If you must know, the brightest star in the nighttime sky is Sirius, the Dog Star.”
— Neil deGrasse Tyson
Have you ever heard someone during the summer months on a scorching day say these words: “These are the dog days of summer?”
Some people have heard this phrase, but for those who haven’t, here’s an
explanation:
A published article from https://www.thv11.com entitled, “Where does the phrase the ‘Dog Days of Summer come from?” stated,
“Well, the answer might be in the stars. It has nothing to do with actual dogs in the heat trying to stay cool as some of us might be imagining.
The Origin of The Dog Days of Summer
The Dog Days of Summer refers to the star, Sirius, also called the Dog Star.
The phrase has been used to describe the hottest period of summer, from July 3 to August 11. During this time, the star Sirius rises and sets with the sun in the same region in the sky.”
This excerpt from https://www.farmersalmanac.com states,
“While this period usually is the hottest stretch of summer, the heat is not due to any added radiation from Sirius, regardless of its brightness. The heat of summer is simply a direct result of the Earth’s tilt.
During summer in the Northern Hemisphere, the tilt of the Earth causes the Sun’s rays to hit at a more direct angle, and for a longer period of time throughout the day. This means longer, hotter days.
https://www.farmersalmanac.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Seasons-Change-Equinox-Solstice-A121505509-1536x817.jpg Note: The image is a media upload from their WordPress website. The author assumes responsibility for the provenance and copyright.
Around July 23, Sirius and the sun would align and get so bright that the ancient Greeks and Romans thought the star could give off heat like the sun, which correlated to the hotter weather found during that period.
Climatologically, mid-July to mid-August are the hottest periods during the
summer, but it’s the Earth’s tilt that plays a role in this and not the star Sirius.
Summer in the Northern Hemisphere is caused by the Earth’s tilt being closer to the sun, which causes the sun’s rays to hit at a more direct angle. The days will be longer and hotter because of this.
Another issue is that the position of these stars is always shifting. The position of the sky we see now will shift at least one degree every 50 years or so.
This means the astronomical setup we see now isn’t the same one as what the Greeks and Romans saw back then. Thousands of years from now, this event will likely not even happen during the summertime.”
The Galaxy’s Brightest Star — Are you, Sirius?
Photo by Kristopher Roller on Unsplash
“Sirius is highly visible in the Northern Hemisphere’s winter night sky, because the star has a high luminosity, or intrinsic brightness, relative to other stars, and because it’s relatively close to Earth (8.6 light-years away).
According to NASA, Sirius has a mass that’s two times that of Earth’s sun. If the star were placed next to our sun, Sirius would outshine it more than 20 times over, according to NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day.”
My Special Assignment
The first time I heard about the Sirius Galaxy star was in my monthly poetry group meeting several years ago. Our assignment was to research and write a free verse poem about this prominent star.
Immediately following my in-depth research, I was finally inspired to craft my poem. After several subsequent meetings, we were asked by the group’s president to submit the assignment for critique.
At that point, I started to break out in sweat since all eyes were on me. Not to mention, the group members stared at me intensely while I nervously searched for my paper.
My critique didn’t end well, and I was advised to rewrite and resubmit an assignment for a second critique. I procrastinated, and now seven years later, I decided to give it a go and rewrite it.
So, here goes:
Free verse poem assignment
Blazing sun rays ascend — over the horizon;
soaring temps climb in the Orient.
The galaxy’s shiniest and brightest star —
Sirius— illuminates the vast, brightly-lit sky.
As night falls, Sirius rises and twinkles
above the earth, emanating scorching heat;
rendering miserable summer days and nights
and ushering in those — hot dog days of summer.
References
1 https://www.thv11.com/article/tech/science/dog-days-of-summer-phrase/91–0708899d-7cb2–4bd3–85e5-f606b94e7ad9