Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Canis Major (CMa)  ·  Contains:  9 alf CMa  ·  Sirius  ·  The star Sirius (αCMa)
Sirius (α Canis Majoris), Gebhard Maurer
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Sirius (α Canis Majoris)

Sirius (α Canis Majoris), Gebhard Maurer
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Sirius (α Canis Majoris)

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Description

Sirius (designated α Canis Majoris , α CMa) is the brightest star in the night sky. Its name is derived from the Greek word Σείριος Seirios "glowing" or "scorching". With a visual apparent magnitude of −1.46, Sirius is almost twice as bright as Canopus, the next brightest star. Sirius is a binary star consisting of a main-sequence star of spectral type A0 or A1, termed Sirius A, and a faint white dwarf companion of spectral type DA2, termed Sirius B. The distance between the two varies between 8.2 and 31.5 astronomical units as they orbit every 50 years.

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Sirius (α Canis Majoris), Gebhard Maurer