Sirius is Dog Star and brightest star | Brightest Stars | EarthSky Sirius is Dog Star and brightest star By Deborah Byrd in Brightest Stars | Science Wire | February 10, 2016 Sirius – in the constellation Canis Major the Greater Dog – is the sky’s brightest star. It’s very easy to spot on winter and spring evenings. The star Sirius and the nearby star cluster M41 caught on January 2, 2016 in Weatherly, Pennsylvania. Photo by Tom Wildoner at LeisurelyScientist.com The brightest star visible from any part of Earth is Sirius in the constellation Canis Major the Greater Dog. Sirius is sometimes called the Dog Star. Follow the links below to learn more about Sirius, the Dog Star and brightest star. The Greater Dog looking super cute in this photo Tom Wildoner ! Brightest star is Sirius. Orion’s Belt points to Sirius How to see Sirius. Most people in the Northern Hemisphere notice Sirius in the southeast – south – or southwest on evenings from winter to mid-spring. February evenings are a grand time to see it. It’s also fun to spot Sirius as it ascends in the east before dawn on late summer mornings.

Whenever you see Sirius, you’ll recognize it easily because it is our sky’s brightest star. Although white to blue white in color, Sirius might be called a rainbow star, as it often flickers with many colors. The brightness, twinkling and color changes sometimes prompt first-time observers to report Sirius as a UFO. But these changes have nothing to do with Sirius. Rather, they are what happens when such a bright star as Sirius shines through the blanket of Earth’s atmosphere. The light from Sirius, which often appears fairly low in the sky from the mid-north latitudes, passes through a long column of air before it reaches our eyes. Changes in density and temperature of this air affect the light and cause the flickering and shimmering we see when we gaze at this star. This happens for other stars, too, but it is more noticeable for Sirius because it is so bright, and because it appears low in the sky. From the mid-northern latitudes such as most of the U.S., Sirius rises in the southeast, arcs across the southern sky, and sets in the southwest. In December, you’ll find Sirius rising in mid-evening. By mid-April, Sirius is setting in the southwest in mid-evening.

Sirius is always easy to find. It’s the sky’s brightest star! Plus, anyone familiar with the constellation Orion can simply draw a line through Orion’s Belt, to the left. This line will point to Sirius, which is roughly 8 times as far from the Belt as the Belt is wide. The Egyptian god Osiris History and mythology of Sirius. Sirius is also well known as the Dog Star, because it is the chief star in the constellation Canis Major, the Big Dog. Have you ever heard anyone speak of the dog days of summer? Sirius is behind the sun as seen from Earth in Northern Hemisphere summer. In late summer, it appears in the east before sunrise – near the sun in our sky. The early stargazers might have imagined that the double-whammy of Sirius and the sun caused the hot weather, or dog days. Sirius has been known since ancient times, and its name signified its nature as “scorching” or “sparkling.” It was associated with the Egyptian god Osiris and other gods. Ancient Egyptians noted that Sirius rose just before the sun each year immediately prior to the annual flooding of the Nile River. Although the floods could bring destruction, they also brought new soil and new life.

Fittingly, Osiris, whom Sirius may have represented, was a god of life, death, fertility and rebirth of plant life along the Nile. In India, Sirius is sometimes known as Svana, the dog of Prince Yudhistira. The prince and his four brothers, along with Svana, set out on a long and arduous journey to find the kingdom of heaven. However, one by one the brothers all abandoned the search until only Yudhistira and Svana were left. At long last they came to the gates of heaven. The gatekeeper, Lord Indra, welcomed the prince but denied Svana entrance. Yudhistira was aghast and told Lord Indra that he could not forsake his good and faithful servant and friend. His brothers, Yudhistira told the Lord, had abandoned the journey to heaven to follow their hearts’ desires. But Svana, who had given his heart freely, chose to follow none but Yudhistira. The prince told the Lord that without his dog, he would forsake even heaven. This is what Lord Indra had wanted to hear, and then he welcomed both the prince and the dog through the gates of heaven.

This Hubble Space Telescope image shows Sirius A, the brightest star in our night sky, along with Sirius B, its faint, tiny stellar companion. Sirius B is the faint, tiny dot at the lower left. Sir. Image credit: H. Bond (STScI) and M. Barstow (University of Leicester) Sirius science. Magnitude is a star’s brightness expressed by a number. The smaller the number, the brighter the star. The visual magnitude of Sirius is -1.44, lower than any other star. It is 3.5 times brighter than Arcturus in Bootes, the next brightest star easily visible from the northern hemisphere. There are brighter stars in terms of actual energy and light output, but they are farther away and hence dimmer. Normally, the only objects that outshine Sirius in our heavens are the sun, moon, Venus, Jupiter, Mars and Mercury (and usually Sirius outshines the latter two!). The next brightest star (Canopus) after Sirius, and the closest major star (Alpha Centauri) are both too far south in the sky to be easily seen from mid-north latitudes.

At 8.6 light-years distance, Sirius is one of the nearest stars to us after the sun. (A light year is nearly 6 trillion miles!) In fact it is the nearest star easily visible to the unaided eye from most of the northern hemisphere. Classified by astronomers as an “A” type star, it is much hotter than our sun, with about surface about 17,000 degrees F (the sun is about 10,000 degrees F). With slightly more than twice the mass of the sun and just less than twice its diameter, Sirius still puts out 26 times as much energy. It is considered a normal (main sequence) star, meaning that it produces most of its energy by converting hydrogen into helium through nuclear fusion. Sirius has a small, faint companion star appropriately called The Pup. That name signifies youth, but in fact the companion to Sirius is a dead star called a white dwarf. Once a mighty star, today The Pup is an Earth-sized ember too faint to be seen without a telescope. The position of Sirius is RA: 06h 45m 08.9s, dec:-16° 42′ 58″.

