Canis Major (greater dog in Latin) is a constellation in the southern hemisphere's summer sky and northern hemisphere's winter sky. In the second century, it was included in Ptolemy's 48 constellations, and is counted among the 88 modern constellations. Along with Canis Minor (lesser dog), it is commonly represented as following the constellation of Orion the Hunter through the skies. The Milky Way passes through Canis Major. Several open clusters lie within its borders, including M41, which covers an area around the same size as the full moon. Sirius, also called the dog star, is the brightest star in the night sky, and one of the closest stars to Earth. The other bright stars in the constellation are much farther away but very luminous. At magnitude 1.5, Epsilon Canis Majoris (Adhara) appears as the second brightest star of the constellation and the brightest source of extreme ultraviolet radiation in the night sky. Next in brightness are the yellow-white supergiant Delta (Wezen) at 1.8, the blue-white giant Beta (Mirzam) at 2.0, and the blue-white supergiant Eta (Aludra) at 2.4. The red hypergiant VY Canis Majoris is one of the largest stars known, while the neutron star RX J0720.4-3125 has a radius of a mere 5 km.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canis_Major
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1798:
After having been invested as Prince of Wallachia, Constantine Hangerli arrived in Bucharest to assume the throne. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_Hangerli
1847:
American gun inventor Samuel Colt made his first large sale of his revolvers to the Texas Rangers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Colt
1912:
The Boy Scout Association was incorporated throughout the then British Empire by royal charter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scout_Association
1951:
Korean War: Chinese and North Korean troops captured Seoul. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Battle_of_Seoul
2004:
Spirit (artist's impression pictured), the first of two rovers of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Mission, landed successfully on Mars at 04:35 Ground UTC. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_(rover)
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
swage: A tool, used by blacksmiths and other metalworkers, for cold shaping of a metal item. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/swage
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things. --Isaac Newton https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton
daily-article-l@lists.wikimedia.org