Canis Minor - Definition and Overview

Canis minor
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Abbreviation	CMi
Genitive	Canis Minoris
Symbology	the Smaller Dog
Right ascension	8 h
Declination	+5°
Area	182 sq. deg. Ranked 71st
Number of stars (magnitude < 3)	2
Brightest star	Procyon (α CMi) (App. magnitude 0.38)
Meteor showers	Canis-Minorids
Bordering constellations	Monoceros Gemini Cancer Hydra
Visible at latitudes between +85° and −75° Best visible during the month of March

Canis Minor (Latin for little 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.

Notable features

Canis Minor is a small constellation mainly consisting of two stars, Procyon (α Canis Minoris, 0.38^m) and Gomeisa (β Canis Minoris, 2.9^m). Procyon is the eighth brightest star in the night sky. Procyon means "before the dog" in Greek, as it rises before the Dog Star, Sirius, of Canis Major.

Notable deep sky objects

Being such a small constellation, Canis Minor has no deep sky object brighter than 10 Mag.

Mythology

Canis Minor was considered to be the smaller of the two hunting dogs of Orion. However, the ancient Greeks did not recognise it as a distinct constellation, and thus originally only considered Orion to have had one dog. See also the constellations of Orion and Canis Major.

See Also