Brighter than the Sun, double, quite close to the Earth, the second "dog" star in the sky - Procyon. It was noticed by people of antiquity, and in the recent past changed the established laws of modern astrophysics.
Why is the Procyon star called that way?
Procyon is one of the brightest stars visible from the surface of our planet even with the naked eye. This property made it possible to draw attention to the heavenly landmark for the inhabitants of ancient states - Babylon and Egypt. Sirius also belonged to the objects of their veneration - the title, brightest star (alpha) in the constellation Canis Major.
The name Procyon star owes its name to the Greeks.
Its name originates from the Greek. προ κύων (Prokyōn), which means "in front of the dog."
Wikipedia
Procyon is Sirius' forerunner in the night sky. Earth rotation is the reason. Despite a more direct trajectory of ascending above the horizon in northern latitudes, it appears earlier due to its declination towards this part of the world and a more eastern location.
A curious fact - the raccoon is the namesake of Procyon. Its international scientific name is Procyon which means “pre-dog”.
"Dog Star" of the Small Dog
The entrenched name "canine" is due to the constellation in which the star Procyon is located - it is the Alpha of the Lesser Dog as well as Sirius - the Great.
Small Dog (Latin name - Canis Minor, CMi) - a combination of luminaries known since ancient times, included in the Almagest catalog, dating from about 140 AD. Already in it, Procyon is noted as the brightest star Canis Minoris. The constellation has several border neighbors - Gemini, Hydra, Unicorn, Cancer. With respect to the Milky Way, Lesser Dog is symmetrical to the constellation Orion.
Ancient celestial maps depict both star dogs as companions of the hunter Orion, despite the fact that the myths of Ancient Greece mention only the Great Dog. One of the dogs of Acteon, a hunter and a glorious warrior, the grandson of Apollo, is considered the prototype of the Small Dog. He was torn by his own dogs while staying in the image of a deer by the will of Artemis, the goddess of hunting and the patroness of the living world.
There is also a mythical version of the origin of the star Procyon. She is considered to be the Meru (otherwise, Myra), the faithful dog of the daughter of the first winemaker Icarius, killed by Athenian shepherds. It was she who found the body. It is believed that the Mayor was turned into Sirius.
Winter Triangle, Egyptian Cross and Winter Circle
The Procyon star refers to such a celestial phenomenon as asterism, called the Winter Triangle. Asterism is considered a group of bodies that stand out in the sky among others, but do not belong to the constellations, although often the concepts are mistakenly used as synonyms.
The winter triangle combined the two "dog" stars and the alpha of Orion - Betelgeuse. Those in the Northern Hemisphere can observe it from autumn to early spring, but asterism is best seen in the same time of the year - in winter.
Often a couple of luminaries are added to the Winter Triangle: Fact, alpha in the constellation Pigeon, and the brightest in Stern, its zeta Naos. Such asterism is known as the Egyptian cross. An interesting fact is that Korma became an independent constellation only in 1752, after dividing one large, called the Ship "Argo", into three parts (the remaining two are Sails and Kiel).
All the peaks of the Winter Triangle are part of another larger seasonal asterism. The stars Procyon and Sirius form a circle with six other luminaries. Betelgeuse is the conditional center of the Winter Circle. This group of stars, like the triangle of the same name, is located in the equatorial part of the celestial sphere and is visible in the same seasons.
How far is Procyon from Earth
The star is known as being very close to our planet and the solar system. It can be reached in 11.41 light years, overcoming 3.5 parsec during this time.
The determination of the distance to space objects and the proof of the rotational motion of our planet around the Sun are inseparable from the concept of "parallax". Even the term itself is an integral part of an off-system unit of measure - a parsek.
Parsek (Russian designation: pc; international: pc) is a non-systematic unit of distance measurement common in astronomy that is equal to the distance to the object, whose trigonometric parallax is equal to one arcsecond. The name is formed from abbreviations of the words "parallax" and "second".
Wikipedia
The parallax of the star (tied to the annual cycle) is the change in the coordinates of the star due to the displacement of the observer relative to it (which is due to the rotation of the Earth around the Sun). Its annual value is equal to the degree of the angle at which the axis of the Earth’s orbit are visible from the location of a particular star.
The parallax of the Procyon star is 286.05 arc seconds (+/- 0.81).
Procyon A and Procyon B
Procyon refers to double stars. He became the second luminary to whom a natural satellite, invisible without special equipment (not yet invented in 1806), was attributed. This discovery was amazing for its time, since even powerful telescopes only partially facilitate the task of observing it.
The main star of Procyon belongs to the spectral class F, but is too bright even for him. It is much larger and brighter than the center of the solar system, so it is ranked as a subgiant. For stars of this type, the expansion process has already begun, since the combination of helium and hydrogen inside it has completed.
As a result of this, the celestial body should exceed its initial dimensions by several tens of times (according to forecasts, from 8 to 15), and also acquire an orange or red tone. Such changes will take millions of years. However, assumptions are very inaccurate, and preliminary estimates vary. The term can be from ten to one hundred million years. Similar forecasts are also relevant for the Sun.
In the second half of summer 2004, more than a month's cycle of observations of Procyon A was completed. The MOST orbital telescope was used for diagnostics. The aim of the research was to check the star’s luminosity fluctuations seen from the surface of our planet. However, the data were not confirmed, which led to a reassessment of the formed laws of helioseismology and a revision of theoretical assumptions about the formation of celestial bodies of this type.
Procyon B is about the same distance from Procyon A as Uranus is from the Sun (within sixteen astronomical units). It is a dull dwarf with a white glow. In unprofessional optics it is very difficult to see.
When, where and how best to observe
The brightest stars of the Small Dog are its alpha and beta - Procyon and Gomez (otherwise - Gomeisa). The most favorable conditions for observing the entire group of stars and the brightest of them, respectively, on the territory of Russia are provided in the southern regions of the country in the second and third winter months. However, celestial phenomena are visible throughout the entire area of the Russian Federation and Ukraine.
Procyon is farther away, but brighter than the Sun 7.5 times, so you can see it without special optics. The more professional the monitoring equipment, the better it will be possible to make out both the luminary and the constellation of which it is a part.
Procyon Star in Astrology
Astrologers consider Procyon a sign of wealth, success, luck and fame. The astrologers of the Middle Ages attributed magical properties to him. Agate is recognized as a stone of a star, and buttercup as a plant.
Procyon is referred to the so-called bright stars, which have a special effect on those with whom they are present in the astrological chart of birth:
- The fate of these people is different from most, they have a lot of "miraculous coincidences."
- They are able to influence not only their lives and loved ones, but many people.
- A star gives the life of the person to whom it patronizes a specific program and a higher goal.
- People who have bright stars in the horoscope are under the vigilant gaze of higher powers.
- If such a person can cope with self-esteem and his own ego, he will provide himself with protection from evil.
- If such a star is united with the planet or cusp (border) of the astrological house within the shortest possible time - from 1 to 4 minutes - its influence on a person becomes incomparably strong, able to change his whole destiny, outlined by the rest of the personal horoscope. The status of such a bright star is helmsman.
The bright star Procyon appears in the 26 0 sign Cancer. In this case, she gives her ward a powerful energy of life, the ability to heal, and effective determination. If you participate in hostilities, a person gets a better chance of survival thanks to his own faith and innate vitality.