Editing Canis Minor (section)

== History and mythology ==
[[File:Cmi.jpg|thumb|left|Canis Minor, as depicted by [[Johann Bode]] in his 1801 work ''Uranographia'']]
Though strongly associated with the [[Classical Greece|Classical Greek]] [[celestial cartography|uranographic]] tradition, Canis Minor originates from ancient [[Mesopotamia]]. Procyon and Gomeisa were called ''MASH.TAB.BA'' or "twins" in the ''[[Three Stars Each]]'' tablets, dating to around 1100 BC. In the later ''[[MUL.APIN]]'', this name was also applied to the pairs of [[Pi3 Orionis|Pi<sup>3</sup>]] and [[Pi4 Orionis|Pi<sup>4</sup> Orionis]] and [[Zeta Geminorum|Zeta]] and [[Xi Orionis]]. The meaning of ''MASH.TAB.BA'' evolved as well, becoming the twin deities [[Lulal]] and [[Latarak]], who are on the opposite side of the sky from ''[[Papsukkal]]'', the True Shepherd of Heaven in [[Babylonian mythology]]. Canis Minor was also given the name ''DAR.LUGAL'', its position defined as "the star which stands behind it [Orion]", in the ''MUL.APIN''; the constellation represents a [[rooster]]. This name may have also referred to the constellation [[Lepus (constellation)|Lepus]].<ref name="rogers1998">{{cite journal | first=John H. | last=Rogers | year=1998 | title=Origins of the Ancient Constellations: I. The Mesopotamian traditions | journal=Journal of the British Astronomical Association | volume=108 | pages=9–28 | bibcode=1998JBAA..108....9R }}</ref> ''DAR.LUGAL'' was also denoted ''DAR.MUŠEN'' and ''DAR.LUGAL.MUŠEN'' in Babylonia. Canis Minor was then called ''tarlugallu'' in [[Akkadian astronomy]].<ref>{{cite journal |title = Astral Magic in Babylonia |journal = Transactions of the American Philosophical Society |series=New Series |volume = 85 |issue = 4 |year = 1995 |last = Reiner |first = Erica |authorlink = Erica Reiner |pages = i–150 |jstor = 1006642|doi =10.2307/1006642 }}</ref>

Canis Minor was one of the original 48 constellations formulated by [[Ptolemy]] in his second-century [[Almagest]], in which it was defined as a specific pattern ([[Asterism (astronomy)|asterism]]) of stars; Ptolemy identified only two stars and hence no depiction was possible.<ref name="allen"/> The [[Ancient Greek]]s called the constellation προκυων/''Procyon'', "coming before the dog", transliterated into [[Latin]] as ''Antecanis'', ''Praecanis'', or variations thereof, by Cicero and others. Roman writers also appended the descriptors ''parvus'', ''minor'' or ''minusculus'' ("small" or "lesser", for its faintness), ''septentrionalis'' ("northerly", for its position in relation to Canis Major), ''primus'' (rising "first") or ''sinister'' (rising to the "left") to its name ''Canis''.<ref name="allen">{{cite book | last=Allen | first=Richard Hinckley | year=1963 | orig-year=1899 | title=Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning | edition=corrected | publisher=Dover Publications | location=Mineola, New York | isbn = ((978-0-486-21079-7)) | page=[https://archive.org/details/starnamestheirlo00alle/page/383 383] | url=https://archive.org/details/starnamestheirlo00alle| url-access=registration }}</ref>
In [[Greek mythology]], Canis Minor was sometimes connected with the [[Teumessian fox|Teumessian Fox]], a beast turned into stone with its hunter, [[Laelaps (mythology)|Laelaps]], by [[Zeus]], who placed them in heaven as Canis Major (Laelaps) and Canis Minor (Teumessian Fox).<ref>Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3,192.</ref><ref>{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=yMbzhPrIkt4C&pg=PA275 |title = Nature Guide Stars and Planets |page = 275 |author = DK Publishing |publisher = Penguin |year = 2012 |isbn = 978-1-4654-0353-7}}</ref> [[Eratosthenes]] accompanied the Little Dog with Orion, while [[De astronomia|Hyginus]] linked the constellation with [[Maera (hound)|Maera]], a dog owned by [[Icarius of Athens]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Klepešta|first=Josef|author2=Rükl, Antonín|title=Constellations|publisher=Hamlyn|location=London, England|year=1974|orig-year=1969|pages=[https://archive.org/details/constellationsco0000klep/page/118 118–19]|isbn=978-0-600-00893-4|url=https://archive.org/details/constellationsco0000klep/page/118}}</ref><ref name="ridpath star tales"/> On discovering the latter's death, the dog and Icarius' daughter [[Erigone (daughter of Icarius)|Erigone]] took their lives and all three were placed in the sky—Erigone as [[Virgo (constellation)|Virgo]] and Icarius as [[Boötes]].<ref name="ridpath star tales">{{cite web |last=Ridpath |first=Ian |authorlink=Ian Ridpath |title=Canis Minor |url=http://www.ianridpath.com/startales/canisminor.html |access-date=26 May 2012 |work=Star Tales}}</ref> As a reward for his faithfulness, the dog was placed along the "banks" of the Milky Way, which the ancients believed to be a heavenly river, where he would never suffer from thirst.<ref>Mark R. Chartrand III (1982) Skyguide: A Field Guide for Amateur Astronomers, p. 126 ({{ISBN|0-307-13667-1}}).</ref>

