It’s arduous to consider Procyon – the Little Canine Star – with out additionally considering of the opposite Canine Star, Sirius. For those who’re trying on the proper time of the yr (or proper time of the night time), you may at all times discover Sirius as a result of it’s the sky’s brightest star. Procyon is at all times close to its extra good brother on the sky’s dome. Procyon isn’t practically as vivid as Sirius. Nevertheless it’s nonetheless the Eighth-brightest star within the sky, and the Sixth-brightest of stars which are simply seen from essentially the most populated areas of the Northern Hemisphere.
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Procyon, a Northern Hemisphere spring star
Search for Procyon within the night within the winter and spring months. By March of yearly, Procyon is at or close to the meridian (highest level within the sky) at early night. By June, Procyon units not lengthy after darkish.
Procyon is the brightest star in Canis Minor the Lesser Canine. This constellation is small, with just one different noteworthy star, named Gomeisa. Generally, Canis Minor is named the “Scorching Canine”, possibly due to the excessive temperature of Gomeisa. Procyon goes by the Lesser Canine Star or Little Canine Star. Our chart exhibits Procyon as a member of the Winter Triangle asterism. In different phrases, these stars aren’t an official constellation, however a gaggle of noticeable stars that occur to kind a triangle sample on the sky’s dome.
Fainter than blue-white Sirius to its south, white Procyon is marginally brighter than orange-red Betelgeuse to the west. The most effective time to view Procyon is at night in late winter by spring, when the Winter Triangle (Sirius, Procyon, Betelgeuse) is highest within the sky. At magnitude 0.4, Procyon is nearly the identical brightness as close by Betelgeuse in Orion, with a mean magnitude of 0.45. (Bear in mind, within the magnitude system, bigger numbers are fainter, so near-zero is sort of vivid.)
The science of the Lesser Canine Star
The star Procyon is nearing the tip levels of its lifetime, evolving from a standard mature star to the inflated large levels of previous age.
Regular stars spend the massive majority of their lifetimes changing hydrogen into helium. Because the out there hydrogen runs out, a star grows bigger and its floor turns into cooler. Finally Procyon will change into a red giant star, a lot bigger and brighter than the sun, however that’s nonetheless some hundreds of thousands of years sooner or later.
Procyon is designated as a F5IV-V star, the place the F5 primarily offers the colour or temperature of the star’s floor, and the IV-V signifies that it’s in a transitional phase between the main sequence (V) and subdwarf (IV) durations.
Solely 11.4 light-years away, Procyon is one in all our nearest stellar neighbors. It’s about 1.4 occasions as huge because the sun and has roughly twice its diameter. Barely greater than seven occasions brighter than the sun, Procyon’s hotter floor (about 11,300 levels F or 6,260 C, in comparison with about 10,000 levels F or 5,540 C for the sun) radiates extra of the upper vitality however shorter wavelengths of sunshine. As such, it’s practically eight occasions extra energetic (luminous) than the sun.
Procyon is a double star with a faint white dwarf companion that you would be able to solely see in telescopes. The white dwarf, Procyon B, is farther alongside in its evolution than Procyon, and actually has reached the tip of the road. It now not produces secure hydrogen fusion and is taken into account a “lifeless” star. The affordable assumption is that these two stars shaped on the similar time, so the truth that Procyon B has already change into a stellar corpse signifies that it initially should have been barely extra huge than Procyon. Extra huge stars are likely to burn their gasoline hotter and quicker, inflicting them to burn out sooner.
Procyon in historical past and mythology
Procyon is the alpha star of the constellation Canis Minor the Small Canine. In mythology, Canis Minor is the smaller of two of Orion the Hunter’s companion looking canines. The constellation Canis Main depicts the Nice Canine, highlighted by Sirius, the sky’s brightest star (after the sun).
The title Procyon is from Greek and means “earlier than the canine,” a reference to the rising of this star shortly earlier than Sirius, the bigger Canine Star within the constellation Canis Main. Procyon’s rising time was significantly essential in historical Egypt, as a result of the helical rising – or rising simply earlier than the sun – of Sirius heralded the annual flooding of the Nile River. Thus the rising of Procyon simply earlier than Sirius gave much more superior warning.
Procyon nonetheless does rise earlier than Sirius as seen from mid-northern latitudes, like these within the northern United States.
However from the southern U.S. and comparable latitudes – for instance, Cairo in Egypt – Sirius now rises earlier than Procyon! Thus an observer in Cairo immediately would discover that Sirius rising a few minutes earlier than Procyon and the explanation for the title “earlier than the canine” now not applies. This variation is because of a type of long-term wobble in Earth’s movement, known as precession.
An apart: “Procyon” can be the genus designation of raccoons. Apparently the “earlier than the canine” appellation indicated that biologists as soon as thought-about raccoons because the precursors of canines within the evolutionary sequence, an concept now not in favor.
The place of Procyon is RA 07h 39m 18.1/17.7s, dec +05° 13′ 29/20″.
Backside line: The star Procyon is the Little Canine Star. Find out about Procyon and the way to discover it in your sky.
