Procyon AB

Star type
g A: F5 V-IV
g B: DA-F/VII (white dwarf)

Distance from Earth
g 11.41 ly

Star Service No.
g NA

Age
g A: NA
g B: NA

Diameter/Mass/Temp (xSol)
g A: 200% radius; 120%; 8000 K
g B: NA; 65%; NA

Brightness (xSol)
g A: 600%
g B: 0.06%

Metallicity
g A: NA
g B: NA

Comparison to Sol
g A: NA
g B: NA

Picture of star
g A: See upper left (photo courtesy of Wikipedia Celestia)
g B: NA

Star system features
g Stars have a mean separation of 4.55", or 15 AU; eccentricity of this binary star's orbit is about 0.4 and the semimajor aids is 15.8 AU; periastron of the orbit is about 7.63 AU, the apastron is approximately 17.35 AU with orbit of nearly 41 years.

Known planets
g A: NA
g B: NA

Habitable zone
g A: 2.8-6.4 AU. Marginal candidate for migrating interstellar civilization. A planet at Earth-equivalent orbit would receive 10.125 kilowatts of solar energy per square meter. Procyon B probably orbits too close, however,to allows for a habitable planet around Star A.
g B: NA

Orbital map
g See map

View from star
g Sol is ordinary point of light amid stars of Aquilla. Altair, a couple of minutes to the right and above Sol, is less lustrous than in Earth’s sky. Sirius shines three times brighter than it does on Earth.

Nearby stars
(Star systems with 10 light years)
g NA

Map locating star system
g See 20-ly steller map
g See 47-ly stellar map

Location in Earth sky
g Brightest and most centrally located naked-eye star of constellation Canis Minor (the Smaller Dog). Procyon is also the upper left member of the "Winter Triangle" of first magnitude stars, whose other components are Sirius (Alpha Canis Majoris) at lower left and Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis) at right center

Other names
g A: Alpha Canis Minoris; Alpha Cmi; 10 Canis Minoris; The Little Dog; Gl 280; HD 61421; BD +5°1739; LHS 233; HIC 37279; SAO 115756; ADS 6251; FK5 291; HR 2943; NSV 3672; Alp CMi A

Sci-fi mentions
g Andoria in “Star Trek”
g A "Platinum Scrap for Procyon" drive is held on Earth during the Troxxt-Dendi war in William Tenn's "The Liberation of Earth".
g An Outsider ship crusing past the star allows humanity to learn the secret of hyperdrive in Larry Niven's "Ringworld". A human colony lives on the planet We Made It that circles the primary.
g A crystal bridge passes over a muticolored brook on Procyon XIV, in Robert Silverberg's "The Man in the Maze".

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