Sirius, in Canis Major (The Large Hunting Dog of Orion)

question 173

Multiple Choice

Sirius, in Canis Major (the large hunting dog of Orion) , is the brightest star in the northern hemisphere winter night sky. It has a parallax angle of 0.38 arcseconds. The brightest star in Orion's other hunting dog, Canis Minor, is Procyon, with a parallax angle of 0.29 arcseconds. Vega, in Lyra (the Lyre [Harp]) , is the brightest star in the northern summer night sky. It has a parallax angle of 0.13 seconds of arc. Which of these stars is farthest away?

• A) Sirius
• B) Procyon
• C) Vega
• D) The answer to the question cannot be determined from this information alone.

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