What are the myths and stories about Canis Major, what are the legends about Canis Less?

Canis Major. Canis Major.

canis major

One of the southern celestial constellations. The center is right ascension 6:40 and declination 22°. The area is about 380 square degrees. To the southeast of Orion, between Lepus and Appus. There are 122 stars with visual magnitude 6 in the constellation, including 18 stars with magnitude 4.

Looking southeast from the constellation Orion, one of the brightest stars of the day is shining there. It is the constellation Canis Major, which was also called Sirius in ancient China. Sirius has an apparent magnitude of , which is only light-years away.

In ancient Egypt, when Sirius rose over the eastern horizon at dawn (a phenomenon known in astronomy as "rising with the sun"), it was the annual time of the Nile flooding, which irrigated large tracts of fertile land on both sides, and the Egyptians began their cultivation again. Since Sirius's presence was closely related to the agricultural production of ancient Egypt, people at that time regarded it as a god and determined the day Sirius rose in the east before dawn as the first day of the year. It can be said that the "Gregorian calendar" that we use today was first born in ancient Egypt.

In ancient China, Sirius was not so lucky. The ancients in our country regarded it as an evil star that was a sign of the Lord's aggression. Qu Yuan wrote in "Dongjun": "Raise a long arrow and shoot the wolf......He compared Sirius to the state of Qin, which invaded other countries everywhere, hoping to shoot down the wolf and eliminate harm for the people.

Sirius is very large and has a white dwarf as its companion star. The companion star of the Great Canis was the first white dwarf to be discovered.

There is another legend in ancient Greek mythology that Acteon, the son of King Cadmus, was a famous hunter who had many hunting dogs, the most ferocious of which was called Merampus. Actaeon and his companions often took their hounds to hunt in the woods. At the end of the valley is a cave in which the spring water flows into a pond in front of the cave, where Artemis (Diana, the goddess of the hunt) rests.

When Artemis returned from a day of hunting, he bathed in the pool and groomed. One day, Action lost his way and strayed into the valley, and his appearance at the mouth of the cave immediately caused panic and anger among the fairies who were bathing. The goddess of the moon scooped up the pool and threw it on the uninvited guest's body and face, and suddenly a pair of antlers grew on Aktheon's head, his neck was extended, his hands became hooves, his arms became long legs, and a patchy fur grew all over his body.

He was so frightened that he ran away. As soon as the hounds he brought with him saw this, they pounced on him with great vigour, and Merampus pounced on him on the back and tore him to death. It was only then that Artemis's anger subsided, and he lifted the hound, who had accidentally injured his owner, into the sky to become a Canis minor.