Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. The vivid star is one of the nearest to Earth, at just 8.6 light-years away. It also has some company: A small, white dwarf called Sirius B orbits ...

Beginning to familiarize yourself with the night sky can feel daunting—with so many pinpricks of light above, parsing the constellations or identifying individual stars can be a lofty task. One ...