star · Carina · a plate in Stars
Canopus
α Carinae
On the 1971 working instrument: Cancer 14°35′, beside the Mercury floor on the same tropical band as Sirius.
The keel. The navigator’s lamp of the south. Helmsman of the Argo in later story.
Astronomy · astrophysics
- Magnitude
- −0.74
- Distance
- about 310 light-years
- Spectrum
- A9 II
- Coordinates
- 6h 24m · −52° 42′
Second-brightest star in the night sky. A southern lamp, not a pair to the eye.
α Car, apparent magnitude −0.74. Second only to Sirius among night-sky stars.
A luminous A-type bright giant at about 310 light-years. Too far south for much of the northern temperate sky.
Historical story · culture
The helmsman’s lamp
- the southern keelCanopus is the navigator’s lamp of the south, the helmsman of the Argo in later story. The office is wayfinding. The physics is a bright giant you cannot see from much of Europe.
Living
Sits beside Sirius on the 1971 tropical band. Two brightest lamps, one working table.
Sources
- SIMBAD
- Astro-Seek 30 major fixed stars · 1971
Choir
Rotanev · SualocinSiriusIzar · PulcherrimaThubanCapellaRigelMeropeTolimanM42Jupiter · IoSpicaFomalhautArcturusAlhenaCanopusWorking choir · not a planetarium