The [[astronomy in medieval Islam|medieval Arabic astronomers]] maintained the depiction of Canis Minor (''al-Kalb al-Asghar'' in [[Arabic]]) as a dog; in his [[Book of the Fixed Stars]], [[Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi]] included a diagram of the constellation with a canine figure superimposed.<ref name=upton>{{cite journal |pages =  179–197 [195–96] |title = A Manuscript of "The Book of the Fixed Stars" by ʿAbd Ar-Raḥmān Aṣ-Ṣūfī |first = Joseph M. |last = Upton |journal = Metropolitan Museum Studies |volume = 4 |issue = 2 |date = March 1933 | jstor = 1522800 |doi =  10.2307/1522800}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |pages =  1–26 [Plate 12] |first = Emmy |last = Wellesz |title = An Early al-Ṣūfī Manuscript in the Bodleian Library in Oxford: A Study in Islamic Constellation Images |journal = Ars Orientalis |year = 1959 |volume = 3 |jstor = 4629096 }}</ref> There was one slight difference between the Ptolemaic vision of Canis Minor and the Arabic; al-Sufi claims [[Mirzam]], now assigned to [[Orion (constellation)|Orion]], as part of both Canis Minor—the collar of the dog—and its modern home. The Arabic names for both Procyon and Gomeisa alluded to their proximity and resemblance to Sirius, though they were not direct translations of the Greek; Procyon was called ''ash-Shi'ra ash-Shamiya'', the "Syrian Sirius" and Gomeisa was called ''ash-Shira al-Ghamisa'', the Sirius with bleary eyes.<ref name=upton/> Among the [[Merazig]] of [[Tunisia]], shepherds note six constellations that mark the passage of the dry, hot season. One of them, called ''Merzem'', includes the stars of Canis Minor and Canis Major and is the herald of two weeks of hot weather.<ref>{{cite journal |title = A Review of African Ethno-Astronomy: With Particular Reference to Saharan Livestock-Keepers |last = Oxby |first = Claire |journal = La Ricerca Folklorica |date = October 1999 |pages = 57–58 | jstor = 1479768 |issue = 40|doi = 10.2307/1479768 }}</ref>

The ancient Egyptians thought of this constellation as [[Anubis]], the jackal god.<ref>Chartrand, p. 126.</ref>
[[File:Sidney Hall - Urania's Mirror - Monoceros, Canis Minor, and Atelier Typographique.jpg|thumb|400px|The constellation Canis Minor can be seen alongside [[Monoceros]] and the obsolete constellation [[Atelier Typographique]] in this 1825 star chart from ''[[Urania's Mirror]]''.]]
Alternative names have been proposed: [[Johann Bayer]] in the early 17th century termed the constellation ''Fovea'' "The Pit", and ''Morus'' "[[Sycamine]] Tree". Seventeenth-century German poet and author [[Philipp von Zesen|Philippus Caesius]] linked it to the dog of Tobias from the [[Biblical apocrypha|Apocrypha]].<ref name="allen"/> [[Richard A. Proctor]] gave the constellation the name ''Felis'' "the Cat" in 1870 (contrasting with Canis Major, which he had abbreviated to ''Canis'' "the Dog"),<ref name="allen"/> explaining that he sought to shorten the constellation names to make them more manageable on [[celestial charts]].<ref>{{cite book | last = Proctor | first = Richard Anthony | authorlink = Richard A. Proctor | year = 1870 | title = A Star Atlas for the Library, the School and the Observatory | publisher = Longmans, Green | location = London, England | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=yzRRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA17 | pages=16–17}}</ref> Occasionally, Canis Minor is confused with Canis Major and given the name ''Canis Orionis'' ("Orion's Dog").<ref>{{cite book |page = 137 |title = Outer Space : Myths, Name Meanings, Calendars from the Emergence of History to the Present Day |last1 = Jobes |first1 = Gertrude |last2 = Jobes |first2 = James |year = 1964 |publisher = Scarecrow Press|location=New York, New York|oclc=882705}}</ref>

