Canis Majoris - the Dog Star

Sirius is the ‘Dog Star’ in the constellation Canis Major (the big dog). It is the brightest star in the night sky at a magnitude of almost -2. It’s so bright due to its nearness to earth (only 8.6 light years), because it has twice the mass of the Sun and is 23 times more luminous.

A dog and telescope

The second ‘Dog Star’ was Sam – a black Shih-Tzu who was a puppy when Dogstar Observatory was built in 2009

Henry

Shih-Tzu 1985-2000

Sam

Shih-Tzu 2004-2019

Lexi

Schnoodle 2020-