Star Tales – Canis Minor

This constellation originally consisted of just its brightest star Procyon, whose name in Greek means ‘before the dog’ from the fact that it rises earlier than the other celestial dog, Canis Major. It is a small constellation and contains little of interest other than Procyon itself, the eighth-brightest star in the heavens.

Canis Minor is usually identified as one of the dogs of Orion. But in a famous legend from Attica (the area around Athens), recounted by the mythographer Hyginus, the constellation represents Maera, dog of Icarius, the man whom the god Dionysus first taught to make wine. When Icarius gave his wine to some shepherds for tasting, they rapidly became drunk. Suspecting that Icarius had poisoned them, they killed him. Maera the dog ran howling to Icarius’s daughter Erigone, caught hold of her dress with his teeth and led her to her father’s body. Both Erigone and the dog took their own lives where Icarius lay. Zeus placed their images among the stars as a reminder of the unfortunate affair. To atone for their tragic mistake, the people of Athens instituted a yearly celebration in honour of Icarius and Erigone. In this story, Icarius is identified with the constellation Boötes, Erigone is Virgo and Maera is Canis Minor.

Canis Minor from the Uranographia of Johann Bode. In its body lies the bright star Procyon.

According to Hyginus, the murderers of Icarius fled to the island of Ceos off the coast of Attica, but their wrongdoing followed them. The island was plagued with famine and sickness, attributed in the legend to the scorching effect of the Dog Star (here, Procyon seems to become confused with the greater dog star, Sirius in Canis Major). King Aristaeus of Ceos, son of the god Apollo, asked his father for advice and was told to pray to Zeus for relief. Zeus sent the Etesian winds, which every year blow for 40 days from the rising of the Dog Star to cool all of Greece and its islands in the summer heat. After this, the priests of Ceos instituted the practice of making yearly sacrifices before the rising of the Dog Star.

Procyon is of particular interest to to astronomers because it has a small, hot companion star called a white dwarf that orbits it every 41 years. Coincidentally the other dog star, Sirius, also has one of these small, highly dense white dwarfs as a companion.