Canis Minor

Canis Minor is a small constellation. It was included in the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy's 48 constellations, and is still included among the 88 modern constellations. Its name is Latin for "smaller dog" in contrast to Canis Major, the larger dog, and it is commonly represented as one of the dogs following the constellation of Orion the hunter.

Notable features

Canis Minor is a small constellation containing only two bright stars, Procyon (α CMi, 0.38^m) and Gomeisa (β CMi , 2.9^m). Procyon is the eighth brightest star in the night sky. Procyon means "before the dog" in Greek, as it rises an hour before the 'Dog Star', Sirius, of Canis Major.

Canis Minor has no deep sky object brighter than magnitude 15.

History and mythology

The ancient Greeks did not recognise Canis Minor it as a distinct constellation, and considered Orion to have had one dog, Canis Major.

Canis Minor is sometimes connected with the Teumessian Fox, a beast turned into stone with its hunter, Laelaps, by Zeus, who placed them in heaven as Canis Major (Laelaps) and Canis Minor (Teumessian Fox).

Translation

The phrase "Canis Minor" occurs as such in the following languages: English, Corsican, Spanish, Galician, Indonesian, Luxembourgish, Portuguese.

Translation(s) in other languages: Arabic: الكلب الأصغر (كوكبة), Bengali: ক্ষুদ্র কুকুর মণ্ডল, Belarusian: Сузор'е Малы Пёс, Bulgarian: Малко куче, Catalan: Ca Menor, Czech: Souhvězdí Malého psa, Danish: Lille Hund, German: Kleiner Hund, Greek: Κύων Μικρός, Esperanto: Malgranda Hundo (konstelacio), Persian: سگ کوچک, French: Petit Chien, Irish: An Madra Beag, Korean: 작은개자리, Croatian: Mali pas, Italian: Cane Minore (costellazione), Hebrew: כלב קטן, Latin: Canis Minor (sidus), Latvian: Mazais Suns, Lithuanian: Mažasis Šuo, Hungarian: Kis Kutya csillagkép, Macedonian: Мало Куче (соѕвездие), Malayalam: ലഘുലുബ്ധകന്‍, Dutch: Kleine Hond, Japanese: こいぬ座, Norwegian (Bokmål): Den lille hund, Norwegian (Nynorsk): Vesle hund, Low Saxon: Lütt Hund, Polish: Mały Pies, Romanian: Câinele Mic (constelaţie), Russian: Малый Пёс (созвездие), Slovak: Súhvezdie Malý pes, Finnish: Pieni koira, Swedish: Lilla hunden, Thai: กลุ่มดาวสุนัขเล็ก, Turkish: Canis Minor (takımyıldız), Ukrainian: Малий Пес (сузір'я), Urdu: کلب اصغر, Vietnamese: Tiểu Khuyển, Cantonese: 小犬座, Chinese: 小犬座.