Canis Major
Canis Major is found south
east of Orion. An easy way to locate the constellation is to locate the
three stars that make up Orions Belt and follow the stars down in a south
westerly direction until you come to the next bright star. This is Sirius in
Canis Major, its the brightest star in the constellation..
South of Sirius, the open cluster M41 can be found. Like all open clusters, it
contains a few hundred young stars and has no particular shape. Together the stars are just
bright enough to be seen with the naked eye on a clear night with no moon. With binoculars
they appear as a faint smudge and in a telescope, the cluster is easily seen, covering about as much sky as the full moon does.
As the cluster appears low in the sky from northern latitudes light pollution
reduces the splendor of this cluster but its still worth a look.
Sirius also has a companion star, known as Sirius B. Sirius B was the first "white dwarf" to be discovered.
| Telescopic Objects | Main Stars | ||||||
| Object | Magnitude | Comments | Name | Magnitude | Distance L/Y | Comments | |
| M41 | 6.9 | Open Cluster | a Sirius | -1.4 | 8 | Has white dwarf companion Mag 8.5 | |
| e Adhara | 1.5 | 490 | |||||
| d Wezea | 1.8 | 3,060 | |||||
| b Mirzam | 1.9 | 720 | |||||
| h Aludra | 2.4 | 2,500 | |||||
| z Phurad |
3.0 |
290 |
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| Multiple Stars | |||||||
| Name | Magnitude / Separation" | ||||||
| a Sirius | -1.4 & 8.5 / variable | Binary system with an orbital period of | |||||
|
50 years. In the mid 1990's the apparent separation was at its minimum so a powerful telescope is required to split the pair. |
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