Image Credit: Yuuji Kitahara Sirius: Brightest Star in Earth's Night Sky Sirius: Brightest Star in Earth's Night Sky By Elizabeth Howell, Space.com Contributor | June 24, 2013 06:07pm ET MORE Follow the belt of Orion to find Sirius. Credit: Starry Night Software Sirius, also known as the Dog Star or Sirius A, is the brightest star in Earth's night sky. The name means "glowing" in Greek. With a visual magnitude of -1.46, the star is outshone only by several planets as well as the International Space Station. Because Sirius is so bright, it was well-known to the ancients. What came as a surprise to astronomers was the discovery of a companion star, Sirius B, in 1862. The companion is so much dimmer than Sirius — 10,000 times, in fact — that it wasn't until 2005 that astronomers were able to estimate its mass. Locating Sirius Sirius is highly visible in the Northern Hemisphere winter night sky because it has a high relative luminosity to other stars, and it's relatively close to Earth (8.6 light-years).

If the star were placed next to Earth's sun, Sirius would outshine it more than 20 times over. To find Sirius, use the belt of Orion as a pointer. The three stars point downward toward Sirius to the left. To be more precise, the position of Sirius is: Right Ascension: 06h 45m 08.9s Declination: -16 degrees 42 minutes 58 seconds Though they look serene and silent from our vantage on Earth, stars are actually roiling balls of violent plasma. Test your stellar smarts with this quiz. Photograph of Sirius A, the brightest star in our nighttime sky, along with its faint, tiny stellar companion, Sirius B. Credit: NASA, ESA, H. Bond (STScI), and M. Barstow (University of Leicester) Sirius in history Today, Sirius is nicknamed the "Dog Star" because it is part of the constellation Canis Major — Latin for "the greater dog." The expression "dog days" refers to the period from July 3 through Aug. 11 when Sirius rises in conjunction with the sun.

The ancients felt that the combination of the sun during the day and the star at night was responsible for the extreme heat that is experienced during mid-summer. The star is present in ancient astronomical records of the Greeks, Polynesians and several other cultures. Perhaps most notably, the Egyptians based their calendar on when Sirius was first visible in the eastern sky, shortly before sunrise. They called it the "Nile Star" because it always returned just before the river rose, and so announced the coming of floodwaters, which would renourish their lands. In 1718, Edmond Halley — when studying Sirius and other stars — discovered that stars have "proper motion" relative to one another . Then in 1862, Alvan Graham Clark discovered Sirius had a faint companion, now known as Sirius B . Recent observations In 2005, astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope precisely measured the mass of Sirius B for the first time — a mass that is 98 percent that of the sun , NASA stated. The scientists used a spectrometer aboard the orbiting telescope to measure how its light is affected by gravity on the star.

Previous attempts with ground-based observatories were foiled because Sirius itself is so bright, and along with the Earth's atmosphere spreading its light, it washed out its fainter companion (which is a white dwarf ). Astronomers have struggled to confirm a few older measurements of Sirius' system. One 1994 paper in Astronomy and Astrophysics suggested the binary system could actually have a third, tiny companion that rotates around Sirius every six years. Observations in 2008 with a European Southern Observatory 3.6 meter telescope, however, revealed nothing . Some have suggested that Sirius was much redder in the past, based on ancient accounts that described the star as red. Among them was Greek astronomy Claudius Ptolemy in A.D. 150. "There is no doubt about what Ptolemy means. He bluntly says "reddish, and other ancient sources corroborate him," wrote the University of Houston's R.C. Ceragioli in 1995. However, since the matter first received serious attention at the Royal Society in 1760, astronomers have been unable to explain the discrepancy.

The stars would not have evolved so quickly in a few thousand years, but there could be effects from the theoretical third companion. Or, some say, observers could have been describing how Sirius appears when it is close to the horizon and the most affected by Earth's atmosphere. — Elizabeth Howell, SPACE.com Contributor Sirius: The Dog Star (Alpha Canis Majoris) | Constellation Guide by admin Sirius, also known as the Dog Star, α Canis Majoris (Alpha Canis Majoris), or Canicula, is the single brightest star in the night sky. It lies at a distance of 8.60 light years (2.64 parsecs) from Earth, in the constellation Canis Major , the Greater Dog. Sirius is not the brightest star because it is more luminous than other visible stars, but because it is located so close to the solar system. It is the fifth closest star system to Earth and contains two of the eight nearest stars to Earth. Sirius is slowly moving closer to Earth and will gradually increase in brightness over the next 60,000 years, before it starts to recede.

It will, however, remain the brightest star seen from Earth for the next 210,000 years. Sirius has an apparent magnitude of -1.46, which makes it almost twice as bright as Canopus , the second brightest star in the sky, located in Carina constellation . It is, however, significantly less luminous than Canopus , Rigel, and many other bright stars that lie at greater distances. The name Sirius (pronounced /ˈsɪriəs/) comes from the Latin Sīrius, which is derived from the Greek Σείριος (Seirios), meaning “scorcher” or “glowing.” The star’s other name, the Dog Star, has similar connotations. Sirius, image: Akira Fujii, European Space Agency In ancient times, the Dog Star’s heliacal rising marked the flooding of the Nile in Egypt, while the Greeks associated it with the “dog days” of summer, referring to the period from July 3 to August 11, when the star rises in conjunction with the Sun.

The heliacal rising is the first rising of a star (or a planet, a constellation, or the Moon) over the eastern horizon just before sunrise after a period when the star had not been visible. Every day after the heliacal rising, the star rises a bit earlier and is visible for a little longer before dawn. STAR SYSTEM Alpha Canis Majoris appears as a single star to the naked eye, but it is really a binary star system, composed of a white main sequence star belonging to the spectral class A1 V, known as Sirius A or Alpha Canis Majoris A, and a dim white dwarf with the stellar classification DA2, designated Sirius B or Alpha Canis Majoris B. The two white stars orbit each other with a period of 50.1 years and an average separation roughly 20 times the distance from the Earth to the Sun. The distance between the two stars in the binary system varies from 8.2 to 31.5 astronomical units. The angular separation between them varies from 3 to 11 seconds of arc. An X-ray image of the Sirius star system located 8.6 light years from Earth.

