How to find Canis Major
When to look
January, February, March evenings
Face south, low
Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, low in the south. Follow Orion's belt down and to the left to reach it. Winter evenings, January to March, low in the south; it rises in the south-east a little after Orion. The drawing below is made from the real positions of its 6 stars, as the sky looks when you face it, with bigger dots for brighter stars. No telescope needed.
Canis Major has the brightest star of the whole night: Sirius. Follow the three stars of Orion's belt down to find it.
Canis Major means the Great Dog. Its star Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky, so bright that it flashes colours when it is low and the air is moving. Below Sirius, a triangle of stars makes the dog's back legs and tail.
Sirius is bright mostly because it is close, about 8.6 light-years away, and holds about twice as much matter as the Sun. It has a tiny companion, Sirius B, a white dwarf about the size of Earth, too near Sirius's glare to see without a big telescope.
The stars in it
Sirius, Mirzam, Muliphein, Wezen, Adhara, Aludra. The brightest is Sirius.
How to find it
- Go out after dark with a grown-up, and give your eyes ten minutes away from screens.
- Face south, low and look for: sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, low in the south. Follow Orion's belt down and to the left to reach it.
- Hold up this page's drawing or the printed card and match the shape to the sky. If the sky is clear.
More star patterns
“Star patterns turn through the night, so the shape may be tipped on its side. Turn your head, not the sky.”