Procyon
- HIP
- 37279
- Designation
- 10 Alp CMi
- Bayer designation
- α CMi
- Visual magnitude
- 0.4
- Constellation
- Lesser Dog
- Name approved by the IAU
- 2016-06-30
The IAU catalogue's account
From its ancient Greek name Προκύων, "the One Preceding the Dog", referring to its rising shortly before the "Dog Star", Sirius. Reapplied in Early Modern times.
- Source language
- Greek
- Reference
- Kunitzsch, Paul; Smart, Tim (2006). A Dictionary of Modern star Names: A Short Guide to 254 Star Names and Their Derivations (2nd rev. ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Sky Pub.
Source: IAU Catalog of Star Names (IAU-CSN), Working Group on Star Names. The account is the IAU's own text and is quoted in full: it is published under CC BY.
From Kunitzsch & Smart
- Layer of tradition
- Ancient Greek
- Ancient-layer signal
- cue found
- Pronounced
- pro' si on
- Literal meanings
- the One Preceding the Dog; Dog Star
- Periods of use
- Ancient, Renaissance
Source: Kunitzsch & Smart, A Dictionary of Modern Star Names, 2nd ed. 2006, p. 24
Layer of tradition and ancient-layer signal are not the dictionary authors' judgement but a keyword reading of the entry's wording. “No simple cue found” means exactly that — the parser found none — not that the name is late.
The fields on this card were read off an OCR layer and are not checked against the printed page. The page number is given so the claim can be verified in your own copy.
This star is not part of any chain in the strict sub-corpus.
Other named stars of this constellation:
- Gomeisa2.89