=== In non-Western astronomy ===

In [[Chinese astronomy]], the stars corresponding to Canis Minor lie in the [[Vermilion Bird of the South]] (南方朱雀, ''Nán Fāng Zhū Què''). Procyon, Gomeisa and Eta Canis Minoris form an asterism known as Nánhé, the Southern River.<ref name="ridpath star tales"/><ref>{{cite web |author1 = 陳冠中 |author2 = 陳輝樺 |url = http://aeea.nmns.edu.tw/2006/0607/ap060716.html |publisher = AEEA (Activities of Exhibition and Education in Astronomy) |script-title = zh:天文教育資訊網 |date = 16 July 2006 |language = zh |access-date = 20 December 2010 |archive-date = 22 August 2011 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110822132833/http://aeea.nmns.edu.tw/2006/0607/ap060716.html |url-status = dead }}</ref> With its counterpart, the Northern River Beihe ([[Castor (star)|Castor]] and [[Pollux (star)|Pollux]]), Nánhé was also associated with a gate or sentry. Along with [[Zeta Cancri|Zeta]] and [[8 Cancri]], [[6 Canis Minoris]] and [[11 Canis Minoris]] formed the asterism ''Shuiwei'', which literally means "water level". Combined with additional stars in [[Gemini (constellation)|Gemini]], Shuiwei represented an official who managed floodwaters or a marker of the water level.<ref name="ridpath star tales"/> Neighboring Korea recognized four stars in Canis Minor as part of a different constellation, "the position of the water". This constellation was located in the Red Bird, the southern portion of the sky.<ref>{{cite journal |title = A Korean Star Map |last1 = Rufus |first1 = W. Karl |last2 = Chao |first2 = Celia |pages = 316–26 |journal = Isis |volume = 35 |issue = 4 |date = Autumn 1944 |jstor = 330843 |doi = 10.1086/358723|s2cid = 144879973 }}</ref>

[[Polynesian people]]s often did not recognize Canis Minor as a constellation, but they saw Procyon as significant and often named it; in the [[Tuamotu Archipelago]] it was known as ''Hiro'', meaning "twist as a thread of coconut fiber", and ''Kopu-nui-o-Hiro'' ("great paunch of Hiro"), which was either a name for the modern figure of Canis Minor or an alternative name for Procyon. Other names included ''Vena'' (after a [[goddess]]), on [[Mangaia]] and ''Puanga-hori'' (false ''Puanga'', the name for [[Rigel]]), in [[New Zealand]]. In the [[Society Islands]], Procyon was called ''Ana-tahua-vahine-o-toa-te-manava'', literally "Aster the priestess of brave heart", figuratively the "pillar for elocution".<ref>{{cite book| last = Makemson | first = Maud Worcester | year = 1941 | publisher = Yale University Press | location = New Haven, Connecticut | title = The Morning Star Rises: An Account of Polynesian Astronomy | pages = 199, 209, 247, 267, 280| bibcode = 1941msra.book.....M }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title = Tahitian Astronomy: Birth of the Heavenly Bodies |last = Henry |first = Teuira |authorlink=Teuira Henry|journal = The Journal of the Polynesian Society |volume = 16 |issue = 2 |pages= 101–04 |date = June 1907 | jstor = 20700813}}</ref> The [[Wardaman people]] of the [[Northern Territory]] in Australia gave Procyon and Gomeisa the names ''Magum'' and ''Gurumana'', describing them as humans who were transformed into [[gum trees]] in [[the Dreaming]]. Although their skin had turned to bark, they were able to speak with a human voice by rustling their leaves.<ref name="darksparklers">{{cite book|last=Harney|first=Bill Yidumduma |author2=Cairns, Hugh C.|title=Dark Sparklers|publisher=Hugh C. Cairns|location=Merimbula, New South Wales|year=2004|orig-year=2003|edition=Revised|page=142|isbn=978-0-9750908-0-0}}</ref>

The [[Aztec calendar]] was related to [[Aztec astronomy|their cosmology]]. The stars of Canis Minor were incorporated along with some stars of Orion and Gemini into an asterism associated with the day called "Water".<ref>{{cite journal |title = Calendar Animals and Deities |last = Kelley |first = David H. |pages = 317–337 [333] |journal = Southwestern Journal of Anthropology |volume = 16 |issue = 3 |date = Autumn 1960 |doi = 10.1086/soutjanth.16.3.3629035 |jstor = 3629035|s2cid = 131473640 }}</ref>