STAR GAZER
THE INTERNATIONAL EDITION
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Horkheimer: Greetings, greetings fellow star gazers. You know it seems that almost everyone's favorite winter constellation is Orion the Hunter. But his two faithful hunting companions, Canis Major and Canis Minor, should not be overlooked because their brightest stars are quite wonderful. Canis Major is Latin for the bigger dog and Canis Minor is Latin for the smaller dog. And this month is perfect for observing this cosmic dog show.
O.K., we've got our skies set up for any night the next few weeks between 7 and 9 p.m. your local time facing due south where the most obvious constellation will be Orion the Hunter. Three bright stars in a row mark his belt, two bright stars mark his shoulders and two bright stars mark his knees. And to find his two faithful hunting dogs all you have to remember is that they follow him across the sky. To find his first dog use the belt trick. Simply shoot an imaginary arrow down through Orion's belt and that arrow will land smack dab on Sirius which marks the eye of Orion's bigger dog and which is also the brightest star we can see with the naked eye.
Now many people draw a stick figure of a dog here in different ways but the one we're showing is my personal favorite. Sirius is mentioned in practically every culture that ever kept records. Even in ancient Egypt it was called the dog star and whenever it was seen rising just before the Sun in early morning it was used as a cosmic sign that the Nile river would soon flood and make the land of Egypt fertile for planting. And if you've ever heard of the hot dog days of summer many of our ancestors believed that Sirius the dog star was responsible for them.
Today we know that Sirius is among the very closest of all the stars, only 8.6 light years away which means that the light we see actually left Sirius 8.6 years ago which is really close. So its closeness has something to do with why it appears so bright although we have to add the fact that it is almost twice as wide as our Sun and because it is so much hotter and is 23 times brighter! Additionally it has a special companion star called a white dwarf. Special because even though it has the same mass as our Sun it is only two Earths wide, which makes its material so dense that a teaspoon of it would weigh several tons here on Earth. Wow!
Not to be out done however, the brightest star of Orion's other dog Procyon, although not quite as bright to the naked eye as Sirius, is even bigger, 2.3 times our Sun's diameter. But because it is not as hot a star as Sirius it shines only 6 times brighter than our Sun. It too, like Sirius, is close, only 2 and a half light years farther away than Sirius, 11.3 light years distant. And strangely and coincidentally, like Sirius, it also has a white dwarf companion star almost identical to Sirius' white dwarf. So there you have it, the two brightest stars of Orion's faithful companions, each with their own little pup, which to my way of thinking is really something to howl about. Keep looking up!
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Horkheimer: Everyone loves Orion the Hunter but his two dogs hide hidden wonders. In early evening face south then shoot an arrow through Orion's belt and you'll land on Sirius the eye of Orion's bigger dog, the brightest star we can see with the naked eye. It's almost twice as wide as our Sun but 23 times brighter and has a hidden companion called a white dwarf star whose material is so dense a teaspoon of it would weigh several tons on Earth. Procyon, the eye of Orion's other dog, is 2 1/3 times our Sun's size and 6 times brighter. And strangely it too has a white dwarf. So get thee out to see Orion's two cosmic canine companions. And I think you'll agree they're something to howl about. Keep looking up!
How did you like this episode?
Please give us your comments. (Click
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* This week's Sky At A Glance and
Planet Roundup from Sky & Telescope.Starry Night Deluxe was used to produce this episode
of Star Gazer
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