Pi Canis Majoris
Pi Canis Majoris is a binary star system in the southern constellation of Canis Major, the 'Greater Dog'. Its name is a Bayer designation that is Latinized from π Canis Majoris, and abbreviated Pi CMa or π CMa. This star is visible to the naked eye, having an apparent visual magnitude of +4.69. Based upon an annual parallax shift of as seen from Earth, this system is located away from the Sun. It is moving in the general direction of the Sun with a radial velocity of −37.9 km/s. This system will make its closest approach in around 733,000 years when it comes within.
The brighter primary, component A, is an F-type main-sequence star with a stellar classification of F1.5 V. It is a periodic variable star with a frequency of 11.09569 cycles per day and an amplitude of 0.0025 in magnitude. Based on a stellar model, the star has an estimated 1.6 times the mass of the Sun and 2.3 times the Sun's radius. It is radiating 9.8 times the Sun's luminosity from its photosphere at an effective temperature of around 6,747 K. At an estimated age of around a billion years, it has a high rate of spin with a projected rotational velocity of 92 km/s. The star displays a strong infrared excess at a wavelength of 24 μm and a weaker excess at 70 μm, indicating the presence of a circumstellar disk of dust with an average temperature of 188 K, orbiting at a mean distance of from the host star.
The magnitude 9.6 companion, component B, lies at an angular separation of 11.6 arc seconds from the primary as of 2008. Their projected separation is about 339 AU.