Canis Major, the "Big Dog," is one of Orion's hunting dogs and follows faithfully behind him in the sky. Sirius, the Dog Star, is the brightest star in the night sky at mag -1.44. It is the alpha star in the constellation of Canis Major. It is located relatively close to the Sun at a distance of about 8.6 light years. Sirius is a binary star with a white dwarf companion named Sirius B, "The Pup". It is an eight-magnitude star that is separated from Sirius by only a couple of arc seconds. Also visible in the image are open clusters M41, M46 and M47.