Know the Constellation - Canis Major

Last time we checked out the Orion constellation. Now its time for Canis Major. Canis Major is located in the southern celestial hemisphere. The name literally means, "The big dog". Canis major, beside the much smaller constellation, Little Dog, is commonly portrayed as accompanying the legendary hunter, Orion. It contains largely of young blue stars. The most important stars within the constellation are, Sirius, Adhara, Wezen and VY canis Majoris.

Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, is a Spectroscopic Binary star. It is twice as bright as Canopus, the next brightest star. It appears bright because of both Sirius's intrinsic luminosity and proximity to Earth. Sirius is twenty five times additional luminous than the Sun, however features a considerably lower brightness than other bright stars like Canopus or Rigel. Sirius system is one of Earth's near neighbours.It is approx. 9 light years from Earth.The sky location for Sirius is : RA 06h 45m 08s, Dec -17°16' 42".

Know the basics of sky gazing, Sky Gazing for Beginners - Part I

Adhara is a star in Double system. It is the second brightest star in the constellation. The name Adhara came from Arabic, meaning "Virgins". It is one of the brightest known extreme ultraviolet sources in the sky. About 4,700,000 years ago, Adhara was only 34 light years from the Sun, and was the brightest star. It is approx. 405 light years from Earth. The sky location for Adhara is : RA 06h 58m 38s, Dec -29°01' 41".

Wezen is a yellow-white supergiant variable star. It is approx. 1607 light years from Earth. The sky location for Wezen is : RA 07h 08m 23s, Dec -27°36' 25".

VY Canis Majoris is a single star categorised as a semi regular variable with an estimated period of 2,000 days. If placed at the position of Sun, VY Canis Majoris's surface would extend on the far side the orbit of Jupiter, though there's still sizeable variation in estimates of the radius. It is approx. 4892 light years from Earth. The sky location for VY Canis Majoris is : RA 07h 22m 58s, Dec -25°46' 03".