This image shows two sources and a spike-like pattern due to the support structure for the transmission grating. The bright source is Sirius B, a white dwarf star that has a surface temperature of about 25,000 degrees Celsius which produces very low energy X-rays. The dim source at the position of Sirius A – a normal star more than twice as massive as the Sun – may be due to ultraviolet radiation from Sirius A leaking through the filter on the detector. In contrast, Sirius A is the brightest star in the northern sky when viewed with an optical telescope, while Sirius B is 10,000 times dimmer. Because the two stars are so close together Sirius B escaped detection until 1862 when Alvan Clark discovered it while testing one of the best optical telescopes in the world at that time. Image: NASA/SAO/CXC At the closest approach every 50 years, Sirius A and Sirius B can only be resolved with a 12-inch telescope in good viewing conditions. As the two stars approach each other, huge magnetic storms are created between them and both stars start to spin faster as a result of tidal forces getting stronger.

The primary component, Sirius A, is roughly twice as massive as the Sun and 25 times more luminous. It has an estimated surface temperature of 9,940 K. Sirius B is 10,000 times less luminous, but a brighter X-ray source of the two. It orbits around the primary component in a wide horizontal ellipse when observed from Earth. The star has an estimated surface temperature of 25,200 K. It is the nearest known white dwarf. Sirius A is classified as an Am star because studies of the star’s spectrum have revealed deep metallic absorption lines, suggesting a significant presence of elements heavier than helium, like iron. The star has 316% of the proportion of iron found in the atmosphere of our Sun. The estimated age of the system is between 200 and 300 million years. The Sirius system originally consisted of two bright blue stars. Alpha Canis Majoris B was the more massive one, with roughly 5 solar masses, but then it consumed its resources and evolved into a red giant before expelling its outer shell and becoming a white dwarf some 120 million years ago.

This picture is an artist’s impression showing how the binary star system of Sirius A and its diminutive blue companion, Sirius B, might appear to an interstellar visitor. The large, bluish-white star Sirius A dominates the scene, while Sirius B is the small but very hot and blue white-dwarf star on the right. The two stars revolve around each other every 50 years. White dwarfs are the leftover remnants of stars similar to our Sun. The Sirius system, only 8.6 light-years from Earth, is the fifth closest stellar system known. Sirius B is faint because of its tiny size. Its diameter is only 7,500 miles (about 12 thousand kilometres), slightly smaller than the size of our Earth. The Sirius system is so close to Earth that most of the familiar constellations would have nearly the same appearance as in our own sky. In this rendition, we see in the background the three bright stars that make up the Summer Triangle: Altair, Deneb, and Vega. Altair is the white dot above Sirius A; Deneb is the dot to the upper right; and Vega lies below Sirius B.

But there is one unfamiliar addition to the constellations: our own Sun is the second-magnitude star, shown as a small dot just below and to the right of Sirius A. Image: NASA, ESA. Credit: G. Bacon (STScI) Sirius B has a mass almost equal to the Sun, 0.98 solar masses, which makes it one of the more massive white dwarfs known. However, the star’s mass is concentrated into a volume comparable to that of the Earth. Sirius B has a almost the diameter of our planet, 12,000 kilometres, or 7,500 miles. The star’s diameter was measured in 2005 using the Hubble Space Telescope. The binary companion was discovered by the German astronomer Friedrich Bessel, who deduced that the star had an unseen companion from the changes in the proper motion of the main component. The American astronomer Alvan Graham Clark was the first to observe the dim companion on January 31, 1862. He used the largest refracting lens avaiable at the time and spotted the star while testing an 18.5-inch refractor for Dearborn University.

The companion, Sirius B, is sometimes referred to by its nickname, the Pup. The Alpha Canis Majoris system may have a very small third component, but its existence has never been confirmed. If the star does exist, it has a mass of only 0.06 solar masses and completes an orbit around the main component every six years. Its existence is only indicated by some orbital irregularities in the star system. Sirius A and Sirius B (see pointer). Image: NASA Walter Sydney Adams was the first to discover that Sirius B was a white star. He used a 60-inch reflector at Mount Wilson Observatory and, while observing the star’s spectrum, he concluded that it was a whitish star. Astronomers later determined that the star was a white dwarf, only the second one to be discovered. In 2005, data from the Hubble Space Telescope helped astronomers determine that Sirius B has almost the diameter of the Earth, around 12,000 kilometres or 7,500 miles, and a mass 98 percent that of the Sun. This was the first time that astronomers were able to accurately measure the mass of Sirius B.

FACTS The earliest recorded use of the name Sirius dates from the 7th century, when the Greek poet Hesiod mentioned the star in his didactic poem Works and Days. Sirius B compared to Earth. Image: Omnidoom 999 at wikipedia.org Sirius has more than 50 names and designations attached to it. In medieval astrolabes from western Europe it is called Alhabor. This is the name Geoffrey Chaucer used in his Treatise on the Astrolabe, with the star depicted as a dog’s head. In Scandinavian countries, the star has been known as Loki’s torch, or Lokabrenna, which literally means “burning done by Loki.” The only objects in the sky brighter than Sirius are the Moon, Venus, Jupiter, and occasionally Mercury and Mars. Sirius was one of the stars that led Edmond Halley to the discovery of proper motion among the so-called “fixed” stars.

In 1718, Halley compared contemporary data to the information provided in Ptolemy’s Almagest and found that the bright stars Aldebaran in Taurus , Arcturus in Boötes and Sirius had moved significantly over the period of 1,800 years. Sirius had progressed 30 arc minutes to the south since Ptolemy’s times. Sirius was the first star to have its velocity measured. In 1868, Sir William Huggins wrongly presumed that the star was receding from the Sun at roughly 40 km/s, but his conclusion is notable for introducing the study of radial velocities of stars. Sirius is really moving toward the solar system at 7.6 km/s. The Winter Triangle : Procyon (top left), Betelgeuse (top right), Sirius (base). Image: Hubble European Space Agency, credit: Akira Fujii Along with the bright stars Procyon in Canis Minor and Betelgeuse in Orion constellation , Sirius forms the Winter Triangle , a familiar asterism in the night sky, and easy to spot in winter evenings in the northern hemisphere.

Procyon, Alpha Canis Minoris, is the nearest large neighbouring star to Sirius, located 5.24 light years away in the constellation Canis Minor . The Voyager 2 spacecraft, which was launched in 1977 to study the Jovian planets in our system, will pass within 4.3 light years of Sirius in about 296,000 years – assuming the spacecraft is still around. (One light year is almost 10 trillion kilometres, or 6 trillion miles.) At one point, Sirius was thought to be a member of the Ursa Major Moving Group, an association of stars including most of the brighest stars in Ursa Major constellation , that share a common origin and proper motion through space. In 1909, Ejnar Hertzsprung was the first to suggest this after observing the star system’s movements across the sky. It wasn’t until 2003 and 2005 that analyses revealed this to be unlikely. The stars in the Ursa Major Moving Group were roughly 500 million years old and Sirius is about half this age, and therefore too young to belong to the association.

