ABSTRACT
This chapter contains a map of Canis Major and also Columba, with parts of Monoceros, Lepus and Puppis. Of course the dominant feature is Sirius, so much the most brilliant star in the sky, though it owes its eminence to the fact that cosmically speaking it is so near at hand; it is a mere 8 light-years away, and no more than 26 times as luminous as the Sun. Sirius is a pure white star; when low down it seems to flash various colours, but this is due entirely to the effects of the Earth’s atmosphere through which the starlight has to pass. Some of the other stars of Canis Major are highly luminous; for example Delta could match 130,000 Suns, and is over 3,000 light-years away, while Epsilon or Adhara is exceptionally powerful at extreme ultra-violet wavelengths. UW lies in the field of the Tau Canis Majoris cluster, NGC 2362 (C64).
