CANIS MINOR

'Canis Minor' (IPA: , ) is one of the 88 modern constellations, and was also in Ptolemy's list of 48 constellations. It is said to represent one of the dogs following Orion the hunter.

Contents

Notable features

Notable deep sky objects

Mythology

See also

References

External links

Notable features

Canis Minor is a small constellation mainly consisting of the two stars, Procyon (α CMi, 0.38^m) and Gomeisa (β CMi , 2.9^m). Procyon is the eighth brightest star in the night sky. Procyon means "before the dog" in Greek, as it rises an hour before the Dog Star, Sirius, of Canis Major.

Notable deep sky objects

Being such a small constellation, Canis Minor has no deep sky object brighter than magnitude 10.

Mythology

Canis Minor was considered to be the smaller of the two hunting dogs of Orion. However, the ancient Greeks did not recognise it as a distinct constellation, and thus originally only considered Orion to have had one dog. See also the constellations of Orion and Canis Major.

See also

★ Canis Major

References

★ Ian Ridpath and Wil Tirion (2007). ''Collins Stars and Planets Guide'', HarperCollins, London. ISBN 978-0007251209.

External links

★ The Deep Photographic Guide to the Constellations: Canis Minor

★ 'WIKISKY.ORG': Canis Minor

★ Star Tales – Canis Minor