Canis Major

Definition: Canis Major

Canis Major

Noun

1. A constellation southeast of Orion; contains Sirius.

Domain	Definitions
Aerospace	See constellation.Abbreviation CMa, C Maj. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Canis Major

larger image
Abbreviation CMa

Genitive Canis Majoris

Meaning in English the Greater Dog

Right ascension 7 h

Declination -20°

Visible to latitude Between 60° and -90°

Best visible February

Area
- Total Ranked 43th
380 sq. deg.

Number of stars with
apparent magnitude < 3 5
Brightest star
- Apparent magnitude Sirius (α Canis Majoris)
-1.46

Meteor showers None

Bordering constellations
Monoceros
Lepus
Columba
Puppis

Canis Major (the big dog) is one of the 88 modern constellations, and was also in Ptolemy's list of 48 constellations. It is said to represent one of the dogs following Orion the hunter (see also the constellations of Orion, Canis Minor, and Canes Venatici.) Canis Major contains Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, and that star is part of the Winter Triangle.

Notable features

Canis Major's alpha star Sirius is the brightest star besides the Sun as seen from Earth. It is also one of the nearest. The star is referred to as the Dog Star; its name Sirius means scorching.

Other named stars in Canis Major:

Murzim (β Canis Majoris)
Muliphen (γ Canis Majoris)
Wezen (δ Canis Majoris)
Adara (ε Canis Majoris)
Furud (ζ Canis Majoris)
Aludra (η Canis Majoris)

Notable deep sky objects

There aren't many bright deep sky objects in this region of sky. The only Messier object in Canis Major is M41 (NGC 2287), an open cluster of visual magnitude 4.6. It is located about 4 degrees directly south of Sirius.

Mythology

In early classical days, this constellation represented Laelaps, Acteon's hound; or sometimes the hound of Procris, Diana's nymph; or the one given by Aurora to Cephalus, so famed for its speed that Zeus elevated it to the sky. Most commonly, Canis Major (or perhaps just the star Sirius) is Orion's hunting dog, pursuing Lepus the hare or helping Orion fight Taurus the bull, and is referred to in this way by Aratos, Homer and Hesiod. The ancient Greeks refer only to one dog, but by Roman times, Canis Minor appears as Orion\'s second dog.

Roman myth also refers to Canis Major as Custos Europae, the dog guarding Europa but failing to prevent her abduction by Jupiter in the form of a bull; and as Janitor Lethaeus, the watchdog of Hell.

Canis Major (dwarf galaxy)

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Canis Major is a dwarf galaxy located in the constellation of Canis Major, ~25,000 light-years from Earth. The galaxy, containing a relatively high percentage of red dwarf stars, is being pulled into the Milky Way; the galaxy contains ~1 billion stars in all. Canis Major was found, in 2003, by astronomers conducting the Two-Micron All Sky Survey.

Synonym: Canis Major

Synonym: Great Dog (n). (additional references)

Crosswords: Canis Major

English words defined with "Canis Major": Argo ♦ Canicula ♦ Dog Star ♦ Puppis ♦ Sirius, Sothis. (references)

Specialty definitions using "Canis Major": CMa, C Maj. (references)

Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	Canis Major, Lepus, Columba Noachi & Cela Sculptoris / Sidy. Hall, sculpt.Credit: Library of Congress.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "Canis Major"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		arusha e madhe (big dipper, charles's wain, the big dipper, the plough). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		大犬座 . (various references)

Japanese Katakana		おおいぬざ. (various references)

Pig Latin		aniscay ajormay

Portuguese		cão maior. (various references)

Spanish		can mayor. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-a-c-i-j-m-n-o-r-s"
	-1 letter: armonicas, macaronis, marocains.
	-2 letters: armonica, macaroni, maniocas, marocain, minorcas, ocarinas.
	-3 letters: acrasin, acromia, anosmia, anosmic, arnicas, caimans, camions, carinas, crimson, jarinas, jicamas, macrons, maniacs, manioca, maniocs, marinas, masonic, microns, minorca, narcism, oarsman, ocarina, sarcoma.
	-4 letters: acinar, acorns, airman, amnios, animas, anomic, arnica, aromas, arsino, caiman, cairns, camion, camisa, carina, carman, caroms, casino, crania, inarms, jarina, jasmin, jicama, jorams, macons, macron, macros, majors, maniac, manias, manics, manioc, manors, marina, mascon, micron, micros, minors, mosaic, nairas, narcos, norias, orcins, racism, racons, ramson, ransom, riojas, romans, scoria, socman.
	-5 letters: acari, acorn, airns, amain, amias, amino, amins, amirs, amnia, amnic, amnio, anima, anoas, arias, aroma, arson, cains, cairn, cajon, camas, canso, carns, carom, cions, coins, coirs, comas, coria, corms, corns, crams, icons, inarm, irons, joins, joram, maars, macon, macro, mains, mairs, major, manas, mania, manic, manor, manos, marcs, maria, mason, micas, micra, micro, minas, minor, moans, moira, monas, moras, morns, naira, narco, narcs, naric, naris, noirs, nomas, noria, noris, norms, omasa, orcas, orcin, ornis, osmic, racon, raias, rains, rajas, ranis, rioja, roams, roans, roman, rosin, sacra, saran, sarin, scion, scorn, scram, scrim, simar, sonar, sonic.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)

43 61 6E 69 73 4D 61 6A 6F 72

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)

Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)

01000011 01100001 01101110 01101001 01110011 00100000 01001101 01100001 01101010 01101111 01110010

HTML Code (1990) (references)

&#67 &#97 &#110 &#105 &#115 &#32 &#77 &#97 &#106 &#111 &#114

ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)

0043 0061 006E 0069 0073 004D 0061 006A 006F 0072

Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)

Expression	Frequency per Day
canis major	14
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Canis Major

Definition: Canis Major

Canis Major

Noun

Specialty Definitions: Canis Major

Aerospace

Specialty Definition: Canis Major

Notable features

Notable deep sky objects

Mythology

Canis Major (dwarf galaxy)

Synonym: Canis Major

Crosswords: Canis Major

Photo Album: Canis Major

Frequency of Internet Keywords: Canis Major

canis major

Modern Translations: Canis Major

Albanian

Japanese Kanji

Japanese Katakana

Pig Latin

Portuguese

Spanish

Anagrams: Canis Major

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Alternative Orthography: Canis Major

43 61 6E 69 73 4D 61 6A 6F 72

01000011 01100001 01101110 01101001 01110011 00100000 01001101 01100001 01101010 01101111 01110010

&#67 &#97 &#110 &#105 &#115 &#32 &#77 &#97 &#106 &#111 &#114

0043 0061 006E 0069 0073 004D 0061 006A 006F 0072

376780758524767768184

INDEX

Canis Major
larger image
Abbreviation	CMa
Genitive	Canis Majoris
Meaning in English	the Greater Dog
Right ascension	7 h
Declination	-20°
Visible to latitude	Between 60° and -90°
Best visible	February
Area - Total	Ranked 43th 380 sq. deg.
Number of stars with apparent magnitude < 3	5
Brightest star - Apparent magnitude	Sirius (α Canis Majoris) -1.46
Meteor showers	None
Bordering constellations	Monoceros Lepus Columba Puppis