Sirius

Sirius

Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky, located in the southern constellation of Canis Major. Its name is derived from the Ancient Greek word Σείριος. The star is designated α Canis Majoris, Romanized to Alpha Canis Majoris, and abbreviated α CMa or Alpha CMa. With a visual apparent magnitude of −1.46, Sirius is almost twice as bright as Canopus, the next brightest star. Sirius is a binary star consisting of a main-sequence star of spectral type A0 or A1, termed Sirius A, and a faint white dwarf companion of spectral type DA2, termed Sirius B. The distance between the two varies between 8.2 and 31.5 astronomical units as they orbit every 50 years. Sirius appears bright because of its intrinsic luminosity and its proximity to the Solar System. At a distance of 2.64 parsecs, the Sirius system is one of Earth's nearest neighbours.

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