Star profile
27 Canis Majoris
Variable starWhat is 27 Canis Majoris
27 Canis Majoris, also catalogued as EW Canis Majoris, is a blue Be-type star spinning at nearly 290 km/s at its equator —close to the critical velocity at which its outer matter would tear loose into space—. It lies about 1,700 light-years away, deep within the Greater Dog and not far from Sirius. In 1953, W. S. Finsen first resolved it as a double; the two components have been visibly drifting apart through telescopes ever since.
Where it is and when to see it
27 Canis Majoris lies in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is January: the Sun sits at the opposite point of the sky and the star culminates around midnight. How high it climbs above the horizon depends on the latitude you watch from.
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The signature wall
Stelvia's sky works like a signature wall: anyone can leave their name and a message on a real star, and that signature goes up on the map for everyone to read. Signing is free.
A signature without a lock can be replaced by someone else's. The lock makes the signature permanent and lets you choose a symbolic name for the star, always shown next to the star's catalogue identifier. How the lock works
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A public signature from a real person. The chosen name is a symbolic denomination within Stelvia, with no official standing or IAU recognition: the sky is not for sale and belongs to no one.
Astronomical data for 27 Canis Majoris
- Constellation
- Canis Major
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.42
- Distance
- 1735.1 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 108.563° · Dec -26.353°
- Catalogue
- HIP 34981 · HD 56014
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Canis Major
Canis Major has 90 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- SiriusAlpha Canis Majoris-1.44
- AdharaEpsilon Canis Majoris1.50
- WezenDelta Canis Majoris1.83
- Iota Canis Majoris4.36
- Tau Canis Majoris4.37
- Nu 3 Canis Majoris4.42
- Lambda Canis Majoris4.47
- Xi 2 Canis Majoris4.54