- Canopus (stars.astro.illinois.edu)
CANOPUS (Alpha Carinae). As northerners drive south on winter vacations, if they are familiar with the sky they encounter something of a surprise. Just below the sky’s brightest star, Canis Major’s Sirius, is the SECOND brightest star, Canopus, 30 degrees and almost exactly south of Mirzam, one of Sirius’s announcing star.