Canopus

American  

[kuh-noh-puhs] / kəˈnoʊ pəs /

noun

1. Astronomy. a first-magnitude star in the constellation Carina: the second brightest star in the heavens.

2. an ancient seacoast city in Lower Egypt, 15 miles (24 km) E of Alexandria.

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Canopus ¹ British  

/ kəˈnəʊpəs /

noun

1. the brightest star in the constellation Carina and the second brightest star in the sky. Visual magnitude: -0.7; spectral type: F0II; distance: 313 light years

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Canopus ² British  

/ kəˈnəʊpəs /

noun

1. a port in ancient Egypt east of Alexandria where granite monuments have been found inscribed with the name of Rameses II and written in languages similar to those of the Rosetta stone

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Other Word Forms

• Canopic adjective

Example Sentences

Al-Neyadi’s astronaut toy, nicknamed Suhail, Arabic for the brilliant star Canopus, also accompanied al-Mansoori on his 2019 space station mission.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 7, 2023

Park your car at the small lot next to Canopus Lake.

From New York Times • Dec. 18, 2020

Her lifelong interest in science and societal upheaval is embodied in fascinating ways in Canopus in Argos, a series of five books published from 1979 to 1983.

From Nature • Oct. 7, 2019

But it was the Canopus in Argus sequence, identified by Lessing as her most important work, that the Nobel committee recognised when describing their author as "the epicist of the female experience".

From The Guardian • Jul. 22, 2013

The optical sensors seem to have mistaken Alpha and Beta Centauri for Canopus.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan