Canis Major CMa
Canis Major is one of the 88 constellations, covering 380 square degrees of the sky (43rd largest). It is highest at midnight in January and best in the evening sky in February and March.
12 of its best-known objects have a page of their own here.
Facts
| Abbreviation | CMa |
|---|---|
| Size | 380 square degrees (43rd largest of the 88; the full Moon covers about 0.2) |
| Middle (J2000) | 6h 49m, −22° |
| Highest at midnight | January (in the evening, around 8–10 pm: February and March) |
| How high | From India (about 20° N) its middle climbs to about 48° above the horizon; from 50° N, to about 18°. |
| Pages here | 12 objects |
Galaxies
1Nebulae
1Star clusters
2Stars
8Brightest NGC and IC objects
OpenNGC| Object | Type | Magnitude | Size |
|---|---|---|---|
| M41 · NGC 2287 | Open star cluster | 4.5 | 12′ |
| NGC 2354 (on the map) | Open star cluster | 6.5 | 4.8′ |
| NGC 2360 (Caroline's Cluster) | Open star cluster | 7.2 | 9′ |
| NGC 2384 (on the map) | Open star cluster | 7.4 | 4.8′ |
| NGC 2345 (on the map) | Open star cluster | 7.7 | 6.9′ |
| NGC 2367 (on the map) | Open star cluster | 7.9 | 5.4′ |
| NGC 2374 (on the map) | Open star cluster | 8 | 9′ |
| NGC 2383 (on the map) | Open star cluster | 8.4 | 4.2′ |
| NGC 2204 (on the map) | Open star cluster | 8.6 | 6.3′ |
| NGC 2243 (on the map) | Open star cluster | 9.4 | 5.1′ |
| IC 2165 (on the map) | Planetary nebula | 10.5 | 0.2′ |
| NGC 2217 (on the map) | Galaxy | 10.6 | 4.6′ |
Smaller magnitudes are brighter; the faintest stars the eye sees are about 6. The full Moon is about 31′ across.
Data: IAU constellation boundaries (Roman 1987) · OpenNGC (Mattia Verga, CC BY-SA 4.0) · Data sources & credits