How old is canis major

It shines simply because it's still hot. Canis Major's second-brightest star is Adhara. It is well below Sirius, in one of the dog's legs. It is about light-years away. It emits about a thousand times more visible light than Sirius does, so if it were moved to the same distance as Sirius, it would look about times brighter than Sirius does.

Because the surface of Adhara is extremely hot, the star emits more ultraviolet energy than visible light. The constellation of Canis Major contains many bright stars above magnitude 2.

Sirius, also designated as Alpha Canis Majoris, is the brightest star in Canis Major, and overall the brightest in the night sky. For comparison, Sirius is twice as bright as Canopus , the second-brightest star in the night sky. The distance between the two stars varies between 8. The Sirius star system is situated at around 8. Sirius is also known as the Dog Star, reflecting its prominence in its constellation — Canis Major — the celestial Greater Dog.

Adhara , designated as Epsilon Canis Majoris, is a binary star located at around light-years away from us. Adhara is the second-brightest star in the constellation, having an apparent magnitude of 1. The primary star, Adhara, is the brightest ultraviolet source in the sky. It is the strongest source of photons capable of ionizing hydrogen atoms in interstellar gas near the Sun and is very important in determining the ionization state of the Local Interstellar Cloud.

Adhara is 38, times brighter than the Sun. Wezen, also designated as Delta Canis Majoris, is a yellow-white F-type supergiant star , being the third brightest star in Canis Major. Wezen has an apparent magnitude of 1. Wezen lies around 10 degrees south southeast of Sirius. It will become a red supergiant star in the future. Wezen is situated at around 1, light-years away. Mirzam, designated as Beta Canis Majoris, is the fourth brightest star in the constellation, having an apparent magnitude of 1.

Mirzam is a blue-white giant star located at around light-years away. Mirzam is located near the far end of the Local Bubble, a cavity in the local interstellar medium through which the Sun is also traveling. Aludra, designated as Eta Canis Majoris, is the fifth brightest star in the constellation, having an apparent magnitude of 2. Aludra is located at around 2, light-years away.

Tau Canis Majoris is a multiple star system located at around 5, light-years away. It is the brightest member of the open cluster NGC , having an apparent magnitude of 4.

Tau Canis Majoris has surface temperatures of around 32, K. Furud is a spectroscopic binary star. Furud has surface temperatures of around 18, K, it is located at light-years. Muliphein, designated as Gamma Canis Majoris, is a blue-white B-type bright giant star located at around light-years away.

This star is a chemically peculiar Hg-Mg star having abnormal lines of magnesium and mercury in its spectrum. Muliphein is a member of the Collinder open star cluster. If it were possible to transport a teaspoon 5 milliliters of this star's material to Earth, it would weigh several tons!

Below Sirius is a pattern of three stars, which form a distinct triangle and represent the hind quarters of Canis Major. But the star in the lower right corner of the triangle, which goes by the name Adhara , might better be called the Rodney Dangerfield of the night sky. While most everyone gawks at Sirius, hardly anyone gives Adhara a second look. But because astronomers categorize such rankings of star brightness by a process known as "binning," Adhara is just barely too dim to be classified as a first-magnitude star.

But if we could somehow place Sirius and Adhara side by side, it would be obvious which star is the true dazzler. Adhara is more than 1, times more luminous than Sirius! And yet, Adhara appears much dimmer to us, because it's 50 times farther away from Earth than Sirius is. Even the renowned celestial cartographer Johann Bayer showed no respect for Adhara.

When Bayer published his classic star atlas, "Uranometria," in , he assigned lowercase Greek letters to the brightest stars in each constellation. As the second brightest star in Canis Major, Adhara should have been christened Beta. Instead, Bayer branded it Epsilon, usually reserved for the fifth brightest. Rodney Dangerfield used to say, "The first time my old man played catch with me He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine , the Farmers' Almanac and other publications.

This helical rising is referred to in many temple inscriptions, where the star is known as the Divine Sepat, identified as the soul of Isis. All of these lay in the Vermilion Bird region of the zodiac, on of four symbols of the Chinese constellations, which is associated with the South and Summer.

This constellation and its most prominent stars were also featured in the astrological traditions of the Maori people of New Zealand, the Aborigines of Australia, and the Polynesians of the South Pacific. This constellation was one of the original 48 that Ptolemy included in his 2nd century BCE work the Amalgest. It would remain a part of the astrological traditions of Europe and the Near East for millennia.

In , Alvan Graham Clark, Jr. In , the International Astronomical Union would include Canis Major as one of the 88 recognized constellations. Canis Major has several notable stars, the brightest being Sirius A. Because of this, it produces so much light that it often appears to be flashing in vibrant colors, an effect caused by the interaction of its light with our atmosphere.

It is a Beta Cephei variable star and is currently in the final stages of using its hydrogen gas for fuel. It will eventually exhaust this supply and begin using helium for fuel instead. Beta Canis Majoris is located near the far end of the Local Bubble — a cavity in the local Interstellar medium though which the Sun is traveling.

This star shines brightly in the skies in spite of its distance from Earth approx.