Procyon (Alpha Canis Minoris)
The brightest star in the constellation Canis Minor,
the eighth brightest star in the sky, and the easternmost star of the Winter
Triangle. Its Greek name means “before the dog,” since in northern
latitudes it rises before Sirius, the Dog
Star, and its constellation, Canis Major. Procyon
is a nearby yellow-white subgiant F star,
about to shut down the fusion of hydrogen to helium in its core. Its tiny
companion, Procyon B, is a white dwarf,
first detected visually in 1896 by John Schaeberle with the 36-inch refractor
at Lick Observatory, though its existence and
an orbital period of 40 years had been deduced in 1861 by Arthur von Auswers
based on wobbles he measured in the brighter star. Procyon B is about half
the size of Earth, has a surface temperature of 8,700 K, and is separated
from Procyon A by an average of only 14.9 AU – roughly the distance
between Uranus and the Sun.
| |
A |
B |
| distance |
11.41 light-years (3.5 pc) |
|
| spectral type |
F5 IV |
wdF8 |
| apparent magnitude |
0.40 |
|
| absolute magnitude |
2.68 |
|
| luminosity (Sun = 1) |
7.6 |
0.0005 |
| mass (Sun = 1) |
1.77 |
0.63 |
| radius (Sun = 1) |
1.7 |
0.01 |
| position |
R.A. 07h 39m 18.1s,
Dec. +5° 13' 30" |
|
Related entries
• nearest stars
• brightest
stars
Related category
• NOTABLE
STARS
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