Sirius, also known as the Dog Star or Sirius A, is the brightest star in Earth’s night sky. The name means “glowing” in Greek — a fitting description, as only a few planets, the full moon and the International Space Station outshine this star.
Because Sirius is so bright, it was well-known to the ancients. But the discovery of a companion star, Sirius B, in 1862 surprised astronomers. The star that you can see with the naked eye is called Sirius A, or sometimes just Sirius.
Sirius B is 10,000-times dimmer than Sirius, according to NASA(opens in new tab). It’s so dim, and therefore so difficult to see from Earth, that astronomers couldn’t estimate its mass until 2005, thanks to data from the Hubble Space Telescope.
Credit : Space.com
Picture Credit : Google
