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public  Matrei in Osttirol, Austria Matrei in Osttirol, Austria  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/Vienna
Sunrise: 5:16 
Transit: 13:12 
Sunset: 21:07
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All Constellations » Canis Major » 

Sirius - α Canis Majoris (alpha Canis Majoris)

Below the horizon.  Rise: 9:05 | Tran: 13:48 | Set: 18:31
Alt: -15.65°   Az: 262.05°   Direction: South-West

Sirius, also designated as α Canis Majoris (alpha Canis Majoris), is a multiple main-sequence star of spectral class A1 in the constellation of Canis Major.

Sirius visual magnitude is -1.46. Because of its brightness, Sirius is clearly visible to the naked eye when observed from locations with dark skies, and should be also quite easily visible from light polluted areas.

Image of Sirius - α Canis Majoris (alpha Canis Majoris) star
DSS2 image of Sirius. The red arrow shows the motion of Sirius during the next 100 years (-0.92 arcmin in Right Ascension and -2.01 arcmin in declination);

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

06h 46m 17s
-16° 44’ 39”
06h 20m 45s
13h 07m 02s

J2000

06h 45m 08s
-16° 42’ 57”

Galactic Coordinates

227.22°
-8.88°

Finder Chart

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Finder chart for Sirius - α Canis Majoris (alpha Canis Majoris).

Magnitude, Color, Spectral Class

-1.46
Main-sequence

1.43
A1V
10125K

The red dot in the diagram below shows where Sirius is situated in the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram.

HR Diagram
H-R diagram showing the position of Sirius. Attribution: Richard Powell / CC BY-SA

Star System Properties

Sirius is a visual double star which can be observed only with the help of very large telescopes. The table below shows key information about the Sirius double sysyem:

-1.46
8.84
10.3
11.2 arcsec

Distance, Radial Speed, Proper Motion

Sirius is distant 8.60 light years from the Sun and it is moving towards the Sun at the speed of 8 kilometers per second.

2.64
8.60
-8 km/s
-0.553 arcsec/y
-1.205"/y

Alternative Designations

Sirius
α Canis Majoris
(alpha Canis Majoris)
9 Canis Majoris
SAO151881
SAO151881
Gl 244 A

Visibility from Your Location

Today's Sirius - α Canis Majoris (alpha Canis Majoris) rise, transit and set times from Matrei in Osttirol, Austria are the following (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/Vienna):

Azimuth: 106.7°
Max altitude: 26.3°
Azimuth: 253.3°