40. Sirius

Sirius is a star located in the Orion arm of the milky way, just like the sun. It is in the local star group, and only 8.6 light years away or 2 parsecs. It's scientific name is alpha canis majoris, or A-CMA and it's nickname is the dog star.

Sirius is the brightest star in the southern sky, that is not a planet. It is in a constellation called canis major, or greater dog. It has a visual magnitude of -1.46

Imagine Earth. beautiful landscapes stretching across a total of 40,075 km. then imagine the sun, 1.3 million times bigger! Now imagine Sirius. it is not a tiny one. In fact, it is two times bigger than our star!

Sirius is not one star. It is a binary star system! Sirius B is not as bright because it is a white dwarf. It's nickname is "the pup". it is one of the largest white dwarfs ever observed by humans. It is almost exactly the same size as Venus, although Sirius B is slightly larger. That makes it a touch smaller than Earth, at 11,700 km in diameter.

Since 1894, astrologists have been observing Sirius' orbit around Sirius B. It turns out that a very faint wobble was detected in the orbit. This discovery lead to an apparent third star. It would be either a red or brown dwarf, since it hasn't been seen yet. This is just how Neptune was discovered!

I hope you enjoyed learning about Sirius. Visit my YouTube channel and subscribe for cool videos on space. Until next time, Give Me Space!

Henry.