Alpha Canis Majoris may instead belong to the Sirius Supercluster, a proposed supercluster that includes the stars Beta Aurigae in Auriga constellation , Alpha Coronae Borealis in Corona Borealis , Beta Crateris in Crater , Beta Eridani in Eridanus , and Beta Serpentis in Serpens . Sirius compared to the Sun. Image: Danilo94 at wikipedia.org The diameter of the primary star, Sirius A, was first measured by Robert Hanbury Brown and Richard Q. Twiss at Jodrell Bank in 1959. The first spectrum of Sirius B was obtained at Mount Wilson Observatory in 1920. The first photograph of the companion was taken by Dr. Irving W. Lendenblad of the U.S. Naval Observatory in 1970. The colour of Sirius has caused some debate over the centuries, as a number of ancient accounts indicated that the star was red. The Greek astronomer Ptolemy was one of the many who described its appearance as reddish.

Around the year 150 AD, he mentioned the star’s reddish colour, including it with five other stars that are all known to be either red or orange: Antares in Scorpius constellation , Arcturus in Boötes , Betelgeuse in Orion , Aldebaran in Taurus , and Pollux in Gemini . Seneca, too, had noted that Sirius was of a deeper red colour than Mars. However, at the same time, there were many observers who described the star as blue or white. While it is possible that observers could have been describing the star as it appears when it is close to the horizon, with its colour affected by the Earth’s atmosphere, there has not been a single conclusive explanation for the discrepancy ever since the issue of Sirius’ colour first got serious attention at the Royal Society way back in 1760. Sirius’ flickering and colour changes, which have prompted some observers to report UFO sightings, can be explained by the fact that the star often appears low in the sky in northern latitudes and its light passes through a long column of air in our atmosphere and is affected by changes in the air’s temperature and density before it reaches observers.

Sirius is not the only star affected by this phenomenon, but the changes in colour are more noticeable because the star is so bright and often appears near the horizon. MYTHOLOGY AND CULTURE In ancient Egypt, Sirius was known as Sopdet (Greek: Σῶθις, or Sothis). Sothis was identified with Isis, the goddess who was part of the triad with her husband Osiris and son Horus. The hieroglyph for Sothis has a star and a triangle. Egyptians based their calendar on the heliacal rising of Sirius in the era of the Middle Kingdom. The star’s rising marked the beginning of the new year and the event was celebrated with a festival known as “The Coming of Sopdet.” The day Sirius became visible just before dawn after moving far enough away from the Sun to not be lost in the Sun’s glare signalled the flooding of the Nile every year. This would happen just before the summer solstice and the star would be visible before sunrise after being absent from the skies for about 70 days. Sirius and Canis Major constellation The 70-day absence symbolised Isis and Osiris’ passing through the Egyptian underworld, the Duat.

The flooding of the Nile brought fertility to the land when the star appeared, and Egyptians associated Isis with both the inundation, fertility and the new year. They called Sirius the Nile Star. The Egyptians believed that Sirius caused the floods and they noted that the star’s heliacal rising occurred every 365.25 days rather than 365 days. The correction in the length of the calendar year was eventually incorporated in the Julian calendar. The Egyptians also saw Sirius as the doorway to the afterlife and would not bury their dead during the 70 days the star was hidden from view – the 35 days before and after Sirius conjuncted the Sun. They believed the doorway was closed when the star was out of view. Several occult researchers believe that the Great Pyramid of Giza was constructed in perfect alignment with stars, particularly with Sirius and the three stars of the Orion’s Belt . Recent findings related to the pyramid’s mysterious air shafts have strengthened the theory of Sirius’ importance to Egyptians. The Greeks noticed that the star’s appearance in the sky heralded the hot, dry summer season. Sirius was known to twinkle more in the early summer and the Greeks interpreted this as a malignant influence.

The star was often described as “burning” in various texts, and the season it heralded became known as the dog days of summer. On the island of Ceos, inhabitants would offer sacrifices to Zeus and Sirius to bring cooling breezes and, if Sirius rose clear, they would see this as a sign of good fortune. If the star was faint or misty, it foretold pestilence. Archaeologists found coins on the island dating from the 3rd century BC that featured dogs and stars with emanating rays. The Romans, similarly, celebrated the star’s heliacal rising around April 25, and would sacrifice a dog and a sheep to the goddess Robigo in the hope that the star would not cause wheat rust on their crops that year. They called the hottest days of the summer dies caniculares and Sirius was known as Canicula, or “little dog.” The star is associated with dogs in a number of cultures. Being the brightest star in the Greater Dog constellation , it was classically represented as one of the dogs of Orion, the Hunter . Homer calls the star “Orion’s Dog” in The Iliad.

In ancient Greece, there was a belief that the star could make dogs behave abnormally during the summer. The Chinese knew Sirius as the star of the “celestial wolf.” In anicent times, they visualised the constellations Puppis and Canis Major as a large bow and arrow, with the arrow tip pointed at the wolf. Ancient Polynesians used Sirius for navigation, and saw it as part of the Great Bird constellation called Manu. The bright star Canopus in Carina marked the southern wingtip and Procyon in Canis Minor the northern one. The constellation divided the sky into two hemispheres, and the stars were used as latitude markers. The declination of Sirius matches the latitude of Fiji at 17°S, which means that the star passes directly over the islands every night. To the Māori, the star marked the beginning of the winter season. They had the same name to describe both the star and the season: Takurua. In Hawaii, Sirius was known as Ka’ulua, or the Queen of Heaven. The star’s culmination at the winter solstice was celebrated with an event every year.

