Canis Major
Canis Major is a prominent constellation because of its many bright stars. These include Sirius (Alpha Canis Majoris), the brightest star in the night sky, as well as three other stars above magnitude 2.0. Furthermore, two other stars are thought to have previously outshone all others in the night sky—Adhara (Epsilon Canis Majoris) shone at -3.99 around 4.7 million years ago, and Mirzam (Beta Canis Majoris) peaked at −3.65 around 4.42 million years ago. Another, NR Canis Majoris, will be brightest at magnitude −0.88 in about 2.87 million years' time.
List of extremes in the sky
The greatest concentration of bright stars is around Orion. Within a circle of 60 degrees radius around a point in Monoceros at RA 6:30, DE 5ºS, 11 stars of magnitude +1.6 or brighter occur: Capella, Pollux, Castor, Regulus, Procyon, Sirius, Adhara, Canopus, Rigel, Betelgeuse and Aldebaran. No other part of the sky consists of so many bright stars. The entire sky consists of 23 such stars.
Narrowing the circle to 50 degrees and moving the center to the midway point of Capella and Canopus (a few degrees east of Orion's belt) will still consist of 9 stars leaving out only Regulus.