<Ul> <Li> Monoceros </Li> <Li> Lepus </Li> <Li> Columba </Li> <Li> Puppis </Li> </Ul> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Visible at latitudes between + 60 ° and − 90 ° . Best visible at 21: 00 (9 p.m.) during the month of February . </Td> </Tr> <P> Canis Major / ˌkeɪnɪs ˈmeɪdʒər / is a constellation in the southern celestial hemisphere . In the second century, it was included in Ptolemy's 48 constellations, and is counted among the 88 modern constellations . Its name is Latin for "greater dog" in contrast to Canis Minor, the "lesser dog"; both figures are commonly represented as following the constellation of Orion the hunter through the sky . The Milky Way passes through Canis Major and several open clusters lie within its borders, most notably M41 . </P> <P> Canis Major contains Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, known as the "dog star". It is bright because of its proximity to the Solar System . In contrast, the other bright stars of the constellation are stars of great distance and high luminosity . At magnitude 1.5, Epsilon Canis Majoris (Adhara) is the second - brightest star of the constellation and the brightest source of extreme ultraviolet radiation in the night sky . Next in brightness are the yellow - white supergiant Delta (Wezen) at 1.8, the blue - white giant Beta (Mirzam) at 2.0, blue - white supergiants Eta (Aludra) at 2.4 and Omicron at 3.0, and white spectroscopic binary Zeta (Furud), also at 3.0 . The red hypergiant VY Canis Majoris is one of the largest stars known, while the neutron star RX J0720. 4 - 3125 has a radius of a mere 5 km . </P>

Cma (canis majoris) is so bright it is visible near the rising sun but is better known as