In India, the star is sometimes known as Svana, the dog of Prince Yudhistira, who set out of a long journey to find the kingdom of heaven with his four brothers. The journey was a difficult one and, one by one, the brothers abandoned the search. When Yudhistira reached the gates of heaven, Lord Indra welcomed him, but would not let Svana enter. The prince told him that he himself would not enter if his faithful servant was denied entrance. This is what the Lord wanted to hear, and he then allowed them both through the gates. In Sanskrit, the star is known as Mrgavyadha, or “deer hunter,” representing Rudra (Shiva), or as Lubdhaka, meaning “hunter.” In Persian mythology and Zoroastrianism, Sirius is seen as Tishtrya and revered as the divinity bringing rain and fertility. Sirius is mentioned in the Qur’an, where it is called the Mighty Star or Leader. The star’s other proper name, Aschere, is derived from Arabic. Many indigenous peoples of North America associated Sirius with figures of dogs and wolves.

The Blackfoot knew the star as “Dog-face,” Pawnee tribes of Nebraska called it the “Wolf Star” or “Coyote Star,” and the Cherokee saw Sirius and Antares in Scorpius constellation as dog-star guardians of the two ends of the Path of Souls. The Alaskan Inuit knew Sirius as “Moon Dog.” The Dogon people in Mali in West Africa reported to have knowledge about Sirius that would be impossible without using telescopes. Based on information revealed in the French anthropologist Marcel Griaule’s books Conversations with Ogotemmêli and The Pale Fox, the Dogon were familiar with the star’s 50-year orbital period and knew it was a binary star before western astronomers did. They also refer to a second companion, the third star in the system, which accompanies Sirius A and B. To add to the controversy, Robert Temple’s book The Sirius Mystery, published in 1976, claims that the Dogon knew about the rings of Saturn and the four Galilean moons of Jupiter. Temple speculates that the Dogons, an ancient tribe who have worshipped Sirius for the past 5,000 years, had a direct connection with beings from Sirius.

In a Dogon myth explaining the origin of the human race, humanity was born from the Nommo, a race of amphibians who came to Earth from a planet orbiting Sirius. The Nommo are said to have given humans profound knowledge, including information about Sirius and our own solar system. LOCATION Sirius can be seen from any location on Earth south of 73°N. However, from locations that are further to the north, but south of 73°N, the star doesn’t rise very high above the horizon. For observers south of 73°S, Sirius is circumpolar: it never sets below the horizon. Orion’s Belt and Sirius As a result of precession, Alpha Canis Majoris will move further south and, in the year 9,000, it will not be visible from most locations in northern and central Europe. In the year 14,000, when Vega takes over as the pole star, Sirius will be found at declination -67° and never set below the horizon for observers in South Africa and in most parts of Australia. The easiest way to locate Sirius in the night sky is by using the stars of the Orion’s Belt as pointers.

The three bright belt stars – Alnilam, Alnitak, and Mintaka, point downward to Sirius to the left. Sirius is about 8 times as far from the Orion’s Belt as the belt is wide. For most observers in northern latitudes, Sirius lies in the southeast, south, or southwest sky in the evenings from winter to mid-spring. The star can also be seen rising in the east before dawn in the late summer.

Sirius – Alpha Canis Majoris Coordinates: 06h 45m 08.9173s (right ascension), -16°42’58.017” (declination) Distance: 8.60 ± 0.04 light years (2.64 ± 0.01 parsecs) Orbital period: 50.090 ± 0.055 years Designations: Sirius, Dog Star, α Canis Majoris (α CMa), 9 Canis Majoris (9 CMa), Canicula, Al Shira, Sothis, Alhabor, Mrgavyadha, Lubdhaka, Tenrōsei, HD 48915, HR 2491, BD −16°1591, GCTP 1577.00 A/B, GJ 244 A/B, LHS 219, ADS 5423, LTT 2638, HIP 32349, B: EGGR 49, WD 0642-166 Sirius A Winter

 Constellations in the Northern Hemisphere | Outer Space Universe Winter Constellations in the Northern Hemisphere December 5th, 2009 | Author: Greg - Staff Writer Winter Constellations in the Northern Hemisphere Well OSU fans, it’s time to pull out the star charts and take a look at the winter constellations in the Northern Hemisphere.

The winter sky is dominated by the awesome constellation, Orion and Orion can be used as the starting point for your winter constellation observing. To find Orion in early winter, look southeast. You will easily find three stars that are lined up in a row. These are the stars in Orion’s belt. If you look to the lower right of the belt, you will come to a bright white star. This is Rigel which forms Orion’s knee. If you look to the upper left of the belt, you’ll find a bright orange star. This star is Betelgeuse, which some refer to as “Beetlejuice”. Congratulations! You’ve just identified Orion. From here, it is easy to find other major winter constellations. Orion, the Hunter, is accompanied by two hunting dogs – Canis Major which includes the Sirius (the Dog Star) and Canis Minor which includes the star, Procyon. Finding Sirius is easy. It is the brightest star in the winter night sky. Follow the line of Orion’s belt to the the left. You won’t miss it. Sirius makes up the head of Canis Major, the Great Dog. Directly above Sirius is Procyon.

To find it using Orion, locate the two stars that make up Orion’s shoulders and follow the line they create to the first bright star you find. That is Procyon. Now you’ve found both of Orion’s hunting dogs! Complete Winter Constellation Chart Now that you’ve gotten good at using Orion as your guide, it’s time to find Gemini. Follow the line that is formed between Rigel and Betelgeuse upwards. You will come to two lines of stars that are capped by two brighter stars. These are the twin stars Pollux (to the left) and Castor (to the right). To find the Pleiades, or the Seven Sisters, follow Orion’s belt to the right. You will pass just below a bright star called Aldebaran and see a small group of stars that form the Pleiades. If you go back and locate Aldebaran, you will see a small group of five stars close by. This group is the main part of Taurus the Bull. The last constellation to find on our journey is Auriga, or the Charioteer.

This constellation is to the left of Taurus and can be found by lining up the left-most star in Orion’s belt with the bottom-most star in Orion and follow it upwards. You will see a very bright star. This star is called Capella which makes up the top of Auriga. Winter is a great time to observe the night sky so bundle up and get out there! Related articles: 16 Responses to “Winter Constellations in the Northern Hemisphere” Tamara Sirius Pronunciation: [sir´Eus] or Dog Star brightest star in the sky. It is located in the constellation Canis Major (1992 position R.A. 6h44.8m, Dec. -16042'); its Bayer designation is Alpha Canis Majoris. Sirius [Gr.,=scorching], having an apparent magnitude of -1.45, is exceeded in brightness only by the sun, the moon, and Venus and by Mars and Jupiter at their maximum brightness. A white, main-sequence star of spectral class AlV, Sirius is about twice the size of the sun and about 20 times as luminous.

