Sirius (, a latinisation of Greek Σείριος, Seirios, lit. "glowing" or "scorching") is a binary star and the brightest star in the night sky. With a visual apparent magnitude of −1.46, it is almost twice as bright as Canopus, the next brightest star. The system has the Bayer designation α (Alpha) Canis Majoris. The binary system consists of a main-sequence star of spectral type A0 or A1, termed Sirius A, and a faint white dwarf companion of spectral type DA2, designated Sirius B. The distance between the two varies between 8.2 and 31.5 astronomical units as they orbit every 50 years.Sirius appears bright because of its intrinsic luminosity and its proximity to Earth.…Wikipedia