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Canis Minor is just south of Gemini and basically consists of two stars.* Canis Minor deserves mention because of its brightest star: alpha Canis Minoris or Procyon. Procyon is the 8th brightest star in the sky with a magnitude of 0.4 and is only 11.3 light years away from us. Procyon is one of the few stars with a Greek and not an Arabic name.
According to one legend both Canis Major and Canis Minor were dogs owned by Orion.
* According to modern astronomy Canis Minor, like all the constellations, actually defines an area in the sky, so any star within is border is officially considered part of Canis Minor but we’re using the conventional definition of a constellation.
Cancer