Star of longetivity: Canopus

Canopus (Carina α)

Canopus is the second brightest star throughout the day, only slightly dimmer than Sirius.

Canopus in different cultures

In Egyptian legend, when ancient Egypt was destroyed by huge flooding, the gods Isis and Osiris were on a huge argo (the so called Noah's Ark mentioned in the bible of Christianity).
According to the myth of Babylonians, the argo was created by the God Ea after realizing the desperate and fear from the humans.
The description and story of this argo vary for differnt civilizations and culture towards different gods/godesses.
For the ancient greeks, the vessel was the place where lots of heros grouped together sailing across the oceans. Canopus was shinning at the Argo's tail.

Canopus has the meaning of the hermit for giving guidance, and is the brightest star in the constellation of Argos. In the view from earth, it is the 2nd brightest star in night sky just slightly dimmer than Sirius. This star is visible in Southern hemisphere of Earth, but can only be seen by southern part of Northern hemisphere. For example, it is not visible to northern part of China.

In ancient China, it paid an important part in legends as it represents the old hermit of the south pole. The star is regarded to be symbol of longetivity, peace and fortune. Appearance of Canopus is regarded to be a peace and forture sign (which is a contrary to Sirius). However, the star is situated too south and it can only be seen from southern part of China (In ancient China, these regions are mostly uncultivated regions). It is impossible to observe it from Northern China (the centre of China in ancient times). This characteristic is one of the reasons why it is called "Antarctic Canopus (i.e. "Nanjixianweng") in ancient China.

The image of Antarctic Canopus (Nanjixianweng) is an old hermit with high forehead, long elbow, holding hands with a large peach. It symbolise peace, harmony and statue of Nanjixianweng is one of the precious present for birthday for the riches.

Canopus is in the brightest star in Carina which can be seen in southern hemisphere. It is believed the English name (Canopus) is named after the Greek army expedition to Troy. Comparing to Sirius, Canopus is much far away from Earth and it is difficult to calculate its distance form the Earth. Most astronomers (before modern space age) suggested it is situated 1,200 light years away. However, with the modern telescopes, it is noted that Canopus is actually 700 lightyears from us, and it is the largest star within a radius of 700 lightyears from us.