Welcome to Learn the Sky, your online resource for learning about the stars and constellations.
Welcome! My name is Janine and in this video we're going to review the constellation known as
Canis Minor. It's a really easy constellation to point out and it really only consists of two
stars within its pattern. When I was learning about Canis Minor I was really surprised at the depth
of the amount of mythology stories that go along with this tiny constellation. So let's get started.
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classes for you to experience. So be sure to check them out. Canis Minor is represented as the lesser
dog, which means it's one of the hunting dogs of Orion, the smaller one in fact. It is classified
as an ancient constellation. The earliest records date back as far as ancient Babylonia
and it's been recognized in many cultures throughout human history. The name Canis Minor
is Latin for lesser dog and It's recorded as one of Ptolemy's 48 constellations in the second century.
So as you're looking at this picture, right here, Canis Minor is this simple two-star constellation.
Down here is Canis Major, which has the brightest star in the night sky known as Sirius.
I have a whole video about Canis Major so be sure to go click on that video to learn more.
So when can you see Canis Minor? Canis Minor is best seen in the winter months in the Northern
Hemisphere. The way to find it is to use the shoulder stars of Orion to point to Canis
Minor. I'll show you that later in the video because Orion is not pictured here.
But it's easy to find because it's this simple two-star constellation and more importantly
it's part of something called the Winter Triangle Asterism. Now asterisms aren't true constellations,
but really patterns within constellations, or a connection between bright stars. We use
these asterisms to help us point out other star patterns in the sky. So the bright star in Canis
Minor is known as Procyon or Procyon, I've heard it pronounced both ways. I kind of bounce back
between those two pronunciations. Procyon, Sirius and Betelgeuse are the three
points of the Winter Triangle. It's really easy to point out these three stars especially
if you live in an area with lots of light pollution because these stars are really bright.
Now let's take a look at the star pattern that Canis Minor makes across the sky. Here we have
the official star map of Canis Minor and as you can see it's a really tiny constellation.
It doesn't take up much space in the sky and it only has these two stars in its pattern. I
also want you to notice that this star, right here, the alpha star, Procyon, is really bright. You can
see the magnitude scale right here. So let's get some practice with how to identify this in the sky.
As you're taking a look at this photo, there's some familiar constellations you might see. One
of which is Orion and Orion is such an important constellation because it points to so many other
star patterns in the sky. You can use Orion to point towards Canis Minor. If you use the
two shoulder stars, just draw an imaginary line through them and it'll lead you right to Canis
Minor. In fact, like I said, you can use Orion to point to all the constellations that surround it.
Orion can be used to point to Gemini, Auriga, Taurus, Canis Major and Canis Minor. So let's see if we
can get some more practice here. Now, as you're looking at this photo you won't see Orion here,
but you can see some of the other constellations that surround it. One which is Gemini. Gemini is one
of those few constellations that actually looks like what it's supposed to represent. I'm sure
as we're going through this video, you're wondering why in the world did people identify this as a dog?
It's only two stars. Well I'm sure the ancients had lots of imagination and remember these
these star patterns were really created as a way to keep track of time for agricultural purposes.
Then, they also connected it with stories and those stories would be passed down throughout
generations. As we're passing these stories down, it's a way to remember these star patterns and
a time of year in which they would rise. So if you're looking for that two-star
pattern, this is Canis Minor right here. If we were to point out all the constellations we have Cancer
right here. You can use Canis Minor to help you find Cancer. Then over here is Auriga. As
I said earlier Canis Minor is part of the Winter Triangle Asterism. So if you're looking at this
photo, can you point out the Winter Triangle? Make a connection with the brightest stars in this photo
and that is the Winter Triangle and canis minor is a part of that. We have Orion right here, we have
Canis Major which you're really only seeing a tiny portion of it, and then right here is Canis Minor.
That's where that two-star constellation is. Canis Minor is also a part of the Winter Hexagon.
This is a much larger asterism that can be seen in the winter months in the Northern
Hemisphere. It connects the brightest stars of six different constellations.
Sometimes I find this a challenge to point out because if I don't have a view of the
entire sky I'm not really going to be able to connect these stars. Sometimes I've got like a
mountain in the way, or I'm surrounded by trees so I can't really see the entire sky.
