Glossary term: Sirius

Description: Sirius, également appelée étoile du chien ou Alpha Canis Majoris, est l'étoile qui apparaît la plus brillante à nos yeux dans le ciel nocturne. Elle est située à une distance de 8,6 années-lumière de nous, dans la constellation de Canis Major, près d'Orion. L'étoile brillante qui nous est visible est Sirius A, une étoile de type spectral A. Sirius A a un compagnon lié gravitationnellement, Sirius B, qui est une étoile naine blanche très faible dans la lumière visible mais très brillante dans les rayons X. Sirius B est trop faible et trop peu lumineuse pour que nous puissions l'observer. Sirius B est trop peu lumineuse et trop proche de Sirius A pour être vue à l'œil nu.

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Term and definition status: The original definition of this term in English have been approved by a research astronomer and a teacher
The translation of this term and its definition is still awaiting approval

The OAE Multilingual Glossary is a project of the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE) in collaboration with the IAU Office of Astronomy Outreach (OAO). The terms and definitions were chosen, written and reviewed by a collective effort from the OAE, the OAE Centers and Nodes, the OAE National Astronomy Education Coordinators (NAECs) and other volunteers. You can find a full list of credits here. All glossary terms and their definitions are released under a Creative Commons CC BY-4.0 license and should be credited to "IAU OAE".

Related Media

The bow tie shaped Orion over dry, rocky outcrops. Sirius appears as a bright star between two pillars of rock

Winter Constellations

Caption: Second place in the 2022 IAU OAE Astrophotography Contest, category Time lapses of celestial patterns. Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, is shown rising, setting and passing by. Sometimes constellations and asterisms are also visible, including Orion, Taurus and the Pleiades. In the first scene, the aforementioned constellations are covered by a semi-transparent golden veil. The next scenes show it rising in a dark blue night sky. In one of the scenes, a planet brightly decorates the faint constellation Pisces. The videos were taken above various landscapes and places of cultural heritage on Earth. Some of them simply show monuments in the desert, while others show palm trees with waving leaves.
Credit: Amirreza Kamkar/IAU OAE

License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons

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