Right
near the constellation of the Great Dog, Canis Majoris, with it's
brilliant skymark Sirius lies the lesser-known constellation of Canis
Minoris, the Lesser Dog. Just like Canis Majoris Canis Minoris
represents one of Orion's hunting dogs. And just like Canis Majoris
Canis Minoris is home to a brilliant first magnitude star, Procyon, the
20th star in the Nautical Almanac.
Procyon (pronounced pro-see-yon in modern times but pro-key-yon in ancient times), though only a fraction as bright as Sirius, was an important star to the ancients. It was known as the "Little Dog Star". Like Sirius it spent much of Earth's year above the horizon, only to disappear and reappear. It's reappearance both preceded (hence its name) and heralded the rising of Sirius, and Nile farmers knew to prepare their agricultural tools and stocks for the season when Procyon rose. (Due to precession, and depending where one is on Earth, Procyon today may rise after Sirius, and not before.)
Mythologically Procyon was considered the brother star of Sirius, but like many mythological brothers Procyon was maleficent while Sirius was beneficent. It was the star of raccoons (considered degenerate dogs by the ancients) while Sirius was the star of true canines. Astrologically, Procyon is a Behenian star of ill omen, natural disasters, violence, personal troubles, and failures (and, tellingly, extreme wealth); perhaps the one star to which the Yiddish phrase "Mazel Tov!" ("Lucky Star!") would never apply. It was linked to Mars, and given an unusual glyph in Kabbalah, alchemy, and astrology.
Procyon, like Sirius, is a binary star. The larger Procyon A is a white main sequence star. Procyon B is a white dwarf, the corpse of a star. Astronomers believe that Procyon B was once the larger, hotter star, and that it exhausted itself and collapsed. They posit that within the next 100 million years Procyon A will follow the same path. (Massive stars explode into supernovas, while less-massive stars collapse into white dwarfs.)
Procyon A is a bit more massive than our Sun, twice around as large, and seven times more luminous, indicating that it is nearing the end of its Main Sequence. It is 11,000 degrees F., just 1000 degrees hotter than our Sun. Unlike our Sun though, the Procyon system is not yet 2 billion years old.
As seen from Earth, Procyon forms one point of the Winter Triangle asterism, together with Betelgeuse and Sirius. Procyon lies about eleven light years away (64,664,879,105,020 miles) making Procyon one of our closest neighbors. From Procyon, the Sun would be a second magnitude yellow star.
Procyon (pronounced pro-see-yon in modern times but pro-key-yon in ancient times), though only a fraction as bright as Sirius, was an important star to the ancients. It was known as the "Little Dog Star". Like Sirius it spent much of Earth's year above the horizon, only to disappear and reappear. It's reappearance both preceded (hence its name) and heralded the rising of Sirius, and Nile farmers knew to prepare their agricultural tools and stocks for the season when Procyon rose. (Due to precession, and depending where one is on Earth, Procyon today may rise after Sirius, and not before.)
Mythologically Procyon was considered the brother star of Sirius, but like many mythological brothers Procyon was maleficent while Sirius was beneficent. It was the star of raccoons (considered degenerate dogs by the ancients) while Sirius was the star of true canines. Astrologically, Procyon is a Behenian star of ill omen, natural disasters, violence, personal troubles, and failures (and, tellingly, extreme wealth); perhaps the one star to which the Yiddish phrase "Mazel Tov!" ("Lucky Star!") would never apply. It was linked to Mars, and given an unusual glyph in Kabbalah, alchemy, and astrology.
Procyon, like Sirius, is a binary star. The larger Procyon A is a white main sequence star. Procyon B is a white dwarf, the corpse of a star. Astronomers believe that Procyon B was once the larger, hotter star, and that it exhausted itself and collapsed. They posit that within the next 100 million years Procyon A will follow the same path. (Massive stars explode into supernovas, while less-massive stars collapse into white dwarfs.)
Procyon A is a bit more massive than our Sun, twice around as large, and seven times more luminous, indicating that it is nearing the end of its Main Sequence. It is 11,000 degrees F., just 1000 degrees hotter than our Sun. Unlike our Sun though, the Procyon system is not yet 2 billion years old.
As seen from Earth, Procyon forms one point of the Winter Triangle asterism, together with Betelgeuse and Sirius. Procyon lies about eleven light years away (64,664,879,105,020 miles) making Procyon one of our closest neighbors. From Procyon, the Sun would be a second magnitude yellow star.
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