I have a whole video about asterism so you might want to go check that one out as well.
But if we were to connect the brightest stars, this is what we have. Those stars are Pollux,
Capella, Aldebaran, Rigel, Sirius and Procyon. All the constellations that are associated
with the Winter Hexagon are circled here and Canis Minor is a part of that. This two-star
constellation is really easy to find. You might also be able to point out the Winter Triangle.
I, myself, think the Winter Triangle is much easier to point out in the sky. One because
it's smaller and those really are the brightest stars in the in the winter. I also sometimes use
star trail pictures to test my students if they really know their stuff. Star trail pictures
are made when you keep the shutter of your camera open for a period of time. Then what we see is
the rotation of the earth recorded on film and that's what these lines are. These are just stars
that are traveling over the course of the night. I challenge my students, can you
find Canis Minor? I definitely can. Here you can see Orion. How do I know? Because it's got those belt
stars right there. So if you know this is Orion, you figure this is part of the Winter Triangle
there and there. So Canis Minor is this area of this picture. I love using these
star trail pictures to test my students. Can you find the pattern within these longer trails? Just
something cool to try if you have the opportunity to look at different star trail pictures. Let's
take a brief look at some of the mythological stories that are connected to Canis Minor.
So Canis Minor is often connected with Orion as being one of his hunting dogs. When Orion was
killed by the goddess Artemis, his body was placed in the sky along with his faithful hunting dogs
In Greek mythology we also see some stories of Maera, a loyal dog of the unlucky winemaker Icarus.
Icarus was killed by his friends after they mistook his drunkenness for a murder attempt.
Maera was able to help his daughter find his body. We actually see records of
Canis Minor in from ancient Mesopotamia. So these two stars were listed in the ancient
Babylonian Star Catalogs that date far back as 1100 B.C. We also see Canis Minor recorded by Ptolemy.
Ptolemy wrote his book, The Almagest, in the second century. This was a really important textbook
for many scientists and mathematicians for for over 800 years. We see records of Canis Minor in
Egyptian Mythology. He was considered to be Anubis who is the jackal-headed God of Death. We see the
Polynesian cultures acknowledge Canis Minor although their constellation looked different
in terms of the pattern. But Procyon, the brightest star, was definitely used to help navigate across
the Pacific Ocean. What we're looking at here is the Polynesian Triangle. These
Polynesian navigators use stars in order to find their way across the Pacific, which I find amazing.
Then, finally we see Canis Minor in Aztec culture as well these. Stars were incorporated
along with Orion and Gemini in an asterism called 'The Water'. So canis minor is seen
throughout human history. Just it's shape, pattern and stories have changed over the years.
Remember there's no one true mythology for any constellation, there's just a variety of them.
Finally we'll take a look at some of the celestial objects that are seated in the boundaries of Canis
Minor. Unfortunately there isn't really much to see here. There are no major celestial objects
in Canis Minor. You would need a whole lot of magnification to see any of the distant objects
that are located here. So we've come to the end of our video about Canis Minor the lesser dog.
So let's review everything we learned so far. It's best seen in the winter months and it's classified
as a seasonal constellation. The best way to find it is to use the shoulder stars of Orion.
You go from the star Bellatrix to Betelgeuse to Procyon. You can only really see one part of
of Orion right here. This is Betelgeuse, that orange type star. You just draw a line to
help you find that small two-star constellation. The brightest star of the pair is Procyon and in
terms of celestial objects there really are none that are easy to find. But Procyon is part of the
Winter Asterism Triangle so you should easily be able to connect the dots of these three stars
even if you live in an area with lots of light pollution because these are the brightest stars
that are in the winter sky. You can make those connections and help you find this star.
So I wish you luck finding Canis Minor. To me it's one of the easier constellations to find because
one it's only two stars and those stars are fairly bright of low magnitude.
Remember with magnitude- the lower the magnitude the brighter it is. So it's an inverse relationship.
As you go outside just remember it takes time, patience and practice to study the stars. It took
me over a decade to really really know what I was looking at, so my hope with creating these videos
is to help you find these faster and easier. I wish you clear skies and keep looking up!