SIRIUS The “Dog” Star
Those of us who have dogs know that God loves dogs, because He placed the “brightest” star into the night sky and man was perceptive enough to have categorized it because of its brightness into the constellation of Canis Major (Big Dog) and named it Sirius, The Dog Star! This week as we share the beauty of greyhounds with you, we felt it only fitting to recognize that dogs are also recognized in the heavens above us.
The existence of Sirius was known from the earliest of astronomical records kept in ancient times. Oddly enough, Chinese astronomy calls it the “celestial wolf;” the Tohono O’odham of Arizona note the star as “the dog that follows the mountain sheep;” the Blackfoot call it “Dog face;” the Inuit call it “moon dog;” and the Cherokee, the dog-star guardian of either end of the “Path of Souls.”
Sirius is 23 times more luminous than our own sun and twice its size. It is best viewed in the northern hemisphere during the winter months. The Dog Star is accompanied by Sirius B, a white dwarf star that is almost the size of our Earth, a star that was only recently discovered.
A fascinating article follows on The Dog Star’s companion.