It is also one of the nearest stars, lying at a distance of 8.7 light-years, so that it has been studied extensively. From an analysis of its motions, F. W. Bessel concluded (1844) that it had an unseen companion, which was later (1862) confirmed by observation. The companion, Sirius B, is a white-dwarf star and has also been the object of considerable study because it is the first white dwarf whose spectrum was found to exhibit a gravitational red shift as predicted by the general theory of relativity. The Dog Days of Summer "Dog days" is the name for the most sultry period of summer, from about July 3 to Aug. 11. Named in early times by observers in countries bordering the Mediterranean, the period was reckoned as extending from 20 days before to 20 days after the conjunction of Sirius (the dog star) and the sun. In the latitude of the Mediterranean region this period coincided with hot days that were plagued with disease and discomfort. The time of conjunction varies with difference in latitude, and because of the precession of the equinoxes it changes gradually over long periods in all latitudes.

A Binary Star System The Sirius binary star system consists of a main sequence primary star of spectral class A0 (Sirius A) and a white dwarf companion (Sirius B) in orbit around their common center of mass with a period of about 50 years. The system is approximately 8.6 light years from Earth and lies in the constellation Canis Major (the Big Dog). The primary star is the brightest star in our sky other than the Sun. The motion of the Sirius system about its center of mass causes the proper motion of the two stars across the celestial sphere to wobble. Such motion can be used to detect the presence of an unseen companion. You may illustrate this by using the buttons in the above demo to hide the orbits and to hide Sirius B. The corresponding motion is what we would see for Sirius A if it did not move on the celestial sphere. This motion, coupled with its proper motion, gives the wobbling path noted above. A binary system inferred from such wobbling motion of the primary is called an astrometric binary.

Excerpted from University of Tennessee Department of Physics and Astronomy Canis Major, the Large Dog near Orion the Hunter Canis Major, the Large Dog, is one of the hunting dogs of Orion the Hunter, and can be found just near Orion in the night sky. Like Orion, it is prominent in our evening skies during summer. The brightest star in the sky, Sirius, can be found in this constellation. This star is sometimes called the 'Dog Star'. This prominent star was important to many cultures. To the ancient Egyptians, the arrival of Sirius in the pre-dawn sky signalled the start of the flooding season for the Nile river, upon which all of their agriculture depended. Sirius is one of the closest stars to our solar system at 8.5 light-years. It shines with a pure white light. What is less obvious about Sirius is that it is a double star system. The smaller star in the system, Sirius B, is a white dwarf star, and tiny, incredibly dense star that has used up its nuclear fuel and now shines only due to its high temperature. Sirius B can only be seen with a telescope, and even then few backyard astronomers can identify it. About 40 above Sirius is the open cluster M41.

This is a good cluster to look for, as it is visible to the naked eye and identifiable as a cluster with binoculars. It is half a degree across and contains around 100 stars, roughly half of which can be seen through binoculars. This cluster is about 2 400 light-years away. Known to Romans, Greeks, and Early Egyptians The star name Sirius seems to come from an ancient Greek word for "scorching" or "sparkling." The dog days are named for the Dog Star -- the brightest star in the sky -- Sirius in the constellation Canis Major, the Greater Dog. Sirius is the brightest star visible from either of Earth's hemispheres. It's prominent in the evening during the northern hemisphere winter. But its appearance in the summer has also been noticed for many thousands of years. Around this time of year, after being behind the sun for awhile, the Dog Star reappears before dawn. Early Egyptians noticed that Sirius always rose before the sun just before the annual flood of the River Nile. This yearly flood was important to Egyptian agriculture -- so the return of Sirius was a welcome event. Meanwhile, early Greeks and Romans had a different impression of the Dog Star.

At this time of year, Sirius travels across the sky with the sun during the daylight hours. The ancients believed that the combination of the sun and Sirius actually caused the hot weather. The dire influence of the Dog Star was said to cause fever in men -- and madness in dogs. The Ancient DOGON Tribe and the Sirius Mystery THE DOGON occupy a region in Mali, south of the Sahara Desert in Africa. They live in the Homburi Mountains near Timbuktu. At the center of their religious teachings is the knowledge of a Sirius B, a white dwarf, although small and faint is extremely dense and heavy enough to exert an influence on Sirius A. The Dogon name for Sirius B is Po Tolo. Tolo means Star. Po means smallest seed. They go on to say that it has an is elliptical orbit, with Sirius A at one foci of the ellipse (as it is), that the orbital period is 50 years (the actual figure is 50.04 +/- 0.09 years), and that the star rotates on its own axis (it does). They have described perfectly the DNA type eliptical orbit that the 2 make around each other.

That has been confirmed by modern day scientists. The Dogon also describe a third star in the Sirius system, called "Emme Ya" ("Sorghum Female"). In orbit around this star, they say, is a single satellite. To date, Emme Ya has not been identified by astronomers. In addition to their knowledge of Sirius B, the Dogon mythology includes Saturn's rings, and Jupiter's four major moons. They have four calendars, for the Sun Moon, Sirius, and Venus, and have long known that planets orbit the sun. The strange part is that Western astronomers didn't find the star until the middle of the nineteenth century, and most are certain that no previous explorers to the region could have informed them of it. It wasn't even photographed until 1970. This star has formed the basis of the most sacred DOGON beliefs since antiquity. They claim that a long time ago a space ship with 3 triangular legs landed. The DOGON call the creatures the NOMMOS, who have to live in water. The beings were human looking. They put out a reservoire of water onto the earth. They dove out into the water. They were aquatic....more to the point amphibious.

