- Epsilon Canis Majoris is a binary star system and the second-brightest star in the constellation of Canis Major. Its name is a Bayer designation that is Latinised from ε Canis Majoris, and abbreviated Epsilon CMa or ε CMa. This is the 22nd-brightest star in the night sky with an apparent magnitude of 1.50. About 4.7 million years ago, it was the brightest star in the night sky, with an apparent magnitude of −3.99. Based upon parallax measurements obtained during the Hipparcos mission, it is about 430 light-years distant from the Sun.
- Binary star (Wikipedia)
A binary star or binary star system is a system of two stars that are gravitationally bound to and in orbit around each other. Binary stars in the night sky that are seen as a single object to the naked eye are often resolved using a telescope as separate stars, in which case they are called visual binaries. Many visual binaries have long orbital periods of several centuries or millennia and therefore have orbits which are uncertain or poorly known. They may also be detected by indirect techniques, such as spectroscopy (spectroscopic binaries) or astrometry (astrometric binaries). If a binary star happens to orbit in a plane along our line of sight, its components will eclipse and transit each other; these pairs are called eclipsing binaries, or, together with other binaries that change brightness as they orbit, photometric binaries.