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CANIS MAJOR (" Great Dog ")

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 183 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CANIS See also:

MAJOR (" See also:Great See also:Dog ") , in See also:astronomy, a See also:constellation placed See also:south of the See also:Zodiac, just below and behind the heels of See also:Orion. Canis See also:minor, the " little dog," is another constellation, also following Orion and separated from Canis major by the Milky Way. Both these constellations, or at least their See also:principal stars, Sirius in the Great Dog and Procyon in the Little Dog, were named in very remote times, being referred to as the " See also:dogs of Orion " or in See also:equivalent terms. Sirius is the brightest See also:star in the heavens; and the name is connected with the adjectives crapos and vELplos, scorching. It may possibly be related to the Arabic Siraj, thus meaning the " glittering one." Hommel has shown that Sirius and Procyon were " the two Si'See also:ray" or glitterers. It is doubtful whether Sirius is referred to in the Old Testament. By some it has been identified with the See also:Hebrew mazzaroth, the See also:Lucifer of the See also:Vulgate; by others with mazzaroth, the duodecim signa of the Vulgate; while See also:Professor M. A. Stern identifies it with the Hebrew kimah, which is rendered variously in the Vulgate as See also:Arcturus, See also:Hyades and See also:Pleiades). The in-habitants of the See also:Euphrates valley included: both constellations in their stellar See also:system; but considerable difficulty is encountered in the allocation of the Babylonian names to the dominant stars. The name kak-See also:ban, which occurs on many tablets, has 'seen determined by See also:Epping and Strassmaier, and also by See also:Jensen and Hommel, as equivalent to Sirius; etymologically this word means " dog-star " (or, according to R. See also:Brown, See also:Primitive Constellations, " See also:bow-star ").

On the other See also:

hand, £aksidi or Kak-si-sa, meaning the " See also:leader," has been identified by See also:Sayce and others with Sirius, while Hommel regards it as Procyon. The question is mainly philological, and the arguments seem inconclusive. We may See also:notice, however, that connexions were made between Kaksidi and the See also:weather, which have strong See also:affinities with the ideas expressed at a later date by the Greeks. For example, its See also:appearance in the See also:morning with the See also:sun heralded the " See also:north winds," the f3opkt irncriac or aquilones etesiae, the strong and dangerous north-See also:westerly winds of See also:Greece which See also:blow for See also:forty days from the rising of the star; again, when Sirius appeared misty the " locusts devour." Sirius also appears in the See also:cosmogony of Zoroaster, for See also:Plutarch records that Ormuzd appointed this star to be a guard and overseer in the heavens, and in the Avesta we find that Tistrya (Sirius) is " the See also:bright and happy star, that gives happy dwelling." With the Egyptians Sirius assumed great importance. Appearing with the sun when the See also:Nile was rising, Sirius was regarded as a See also:herald of the See also:waters which would overspread the See also:land, renewing its fertility and promising See also:good harvests for the coming See also:season. See also:Hephaestion records that from its aspect the rise of the See also:water was foretold, and the See also:Roman historian See also:Florus adds that the weather was predicted also. Its rising marked the commencement of their new See also:year, the annus canarius and annus cynicus of the See also:Romans. It was the star of See also:Sept or Sothis, and, according to one myth, was identified with the goddess Hathor—the See also:Aphrodite of the Greeks. It was the " second sun " of the heavens, and according to See also:Maspero (See also:Dawn of See also:Civilization, 1894) " Sahu and Sopdit, Orion and Sirius, were the rulers of this mysterious See also:world of See also:night and stars." The Greeks, borrowing most of their astronomical knowledge from the Babylonians, held similar myths and ideas as to the constellations and stars. Sirius was named discos, likes (the dog) and r0 QUrpov, the star; and its See also:heliacal rising was associated with the coming of the dry, hot and sultry season. See also:Hesiod tells us that " Sirius parches See also:head and knees "; See also:Homer speaks similarly, calling it KaKiW o-iva, the evil star, and the star of See also:late summer (mrcopa), the See also:rainy and stormy season. Procyon (Hposbwv) was so named because it See also:rose before Kbwv.

