Adhara

The Epsilon star of Canis Major is Adhara (sometimes spelt Adara), southward of brilliant Sirius in the sky. Despite its 'Epsilon' designation, Adhara is actually the second brightest of the stars of Canis Major after Sirius, with an apparent magnitude of +1.5 (by comparison, Beta Canis Majoris, or Mirzam, has a rather fainter magnitude of +1.98).

With two nearby stars, Wezen and Aludra, Adhara forms a triangular shape in the southern parts of Canis Major. Together with nearby Omicron² Canis Majoris, these stars formed a traditional star-group known in Arabic as Al'Adhárá, 'the Virgins', from which Adhara takes its name.

Adhara is a blue supergiant more than 400 light years from the Solar System. It forms part of a binary pair, though its companion star is tiny and faint in comparison with the massive blue primary of the system.