Canis Major

Remember the Orion's Belt navigation trick I mentioned in the Orion post? The first practical use for stargazing will be present in this post! Go back and find the star Sirius on the diagram, and make a note of the direction of it. The star Sirius is pretty easy to find, as it is the brightest star in the night sky. Period. No other star is brighter. Sirius is also known as the "Dog Star" as the the star is the center of the constellation Canis Major, or the Greater Dog.
See how Sirius makes up the foundation of the constellation?

Canis Major is closely following the constellation Orion, and is known to be one of his hunting dogs. This constellation should not be confused with Canis Minor, a very similar but smaller constellation. Part of the reason why Canis Major is easily spotted, aside from the star Sirius, is the absence of deep-sky objects in that sector of the sky. A deep-sky object is defined as a celestial body (like a galaxy, nebula or the like) that can be seen in the night sky with the naked eye.

Go out and try to use Orion's Belt to find Sirius and the rest of Canis Major. It is a good feeling when you get a hang of the it. This blog post also may have cleared up something for those of us who wondered why Sirius satellite radio's logo is a dog.