Canis Minor is, perhaps, the lamest constellation in the sky (although Antila the Air Pump is pretty bad too). This little constellation is supposed to be the little hunting dog Orion brought with him into the sky. But this stellar canine is pretty hard to pick out of the stars... maybe because it consists of only TWO stars. The only dog this resembles is a hot dog!-
One of the Little Dog's stars, Procyon, is incredibly bright. Procyon ranks as the eighth brightest star in the sky for one important reason: it is among the closest stars to us. At about 11 light years away, this white sub-giant star has a white dwarf star orbiting it. You can easily find Procyon in the southwestern sky this month about 25 degrees above the brighter nose of the Big Dog (Canis Major) - the star named Sirius.
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The other star visible in Canis Minor has the name Gomeisa. Gomeisa is actually a much bigger, brighter, hotter, and more interesting star than Procyon. Astronomers have detected a large cloud enshrouding this star (see picture to the right). The name Gomeisa is a shortened version of a longer Arabic word meaning "The Little Bleary-eyed One" (or "Bleary-eyed Woman" depending on your translation). Another myth said this was the star left behind by Sirius and Canopus (a bright star below the southern horizon) and still cries in the sky. Okay, I think I'm more likely to see a little dog in this constellation than a single, solitary, crying star. But maybe that explains the cloud!-
