There are three dog constellations in the Butler night sky, but the best known are Canis Major and Canis Minor, the constellation Orion the Hunter’s faithful hunting dogs.

Canis Major and Canis Minor are Latin names that translate to English as the greater and lesser dogs, respectively. Most stargazers refer to them as the big dog and little dog.

Orion is one of the best-known and recognized characters in the night sky. He’s undoubtedly the king of the cold winter heavens, surrounded by a gang of bright stars and companion constellations, including his faithful hounds.

According to Greek and Roman mythology, Orion was a nocturnal hermit hunter with superhuman strength and abilities, giving him a huge advantage over the beasts he hunted. His only weapon was his mighty club, which he would use to take out the critters he skillfully stalked. Of course, every good hunter has his faithful hunting dogs, and Orion’s best friends were Canis Major and Minor, who accompany their master on his nightly westward prowl.

Orion’s big dog, Canis Major, is easy to find. From our view, it’s just to the lower left of Orion, and as you can see, it resembles a dog standing on its hind legs begging for food scraps from his master. Canis Major always reminds me of a dancing Snoopy from Charles Schulz’s classic Peanuts comics.

Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, marks the dog’s nose in most interpretations. Just use the three stars in a row that outline Orion’s belt as a pointer to the lower left, and you’ll run right into Sirius. To the right of Sirius is Mirzam, a dimmer but distinct star that marks the hound’s elevated paw. To the lower left of Sirius, you can’t help but notice the triangular pattern of stars that outline Canis Major’s hind end, hind leg and tail.

On the both sides of Canis Major are noteworthy stars. Sirius, at the nose, is not only the brightest star of the constellation but is also the brightest star in the night sky. Sirius is a Greek name that translates to “the scorcher” in English. Its brilliance is partially because it’s a star larger than our sun but mainly because it’s so much closer than most other stars. Sirius is only eight light years away, while most other stars we see at a glance are an average of 100 light years away. By the way, just one light year equals almost 6 trillion miles!

At the other end of Canis Major is Aludra, the star at the end of the big dog’s tail. It’s certainly nowhere near the brilliance of Sirius, but it’s one heck of a star! Astronomers estimate that Aludra is almost 50 million miles in diameter, over fifty times the diameter of our sun. It is reasonably humble in our sky because it’s almost 2,000 light-years away! The light you see from Aludra tonight left that great star around the birth of Christ.

As majestic as the constellation Canis Major is, Orion’s little hunting dog Canis Minor is a joke by comparison, in my opinion. It’s basically just two stars, Procyon and Gomeisa, and that’s it. It’s easy to find. Just look for the next brightest star you can see in the sky to the upper left of Sirius. That’s Procyon, the brightest star in Canis Minor. Gomeisa is a fainter star to the upper right of Procyon. How those two stars outline a dog is anybody’s guess. Maybe it’s a wiener dog!

The constellation Orion and his hunting dogs contribute to one of the coolest configurations in the sky, the “Winter Triangle.” In your mind’s eye, draw a line from the bright star Betelgeuse at the armpit of Orion the Hunter to Sirius in Canis Major and then up to Procyon in Canis Minor. You’ll easily see that those three bright stars make up a perfect equilateral triangle from our vantage here on Earth.

Enjoy the hounds of heaven!

Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and retired broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis/St. Paul. He is the author of "Stars: a Month by Month Tour of the Constellations," published by Adventure Publications and available at bookstores and adventurepublications.net. Contact him at mikewlynch@comcast.net.