images

Sirius in Canis Major

by

J.Lodriguss/Novapix

Reference

a-eto01-00010

Date

2006-09-01

Sirius, the Dog Star, is the brightest star in the night sky at mag -1.44 and it dominates the constellation of Canis Major. Sirius is a binary star with a white dwarf companion named Sirius B, "The Pup". It is an eight-magnitude star that is separated from Sirius by only a couple of arc seconds making it difficult to observe in a telescope because of the primary's great brilliance.