CANIS MAJOR

CANIS MAJOR

(Abbreviation: CMa).

An original constellation, representing one of Orion’s hunting dogs. Though dominated by Sirius, it contains several other bright stars, of which one (Adhara) is only just below the first magnitude. Altogether there are 11 stars brighter then the fourth magnitude:

It is interesting to note that three of these stars – Wezea, Aludra, and o² - are extremely luminous. Compared with them, Sirius is extremely feeble, as it has only 26 times the sun’s luminosity.

BRIGHTEST STARS

STAR	R.A.			DEC			MAG	ABS. MAG.	SPEC	DIST. PC
STAR	H	M	S	o	‘	“	MAG	ABS. MAG.	SPEC	DIST. PC
1 z	06	20	18.4	-30	03	48	3.02	-1.7	B3	88 PHURAD
2 b	06	22	41.9	-17	57	22	1.98v	-4.8	B1	220 MIRZAM
l	06	28	10.1	-32	34	48	4.48	-0.5	B5	17
4 x¹	06	31	51.2	-23	25	06	4.34	-3.9	B1	440
5 x²	06	35	03.3	-22	57	53	4.54	0.6	AO	61
7 n²	06	36	41.0	-19	15	22	3.95	0.0	K1	72
8 n³	06	37	53.3	-18	14	15	4.43	0.0	K1	72
9 a	06	45	08.9	-16	42	58	-1.46	1.4	A1	2.7 SIRIUS
13 k	06	49	50.4	-32	30	31	3.96	-2.5	B2	200
16 o¹	06	54	07.8	-24	11	02	3.86	-6.0	K3	520
14 q	06	54	11.3	-12	02	19	4.07	-0.3	K4	73
19 p	06	55	37.3	-20	08	11	4.68	0.6	gF2	65
20 i	06	56	08.1	-17	03	14	4.38	-3.9	B3	410
21 e	06	58	37.5	-28	58	20	1.50	-4.4	B2	150 ADHARA
22 s	07	01	43.1	-27	56	06	3.46	-5.7	MO	460
24 o²	07	03	01.4	-23	50	00	3.03	-6.8	B3	860
23 g	07	03	45.4	-15	38	00	4.11	-3.4	B8	320 MULIPHEN
25 d	07	08	23.4	-26	23	36	1.86	-8.0	F8	940 WEZEA
27	07	14	15.1	-26	21	09	4.66	-2.9	B3	320
28 w	07	14	48.6	-26	46	22	3.86	-2.3	B3	170
29 UW	07	18	40.3	-24	33	32	4.98v	---	O7.8	----
30 t	07	18	41.4	-24	57	15	4.39	-6.0	O9	1100
31 h	07	24	05.6	-29	18	11	2.44	-7.0	B5	760 ALUDRA

Sirius has a white dwarf companion, mag.8; binary, period 50 years. Though the companion does not appear faint, it is difficult to see because of the overpowering glare of the primary. The separation ranges between 3” to 11”. 5. It was widest in 1975, spectrum variable. x¹ Is also a spectrum variable, and optically variable over a very small range of less then 0.1 magnitude.

VARIABLES

STAR	R.A.		DEC		RANGE	PERIOD,D	SPEC	TYPE
STAR	H	M	o	‘	RANGE	PERIOD,D	SPEC	TYPE
R	07	17.2	-16	18	6.2---6.8	1.14	A9	ALGOL
W	07	05.7	-11	51	6.9---7.5	---	N	IRREGULAR
UW	07	18.6	-24	34	4.7---5.3	4.4	O	b LYRÆ TYPE

CLUSTERS AND NEBULÆ

OBJECT	R.A.		DEC		TYPE	NOTES
OBJECT	H	M	o	‘	TYPE	NOTES
NGC 2204	06	13.5	-18	35	OPEN CLUSTER	MAG .9. FAIRLY RICH
NGC 2217	06	18.7	-27	14	SPIRAL GALAXY	MAG. 12. TYPE SBa
I 2165	06	19.6	-12	57	PLANETARY	MAG. 12.5 CENTRAL STAR OF MAG. 17
NGC 2243	06	27.6	-31	15	OPEN CLUSTER	MAG. 10. SMALL BUT QUITE RICH
NGC 2287 M.41	06	44.9	-20	41	OPEN CLUSTER	MAG. 4.6 NAKED EYE
NGC 2354	07	12.2	-25	38	OPEN CLUSTER	MAG. 9. FAIRLY RICH
NGC 2360	07	15.4	-15	33	OPEN CLUSTER	MAG. 10 FAIRLY RICH
NGC 2362	07	16.6	-24	52	OPEN CLUSTER	MAG. 10.5. MODERATE