Characteristics
Canis Major is a constellation in the southern hemisphere's summer (or northern hemisphere's winter) sky, bordered by Monoceros (which lies between it and Canis Minor) to the north, Puppis to the east and southeast, Columba to the southwest, and Lepus to the west. The three-letter abbreviation for the constellation, as adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1922, is 'CMa'. The official constellation boundaries, as set by Eugène Delporte in 1930, are defined by a polygon of 4 sides. In the equatorial coordinate system, the right ascension coordinates of these borders lie between 06h 12.5m and 07h 27.5m, while the declination coordinates are between -11.03° and −33.25°. Covering 380 square degrees, it ranks 43rd of the 88 constellations in size. Canis Major culminates each year at 9 p.m. on 4 April.
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