southern hemisphere is full of lots of bright stars.Canis Major - is relatively small (which contrasts with the name), but very interesting constellation, which is located in the Southern Hemisphere.Brightness is such that it emits light in the twenty times stronger than the sun.Distance from planet Earth to the Canis Major is eight and a half million light-years.
Location constellations in the night sky
Canis motion per day does not rise high over the horizon, so it can be seen in the sky are not too long.However, this is offset by the fact that to find it in the sky quite simple.Constellation of Sirius is located in the southeastern part, next to other very bright constellation of Orion.In the north of the constellation Canis Major is bordered by a dull neighbor - the Unicorn.Just above is a "Alpha Canis Minor" - a constellation of Procyon.Watch him best from December to January.
Southern neighbors
South of Sirius are Dove and feed.These constellations, unfortunately, there is no bright stars, so guide the search in the night sky an object such as the constellation Canis Major, they can not.However, finding it simple with the above information.
myths about the origin of the constellations
hypergiants Big Dog Star Sirius, and served as the basis for creating the constellation around.Myths about the origin of the lights originate from the most ancient times.People saw in it the image of a dog that eventually moved and everything else constellation.Sirius was mentioned by the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Incas, Aztecs, Maya and the peoples of the Middle and Far East.In ancient China, it was the "celestial jackal" named Tien Lang.Southern Star were his bow and arrows with which Tien Lang was killed for what he tore the emperor.
However, the greatest popularity was received ancient legends about this star.
Greek myth of Icarus
prototype of the stars and constellations of the entire ancient Greeks believed the dog.However, there is divergent mythology, and you can learn as much as two theories of the origin of Sirius.
According to the first version, the god Dionysus gave shepherd Icaria magical vine grapes because the sheltered god winemaker at night.Dionysus showed him how to grow grapes and make delicious wine.This knowledge Ikari told all the people during his travels.One shepherd was in Attica and taste the wines made by local residents.However, he did not realize that they have never tasted the taste of wine and so very drunk.Deciding that Ikari would poison them, they went into a rage and killed him.After committing this heinous crime people have disappeared in the mountains and buried the body.The daughter of a shepherd goes in search of his father.And only with the help of a devoted dog Myra girl found a place where people buried his body.In a fit of despair, she hanged from the nearest tree.
enraged god Dionysus winemaker furious sent to the residents of Attica disease.Only after many years with the help of rituals and sacrifices people have been able to beg forgiveness from God.
dog Myra, a shepherd and his daughter Ikaria Dionysos placed on the sky as stars.Since then, there were a constellation Canis Major, Bootes and Virgo.
Greek myth of OREON
Another ancient legend tells of a bold hunter.OREON (on some versions of his name Actaeon) accidentally discovered bathing in a cool source of the goddess Artemis.Naturally, the boy admired the divine beauty of the naked goddess.Frightened poor OREON Artemis turned into a stag, which severed his own dog.That she eventually became the prototype of the constellation Canis Major.
Ancient astronomers
In Ancient Egypt, many priests of the temples carefully watched the rising of Sirius in the morning.This long-awaited event marked the flooding of the Nile and the onset of summer (summer solstice).Astronomers Ancient Egypt called this star SOPT.
name itself has ancient Greek origins.The word "sirios" means "brilliant."However, the Romans called the star "vacation", which means "dog".With the advent of Sirius began sunrise period and the unbearable heat, emerging epidemics.Therefore, in the Roman schools and introduced the so-called "vacation" - days of rest, which actually translated simply as "dog days."
More than five thousand ago the Sumerian astronomers, astrologers and priests associated Sirius "Sun Dog".It was the star of the constellation Canis Major attracted the most attention and served as a target for numerous predictions, superstitions and omens.
Historical quotes of the star Sirius
constellation Canis Major Claudius Ptolemy was included in the famous catalog of the sky "Almagest".There it was called Dog.
poet Aratus, who lived in the third century BC, called Sirius colored.A Roman orator Cicero, rewriting the poem Arata into Latin, pointed out that "hot dog underfoot shines red and golden light, reflecting the light of the stars."The Roman poet Horace called notes that "red hot crack Dog dumb statue."Seneca also wrote about Sirius as one of the most striking and unusual space objects.
double star or two stars?
Age Sirius, according to various estimates, ranging from two hundred and thirty to two hundred and fifty million years.It moves at a speed of almost eight meters per second in the direction of the solar system, so the apparent brightness of Sirius over time is enhanced when viewed from Earth.Today, we see it with white, and the temperature on its surface reaches ten thousand degrees.Arab astronomers, surprisingly, mentioned only five red stars instead of six.
astronomer Camille Flammarion in France claimed that the translation of the "Almagest" was inaccurate, as Cicero, Seneca and Horace used the metaphor of the "red light" for its poetic descriptions.
However, it can be assumed that these figures of antiquity did see the constellation Canis Major red.Arab astronomers have just edited the "Almagest" according to the color of Sirius by the end of the first millennium AD.It may indeed be the case, as for many hundreds of years, some of the stars change their surface temperature and the characteristic luster.That is why Camille Flammarion expressed the conviction that this is due to the very near Sirius satellite (ie the substance flows from the larger to the smaller stars).
German scientist and astronomer Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel were conducted observations of vibrations and movement of Sirius.In 1834 he considered the companion star.Accurate detection it was recorded by American astronomer Alvani Clark in 1862.This "companion star" was nicknamed Puppy and the name of Sirius B. The radius of it a hundred times smaller than the sun, but the total mass is actually the same for both of these stars.Sirius A as alpha Canis shines ten thousand times stronger than the puppy, the density of which is approximately one tonne per centimeter cube.These characteristics actually match the white dwarf stars that have completed the cycle of evolution and shrunk to the size of small planets.
Interesting facts about the constellation Canis Major
Many astrologers and astronomers believe that the stars affect the human psyche.Since ancient times it was believed that it was the constellation Canis Major, whose photos can be seen above, the impact on the supernatural and the paranormal, occult and magical manipulation.
Toward the south of Sirius, you can find a magnificent star cluster called M41, which is located at a distance of two thousand light years from our solar system.NGC 2362 - another interesting cluster, which includes dozens of stars.His age - a little over a million years.Cluster called Small Hive also very interesting to explore and contains hundreds of stars and even a dozen red giants.
in the constellation Canis Major, there is one "super" co-star - VY Canis Majoris.It hypergiants by the standards of modern astronomy.Its diameter - almost twenty astronomical units, which is about thirty billion kilometers.This two thousand times greater than the diameter of the sun.Unfortunately, because of the extremely low density to determine the exact diameter of a star can not be.If you put VY Canis Majoris in the place of the Sun, this giant will take the place of all the planets together with Saturn.Weight VY is four hundred solar, this means that hypergiants has an extremely rarefied atmosphere.