They could walk and talk and live on the earth but they could also live in an aquatic environment. They believe the Nommo will return to the earth one day. This tribe has some amazing facts they say they gathered from these visiting extra-terrestrials. The know, that Sirius A, the brightest sky in our sky is next to a small white dwarf called Sirius B. Sirius B was not discovered by our scientists until 1978. The Dogon tribe knew about it 1,000 years ago or longer. There are many serious references throughout all of the drawings of the cuneiforms of the ancient civilizations to human looking beings who have feet but who are portrayed as having a large fish skin running down their bodies. The DOGONs may presently be the last people on Earth to worship extra-terrestrial amphibians who landed in the Persian Gulf at the dawn of civilization, and whose presence can be detected in drawings and legends of the gods of ancient Babylonia, Egypt and Greece. The Sun behind the Sun, Osiris, and the Great Pyramid The Principle of All Things.

Beyond the Sun in the direction of the Dog Star lies that incorruptible flame or Sun, Principle of All Things, willing obedience from our own Sun but which is but a manifestation of its relegated force. The existence of the Sun behind the Sun has been known in all ages, as well as the fact that its influence is most potent upon earth during that period every 2000 years when it is in conjunction with the Sun of our solar system. Then gathering to itself the power of its own Source and transmitting it through our Sun to this planet, it is said to send the Sons of God into the consciousness of the earth sphere, that a new world of thought and emotion may be born in the minds of men for the stimulation of humanity's spiritual evolution. Such a manifestation marks the beginning or end of an epoch upon the earth by the radiation of that divine consciousnss known as the Christ Ray or Paraclete. To the Egyptians the Sun behind the Sun was known as Osiris (and also as Amen-Ra, The Hidden Sun), said to be the husband of Isis (Nature) and the parent of Horus (the Sun), symbolically represented as a hawk because that bird flies nearest the Sun.

This ancient people knew that once every year the Parent Sun is in line with the Dog Star. Therefore, the Great Pyramid was so constructed that, at this sacred moment, the light of the Dog Star fell upon the square "Stone of God" at the upper end of the Great Gallery, descending upon the head of the high priest, who received the Super Solar Force and sought through his own perfected Solar Body to transmit to other Initiates this added stimulation for the evolution of their Godhood. This then was the purpose of the "`Stone of God,' whereon in the Ritual, Osiris sits to bestow upon him (the illuminate) the Atf crown or celestial light." "North and South of that crown is love," proclaims an Egyptian hymn. "And thus throughout the teaching of Egypt the visible light was but the shadow of the invisible Light; and in the wisdom of the ancient country the measures of Truth were the years of the Most High (Marshall Adams, The Book of the Master," page 141-2)." Modern science partially confirms these facts as to the significance of the Great Pyramid, but lacks the key to them. Dr.

Percival Lowell, in a recent essay entitled "Precession and the Pyramids," says-- "The Great Pyramid was in fact a great observatory, the most superb one every erected," and "The Great Gallery's floor exactly included every possible position of the Sun's shadow at noon from the year's beginning to its end. We thus reach the remarkable result that the gallery was a gigantic gnomon or sundial telling, not like ordinary sundials the hour of the day, but on a more impressive scale, the seasons of the year." Excerpted from the Comte de Gabalis, originally by the Abbe N. do Montfaucon de Villars (1670), published with a Commentary (1914, 1922), pages 88-90. Why Is Sirius Called The Dog Star? | Why You are here: Home Why Is Sirius Called The Dog Star? Why Is Sirius Called The Dog Star? Posted on December 13, 2013 by victor | 0 Comments Sirius is called the dog star because of the Ancient Egyptian and Ancient Greek legends associated with it.

The name of the star â€œSiriusâ€ literally means â€œglowingâ€ in Greek. Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. Sirius s a part of the Canis Major constellation, and is actually a binary star system, containing stars Sirius A or Sirius Alpha Canis Major and Sirius B or Beta Canis Major, the latter a white dwarf. Sirius A, however, is twice as massive as the sun. The reason for Egyptians naming Sirius the dog star was after the Egyptian King of gods Osiris. The reason why the star is called dog star is because the pictogram of the god Osiris depicts the star as his dog. A physical reason for the star’s attribution to the god would have been the fact that the heliacal rising of the Sirius marks the flooding of the Nile, which was attributed to the fertility of the land. The dog star is the reference that has given rise to the idiom dog days or dies caniculares, in Ancient Greece and Rome. The dog days meant the hottest days of summer in the Northern Hemisphere, particularly in July and August, when the star was said to rise just before or at the time of sunrise.

Since then, the phenomenon of the precession of the equinoxes has changed the path of the heavenly bodies as observed from the ground. Ancient Greeks believed that the rays of Sirius affected dogs adversely, causing them to go mad, probably referring to rabies. In the days of worst heat, Ancient Romans sacrificed red dogs for Sirius, because the heat wave was considered the result of its wrath. This could be another reason for naming Sirius the dog star. The dog day period of late July to late August is still recognized in some European cultures. In language, dog days refer to a period of evil and turbulence. Sirius was also attributed to the dog or the wolf in some way in many other cultures, including Chinese Astrology that refers to it as the celestial wolf. Being the brightest object in the sky beside the Moon and Venus, it has always been the center of human fascination, religion and spirituality. Related Posts Sirius | star | Britannica.com Sirius Alternative Titles: Alpha Canis Majoris, Dog Star, Sirius A, Sothis Related Topics binary star Sirius, also called Alpha Canis Majoris or the Dog Star, brightest star in the night sky, with apparent visual magnitude −1.44.

It is a binary star in the constellation Canis Major . The bright component of the binary is a blue-white star 24.7 times as luminous as the Sun . It has a radius 1.7 times that of the Sun and a surface temperature of 9,800 kelvins (K), which is 4,000 K higher than that of the Sun. Its distance from the solar system is about 8.6 light-years, only twice the distance of the nearest known star beyond the Sun. Its name probably comes from a Greek word meaning “sparkling” or “scorching.” Sirius A and B (lower left) photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope. NASA, ESA, H. Bond (STScI), and M. Barstow (University of Leicester) Sirius was known as Sothis to the ancient Egyptians, who were aware that it made its first heliacal rising (i.e., rose just before sunrise) of the year at about the time the annual floods were beginning in the Nile River delta.

