William Herschel recorded four objects in his 1786 work Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars, including two he mistakenly believed were star clusters.
Proctor gave the constellation the name Felis "the Cat" in 1870 (contrasting with Canis Major, which he had abbreviated to Canis "the Dog"), explaining that he sought to shorten the constellation names to make them more manageable on celestial charts.
The constellation's three-letter abbreviation, as adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1922, is "CMi". == Features == === Stars === Canis Minor contains only two stars brighter than fourth magnitude.
The constellation boundaries, as set by Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte in 1930, are defined by a polygon of 14 sides.
First noticed in 1991, it is thought to be a cannonball star, shot out of a star cluster and now moving rapidly through space directly away from the galactic disc. The WZ Sagittae-type dwarf nova DY Canis Minoris (also known as VSX J074727.6+065050) flared up to magnitude 11.4 over January and February 2008 before dropping eight magnitudes to around 19.5 over approximately 80 days.
First noticed in 1991, it is thought to be a cannonball star, shot out of a star cluster and now moving rapidly through space directly away from the galactic disc. The WZ Sagittae-type dwarf nova DY Canis Minoris (also known as VSX J074727.6+065050) flared up to magnitude 11.4 over January and February 2008 before dropping eight magnitudes to around 19.5 over approximately 80 days.
The fourth-magnitude HD 66141, which has evolved into an orange giant towards the end of its life cycle, was discovered to have a planet in 2012.
The orange giant is orbited by a planet, HD 66141b, which was detected in 2012 by measuring the star's radial velocity.
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Page generated on 2021-08-05