Procyon

:This article is about the star. Procyon is also the mammalian genus to which Raccoons belong.

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Procyon (α CMi / α Canis Minoris / Alpha Canis Minoris) is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Minor and the eighth brightest star in the nighttime sky.

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Its name comes from the Greek προκύον (Prokyōn), meaning "before the dog", since it precedes the "Dog Star" Sirius as it travels across the sky due to Earth's rotation. (Although Procyon has a greater right ascension, it also has a more northerly declination, which means it will rise above the horizon earlier than Sirius from most northerly latitudes.) These two "dog stars" are referred to in the most ancient literature and were venerated by the Babylonians and the Egyptians.

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Procyon is a vertex of the Winter Triangle.

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Procyon is one of the closest stars to Earth's solar system, being only 3.5 pc or 11.41 light years away.

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Like Sirius, it is a binary star —the main star (Procyon A) having a faint white dwarf companion (Procyon B). Its closest neighbour is Luyten's star, 0.34 pc or 1.11 ly away.

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Alpha: The first letter of the Greek alphabet, Α α, also has some cultural meanings; see alpha (letter)....

Constellation: A constellation is a group of stars visibly related to each other in a particular configuration. In three-dimensional space, most of the stars we see have little relation to one another, but can appear to be grouped on the celestial sphere of the night sky. Humans excel at finding patterns and throu...

Canis Minor: Canis Minor (Latin for little dog) is one of the 88 modern constellations, and was also in Ptolemy's list of 48 constellations. It is said to represent one of the dogs following Orion the hunter....

Procyon related Images and Photos (experimental)

Raccoons (Procyon Lotor) Raiding an Urban Garbage Can in Portland Oregon