... Sirius: The Brightest Star in the Night . ... As Sirius is 8.7 light years distant, it is not the closest star system - the Alpha Centauri system holds this distinction. ... In 1862, Sirius was discovered to be a binary star system with a companion star, Sirius B , 10,000 times dimmer than the bright primary, Sirius A. Sirius B was the first white dwarf star discovered, a type of star first understood by Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar in 1930. ... Publications with keywords: Sirius - star . ...