Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Canis Major (CMa)  ·  Contains:  11 CMa  ·  8 nu.03 CMa  ·  9 alf CMa  ·  Canis Major  ·  IC 2171  ·  IC 452  ·  NGC 2283  ·  NGC 2296  ·  PK228-11.1  ·  Sirius  ·  The star 11CMa  ·  The star Sirius (αCMa)  ·  The star ν3CMa
Sirius, Minos Kritikos
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Sirius

Sirius, Minos Kritikos
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Sirius

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Sirius - Ostensibly the brightest star in the northern hemisphere with a visual magnitude of -1.46. It's etymology stems from the Ancient Greek word - Σείριος (Seirios), meaning "glowing" or "scorcher". It is a binary star, consisting of a white main sequence star (Sirius A) that is twice the size of our sun but 25 times more luminous and a white dwarf (Sirius B) that is similar in mass to our sun, but packed in a volume akin to that of Earth. Sirius is relatively close to Earth, at 8.6 light years away and will continue to dominate the Earth night sky with its brilliance for the next 210,000 years. This 300 million year old star is also known as the “Dog Star”, aptly positioned in the constellation Canis Major (Greater Dog). For the Ancient Egyptians, the rise of Sirius marked the rise and flooding of the great river Nile and was worshipped by them as the goddess Sopdet. This single 20 minute exposure pointed at the western sky last midnight, demonstrates its ‘seriously’ bright luminosity, amidst a rich starfield background.

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Sirius, Minos Kritikos

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