An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
English-French-Persian

The brightest star in the constellation → Canis Minor. With an → apparent visual magnitude of 0.34, Procyon is the eighth brightest star in the night sky. It is actually a → binary star system, consisting of a white → main sequence star of → spectral type F5 IV-V, named Procyon A, and a faint → DA white dwarf companion, named Procyon B. The distance of the system is 11.46 → light-years and the revolution period about 40 years. Procyon A is of → solar metallicity. It has an → effective temperature of about 6600 K and a mass of 1.43 M_sun. The age of the white dwarf is estimated to be 1.7 Giga years. Also called Procyon A, HR 2943, HD 61421 (see Chiavassa et al. 2012, arXiv:1201.3264 and references therein).

Procyon, literally "before the dog," referring to the mythical dog, → Canis Minor, from L. from Gk. prokyon, from → pro- "before" + kyon, kuon "dog;" cognate with Pers. sag, as below.

Farâsag, from farâ- "before," → pro-, + sag "dog;" Mid.Pers. sak/sag Av. spā-; cf. Skt. svā-; Gk. kuon; L. canis (Fr. chien); Arm. šun; O.E. hund; O.H.G. hunt; O.Ir. cu; Welsh ci; Rus. sobaka; PIE *kwon-. In several Pers. dialects this term has conserved its older Av. form with respect to its Modern "official" counterpart: Tâleši, Tâti: espa; štiyâni: esb; Kâšâni, Sorxeyi: esbâ; Lâsgardi: aesbae.