Star Sirius
December 28th 2009 11:44
Category: No Category
Star constellation Canes Major
The star Sirius shines brightly in the night sky is a bright looking star somewhat bluish in colour.
It is especially visible in the southern hemisphere at the moment.
Alpha Canis Majoris A, also called the Dog Star, is the brightest star in the night sky as well as the brightest star in its constellation.
Sirius A is located in the constellation of Canes Major ( Big Dog) a little to the right( depending on your perspective and location) of the constellation of Orion. Sirius a is hotter,
bluer, and younger than our Sun. Sirius A has a white dwarf
Sirius with companion (lower left) Hubble image
Sirius A and B, are separated by only 20 times the distance from the Earth to the Sun some19.8
astronomical units (AUs) which is equivalent to the same as the distance between Uranus and or Sun.
Custom Search
The companion star was once like our own Sun until it came to the end of its life cycle after exhausting all it fuel the star shrank and became a dwarf star. Our Sun will most probably become a white dwarf in about 5 billion years time.
German astronomer Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel around the year 1830 first theorized that Sirius A and later concluded that it had an unseen companion.
Sirius B was not actually observed until January 31, 1862 by a fellow named Alvin Clark who was using his ne 18 inch telescope at the time.
| 51 |
| Vote |
Add To: 
subscribe to this blog
Comment by S.L.
The Political Brief
Comment by CarlCan
Astroearth
Hi S.L Happy New year to you
The companion star Sirius B may have or indeed had a planetary system at some point in time.
However it seems unlikely that any of the planets close to a dying Sun survived they would have been consumed as fuel. After Sirius B core collapsed it formed a much smaller version of itself.
It is possible to assume that if Sirius B had planets orbiting at a much greater distance they may have survived.
Since the light from any remaining planets is too dim for us to see from earth.
By watching the dwarf Star we could measure its “wobble” if any planet or planets big enough survived in the outer orbit they would cause a slight wobble in Sirius B.