Stars · Star in Canis Minor
Star
Procyon
“Before the dog”: it rises just ahead of Sirius. One of the Sun’s nearest bright neighbours, with a white-dwarf companion.
- Constellation
- Canis Minor
- Designation
- α Canis Minoris
- Apparent magnitude
- 0.40 · 8th brightest star in the night sky
- Spectral class
- F5IV-V
- Distance
- 11.5 light-years
- Position (J2000)
- RA 7h 39m · Dec +5° 13′
A yellow-white subgiant, around 6,800 K. About 280× brighter than the faintest star the eye can see. The light you are seeing left in 2015.
Look for
With Sirius and Betelgeuse it makes the Winter Triangle.
Science
Procyon is beginning to swell as its core hydrogen runs low; in a few million years it will be an orange giant.