The Euphratean myth of the dogs has its parallel in Greece, Sirius being the See also:

hound of the See also:hunter Orion, and as recorded by See also:Aratus always See also:chasing the See also:Hare; See also:Pindar refers to the See also:chase of Pleione, the See also:mother of the Pleiads, by Orion and his dogs. •Similarly Procyon became Maera, the dog of Icarius, when See also:Bootes became Icarius, and See also:Virgo his daughter See also:Erigone. The Romans adopted the See also:Greek ideas. They named the constellation Canis, and Sirius was known as Canis also, and as Canicula. Procyon became Antecanem and Antecanis, but these names did not come into See also:general use. They named the hottest See also:part of the year associated with the heliacal rising of Sirius the See also:Dies caniculares, a phrase which has survived in the See also:modern expression "dog-days "; and the pestilences which then prevailed occasioned the offering of sacrifices to placate this inimical star. See also:Festus narrates, in this connexion, the sacrificing of red dogs at the feast of Floralia, and See also:Ovid of a dog on the Robigalia. The experience of the See also:ancient Greeks that Sirius rose with the sun as the latter entered See also:Leo, i.e. the hottest part of the year, was accepted by the Romans with an entire disregard of the intervening See also:time and a different See also:latitude. To quote See also:Sir See also:Edward Sherburne (See also:Sphere of See also:Manlius, 1675), " The greater part of the Antients assign the Dog Star rising to the time of the Sun's first entering into Leo, or, as See also:Pliny writes, 23 days after the summer See also:solstice, as See also:Varro 29, as I See G. See also:Schiaparelli, Astronomy in the Old Testament (1905). See also:Columella 30.2. . .

At this See also:

day with us, according to Vulgar computation, the rising and setting of the said Star is in a manner coincident with the Feasts of St See also:Margaret (which is about the 13th of our See also:July) and St See also:Lawrence (which falls on the loth of our See also:August)." Sirius is the most conspicuous star in the See also:sky; it sends to the See also:earth eleven times as much See also:light as Aldebaran, the unit See also:standard adopted in the revised Harvard See also:Photometry; numeric-ally its magnitude is– 1.6. At the See also:present time its See also:colour is See also:white with a tinge of See also:blue, but See also:historical records show that this colour has not always prevailed. Aratus designated it srouctXos, many coloured; the Alexandrian See also:Ptolemy classified it with Aldebaran, Antares and Betelgeuse as viroiappos, . fiery red; See also:Seneca describes it as " redder than See also:Mars "; while, in the loth See also:century, the Arabian See also:Biruni termed it " shining red." On the other hand Sufi, who also flourished in the loth century, pointedly omits it from his See also:list of coloured stars. The question has been thoroughly discussed by T. J. J. See, who shows that Sirius has shone white for the last moo to 1200 years.3 The See also:parallax has been determined by Sir See also:David Gill and W. L. Elkin to be 0.37"; it is therefore distant from the earth over 5 X ro" See also:miles, and its light takes 8.6 years to See also:traverse the intervening space. If the sun were at the same distance Sirius would outshine it 30 times, the sun appearing as a star of the second magnitude. It has a large proper See also:motion, which shows recurrent undulations having a 50-year See also:period. From this See also:Bessel surmised the existence of a See also:satellite or See also:companion, for which C.

A. F. See also:

Peters and A. Auwers computed the elements. T. H. Safford determined its position for See also:September 1861; and on the 31st of See also:January 1862, Alvan G. See also:Clark, of Cambridgeport, See also:Mass., telescopically observed it as a barely visible, dull yellow star of the 9th to loth magnitude. The mean distance apart is about 20 astronomical See also:units; the See also:total mass of the pair is 3.7 times the mass of the sun, Sirius itself being twice as massive as its companion, and, marvellously enough, forty thousand times as bright. The spectrum of Sirius is characterized by prominent absorption lines due to See also:hydrogen, the metallic lines being weak; other stars having the same spectra are said to be of the " Sirian type." Such stars are the most highly heated (see STAR). Procyon, or a Canis minoris, is a star of the 2nd magnitude, one-fifth as bright as Sirius, or numerically 0.47 when compared with Aldebaran. It is more distant than Sirius, its parallax being 0.33"; and its light is about six times that of the sun.

Its proper motion is large, 1.25", and its velocity at right angles to the See also:

line of sight is about 11 m. per second. Its proper motion shows large irregularities, pointing to a relatively massive companion; this satellite was discovered on the 13th of See also:November 1896 by J. M. Schaeberle, with the great Lick See also:telescope, as a star of the 13th magnitude. Its mass is equal to about that of the sun, but its light is only one twenty-thousandth.

End of Article: CANIS MAJOR (" Great Dog ")

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