Canis Major
Canis Major contains Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, known as the "dog star". It is bright because of its proximity to the Solar System. In contrast, the other bright stars of the constellation are stars of great distance and high luminosity. At magnitude 1.5, Epsilon Canis Majoris (Adhara) is the second-brightest star of the constellation and the brightest source of extreme ultraviolet radiation in the night sky. Next in brightness are the yellow-white supergiant Delta (Wezen) at 1.8, the blue-white giant Beta (Mirzam) at 2.0, blue-white supergiants Eta (Aludra) at 2.4 and Omicron at 3.0, and white spectroscopic binary Zeta (Furud), also at 3.0. The red hypergiant VY Canis Majoris is one of the largest stars known, while the neutron star RX J0720.4-3125 has a radius of a mere 5 km.
Rigel in fiction
Rigel is the brightest star in the constellation Orion and the sixth brightest star in the sky, with an apparent magnitude of 0.18. Although it has the Bayer designation "Beta," it is almost always brighter than Alpha Orionis (Betelgeuse). Whereas the latter star represents the right shoulder of the Hunter, Rigel represents his left foot. It is the first star counterclockwise from Sirius in the Winter Hexagon, and is followed in turn by Aldebaran.