spherical surface, the celestial sphere, relative to the fixed stars. More accurately, it is the intersection of the celestial sphere with the ecliptic plane, which is...
.
External links