Sirius
Sign in to saveSirius is the brightest star in the night sky, located in the southern constellation of Canis Major. Its name is derived from the Greek word (Latin script: ; ). The star is designated Canis Majoris, Latinized to Alpha Canis Majoris, and abbreviated CMa or Alpha CMa. 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 betw
AI overview
Sirius is the brightest star visible from Earth, located in the constellation Canis Major, and it is actually a binary system made up of two stars: a main-sequence star and a white dwarf companion. It matters to astronomy and stargazing because its exceptional brightness makes it a prominent landmark in the night sky and provides scientists with an important example of a binary star system to study.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Article
30 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- Observational history
- Kinematics
- Distance
- Discovery of Sirius B
- Colour controversy
- Observation
- Location
- Stellar system
- Sirius A
- Sirius B
- Apparent third star
- {{Anchor|Sirius supercluster}}Star cluster membership
- Distant star cluster
- Cultural significance
- Dog Star
- Other canine associations
- Range of associations
- Iranian mythology and Zoroastrianism
- In Islam
- In Theosophy
- New Year culmination
- Dogon
- Serer religion
- Modern significance
- See also
- Notes
- References
- Bibliography
- External links
Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky, located in the southern constellation of Canis Major. Its name is derived from the Greek word (Latin script: ; ). The star is designated Canis Majoris, Latinized to Alpha Canis Majoris, and abbreviated CMa or Alpha CMa. 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.
Sirius appears bright because of its intrinsic luminosity and its proximity to the Solar System. At a distance of , the Sirius system is one of Earth's nearest neighbours. Sirius is gradually moving closer to the Solar System and it is expected to increase in brightness slightly over the next 60,000 years to reach a peak magnitude of −1.68. Coincidentally, at about the same time, Sirius will take its turn as the southern Pole Star, around the year 66,270 AD. In that year, Sirius will come to within 1.6 degrees of the south celestial pole. This is due to axial precession and proper motion of Sirius itself which moves slowly in the SSW direction, so it will be visible from the southern hemisphere only.