Home > Constellations, Ephemeris Program, Observing > Ephemeris: 02/03/2026 – Canis Major, Orion’s greater hunting dog

Ephemeris: 02/03/2026 – Canis Major, Orion’s greater hunting dog

February 3, 2026

This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, February 3rd. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 55 minutes, setting at 5:54, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:58. The Moon, 2 days past full, will rise at 8:14 this evening.

What kind of hunter would the constellation Orion be without his trusty hunting dogs.  The larger of his two dogs is Canis Major which can be found if you extend Orion’s belt stars down to the left.  There in the southeast by 8 PM, will appear the brightest nighttime star Sirius the Dog Star.  It is in the heart of the dog, which appears to be begging.  Well it’s tilted funny.  Other than that it’s a pretty good representation of a dog as a stick figure.  The name Sirius doesn’t mean Dog Star, but means Dazzling One due to its great brightness.  It outshines all other nighttime stars, only to be out shown by the planets Venus, Jupiter and occasionally, Mars.  Binoculars will show a nice little star cluster a short ways below Sirius known as M41.

The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EST, UT – 5 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

Finding Orion's greater hunting dog, Canis Major.
Finding Orion’s greater hunting dog, Canis Major for approximately 8 PM, February 3, 2025. Bonus: also includes Canis Minor. Jupiter won’t be where it is next year. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw and GIMP.
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