Canis Major
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		Common Name: Canis Major Other Names: The Large Dog RA: 7 Dec -20 Brightest Star: Sirius -1.44 Closest Star: Sirius 8.6 light years Visible from latitudes: +60 ... -90 Bordering Constellations: Monoceros, Puppis, Columba, Lepus Canis Major is a well known constellation in the Southern sky dominated by the bright star Sirius. It spans 380 square degrees. Canis Major is one of Orions 3 hunting dogs, Canis Minor, and Canes Venatici the other. The big dog is hunting Lepus The Hare and Taurus The Bull. Sirius is the brightst star visible in the night sky as viewed from Earth at magnitude -1.44. It is also the 6th closest star to the Sun. It is a binary system consisting of a white dwarf star also known as The Pup. The period is 50 years. The white dwarf is magnitude 8.5 but is lost in the glare of Sirius with small telescopes unless a filter is used. The separation is 4.6 arcseconds. The little beehive is an open cluster consisting of some 8000 stars lying 2350 light years away. This is a good binocular object Open Star Clusters: The Little Beehive, M41, NGC 2287 Mexican Jumping Star NGC 2354 NGC 2204 NGC 2367 NGC 2384 NGC 2360 NGC 2354 NGC 2374 Globular Clusters nil Emission Nebula Thors Helmut Planetary Nebula PK 221 - 12.1 PK 242 - 11.1 Galaxies NGC 2223 NGC 2280 NGC 2292 Canis Major Dwarf
														Magnitude								Distance, LY		BV				Solar Radii
					STAR
													-1.47															2.2
					Sirius
																						8.6
																								0.01
													1.96
					Mirzam
																						502						12
																								-0.24
													4.09
					Muliphein
																						403						5.7
																								-0.11
													1.81
					Wesen
																						1812		0.67				226
													1.50
					Adhara
																						432		-0.21				14
													2.43
						Aludra
																						3262		-0.08				111
							Furud						3.00
																						336						6.5
																								-0.16
					Theta								4.06
																						253		1.42				57
					Iota								4.34
																						3106		-0.06				48
																													15
					Kappa								3.50									796		-0.12
				Lambda									4.46									408		-0.17				3.9