They long believed that Sothis caused the Nile floods, and they discovered that the heliacal rising of the star occurred at intervals of 365.25 days rather than the 365 days of their calendar year, a correction in the length of the year that was later incorporated in the Julian calendar . Among the ancient Romans, the hottest part of the year was associated with the heliacal rising of the Dog Star, a connection that survives in the expression “ dog days .” That Sirius is a binary star was first reported by the German astronomer Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel in 1844. He had observed that the bright star was pursuing a slightly wavy course among its neighbours in the sky and concluded that it had a companion star, with which it revolved in a period of about 50 years. The companion was first seen in 1862 by Alvan Clark , an American astronomer and telescope maker. Similar Topics Sirius - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up) also called the Dog Star, the brightest star in the night sky and one of the closest to the Earth. A binary, or double, star, Sirius is also one of the 57 stars of celestial navigation.

It is the alpha, or brightest, star in the constellation Canis Major, which is located in the Southern Hemisphere. The name Canis Major means "larger dog" and refers to the imagined shape of the constellation. Sirius is located 25 degrees southeast of Orion’s belt. In the Northern Hemisphere, it is visible during the evening in the winter and early spring, and at dawn in midsummer. In the Southern Hemisphere, it is visible at dawn in the early spring and midsummer. It is at its highest in the sky at a 10:00 PM observation on February 16. Sirius represents one of Orion’s hunting dogs. The other hunting dog is Procyon, the alpha star in the constellation Canis Minor. Article History Constellations: Canis Major - Windows to the Universe The constellation Orion Canis Major Canis Major is known as the Great Dog. In Greek myth, it is said that this constellation, along with Canis Minor, are Orion's hunting dogs. Canis Major was one of the most important constellations in ancient times because the brightest star in the sky is part of it. Sirius , the Dog Star, is one of the brightest objects in the night sky.

Only the Moon, Venus, Jupiter and Mars are brighter. Those that lived near the Nile River used the star to signal the flooding of the Nile. This special occasion represented the return from the dead of the Sun god Osiris. Canis Major is very easy to find during the months of November through March. First locate Orion the Hunter, and imagine a straight line through his belt. Follow the line to the southeast, and you will see Sirius perched right below it. Sirius is the nose of the dog. His body stretches to the southeast, and his front leg is to the west of Sirius. Shop Windows to the Universe Science Store! The Fall 2009 issue of The Earth Scientist , which includes articles on student research into building design for earthquakes and a classroom lab on the composition of the Earthï¿½s ancient atmosphere, is available in our online store . Windows to the Universe Community News Chandra :: Photo Album :: Constellation Canis Major Declination: -20º Source: Greek mythology, Egyptian, Indian The story behind the name: Canis Major, "great dog" in Latin, is a constellation built around Sirius, known as the Dog Star, the brightest star in the sky. The star Sirius had significance for early civilizations.

The dawn rising of Sirius predicted the annual flooding of the Nile for ancient Egyptians. That event signaled the beginning of the Egyptian new year and was associated with the return to the upper world of the Egyptian God of the dead, Osiris. Johannes Hevelius' Canis Major from Uranographia (1690) Greek and Roman legends involving dogs are associated with Canis Major. One is linked to the legends of Orion the hunter. Canis Major is thought to represent the larger of his two hunting dogs (the constellation Canis Minor is the smaller). In another, the constellation is linked to the story of Laelaps, a speed hound that was placed in the heavens after being caught up in an endless race with an unbeatable fox. The constellation traces a dog seen in profile, with Sirius representing either the dog's eye or nose. In ancient Indian legend, the stars in this constellation are also linked to the Orion constellation, but the roles are reversed: Canis Major is seen as a deer hunter who is chasing a deer represented by the stars in Orion. Why Does Sirius Twinkle?

- Universe Today Universe Today by VirtualAstro [/caption] At this time of year, after dark we in the northern hemisphere are able to see the mighty constellation of Orion rise high in the sky with a very bright companion in a nearby constellation: Sirius – The Dog Star. Sirius is the brightest star in the sky and can easily be found in the faint constellation of Canis Major to the left and below Orion. Its name comes from ancient Greek meaning “glowing” or “scorcher.” Sirius (α CMa) is the alpha star in this trusty hound and is roughly 8.5 light years away from Earth, making it one of the closest stars to us. It has a tiny companion star making it a binary system composed of “Sirius A” the main component (which is a white main sequence star) and “Sirius B,” a white dwarf star. As seen with the naked eye, Sirius can be seen to twinkle many different colours low in the winter evening sky. Sirius. Image credit: Hubble So why does Sirius twinkle? It’s not just Sirius that twinkles; all stars twinkle.

Light travels many light years from stars and right at the end of its journey, it hits Earth’s atmosphere, which consists of nitrogen, oxygen and other gasses. Earth’s atmosphere is constantly swirling around, and wind and air currents etc distort light travelling through it. This causes the light to slightly bend or shimmer and the light from distant stars twinkle. An extreme, more down-to-Earth example of this would be heat rising off of a road or a desert causing objects behind it to distort, shimmer and change colour. Sirius appears to twinkle or shimmer more than other stars for some very simple reasons. It is very bright, which can amplify atmospheric effects and it is also very low down in the atmosphere for those in the northern hemisphere. We are actually looking at it through a very dense part of the atmosphere which can be turbulent and contain many different particles and dust. The lower towards the horizon an observer is looking, the thicker the atmosphere. The higher an observer is looking, the thinner the atmosphere. This is also the cause of colourful sunrise and sunsets. (Addition due to the questions in the comment section: planets don’t usually twinkle because they are closer and therefore bigger — they are disks of light instead of faraway points of light.

The larger disks of light usually aren’t distorted; however if you are looking through especially turbulent areas of our atmosphere, and even sometimes when looking at planets that are low in the thicker parts of the atmosphere, they will twinkle. Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer explains it very well on his website. ) This optical illusion is a big pain for astronomers and some very large telescopes such as those in Chile and Hawaii use special equipment and techniques to reduce the effects of the atmosphere. One of most famous telescope of them all, the Hubble Space Telescope doesn’t get affected at all by our atmosphere as it is in space, making the light from stars crystal clear. Twinkle, twinkle little star, now we know what you are (and why you are twinkling!) Share this:

Question: In which constellation is the star Sirius, also called the Dog Star, the brightest in the Northern Hemisphere?
Answer: CANIS MAJOR