Canis Major star map
Copyright: Melbourne Planetarium.
Tour Highlights
- Sirius the brightest star in the night sky
- M41 a large and bright open cluster of about 80 stars.
Canis Major, the large dog, is one of the hunting dogs of Orion the hunter. It can be found near Orion in the night sky and is prominent after sunset during summer.
The brightest star in the night sky, Sirius, can be found in this constellation. Sirius is sometimes called the ‘Dog Star’. This prominent star was important to many cultures. To the ancient Egyptians, the arrival of Sirius in the pre-dawn sky signalled the start of the flooding season for the Nile river, upon which all of their agriculture depended.
Stop 1
Sirius is at the bottom of your field of view here. It appears dazzling to us but it is not intrinsically bright. It is, however, one of the closest stars to our solar system at 8.5 light-years. It shines with a pure white light. What is less obvious about Sirius is that it is a double star system. The smaller star in the system, Sirius B, is a white dwarf star. It is a tiny and incredibly dense star that has used up its nuclear fuel and now shines only due to its high temperature. Sirius B can only be seen with large telescopes (apertures greater than 20cm) as it is hidden in the bright glare of Sirius.
About 4° above Sirius is the open cluster M41. This is a good cluster to look for, as it is visible to the naked eye and identifiable as a cluster with binoculars. It is half a degree across (about the size of the Full Moon) and contains around 80 stars, roughly half of which can be seen through binoculars. This cluster is about 2 300 light-years away.