Sally Student

Sun, Stars & Galaxies (ASTR-114)

Professor Christopher A. Taylor

11 May 2019

Sirius: The Brightest Star in the Night

The star that you see above that shines the brightest in our night sky is often called by its

nickname “Dog Star” otherwise known as Sirius. It is located within the constellation Canis

Major and it considered a “blue-white star” and measured to be approximately 25 times the

energy of our Sun in the solar system (Christoforou, 2015). What is interesting about the star

Sirius is that it actually has a companion star that orbits it, named respectfully Sirius B. Sirius A,

which is the larger and brighter star has a radius about 740,000 miles which is about 71% larger

than the Sun within our solar system while Sirius B is significantly smaller than its partner only

measuring with a radius of 3,650 miles which is only slightly smaller than the planet we reside
in, Earth! The size tells you not only about the age of the star but in what stage in their life they

can expected to be in. Sirius A, due to its size is reported to be in the main sequence stage of life,

which is the main stage similar to what stage our Sun is currently in. In this stage, it is sustaining

itself by producing energy through fusing hydrogen atoms to its core. Opposite of it, Sirius B is it

measured to be a white dwarf, which means that it is in the final stages of its life. White dwarfs

are simply what is left of the star after it has exhausted its energy and what remains is the core.

Ironic though is that even though it is smaller, Sirius B is much more hotter than its bigger

counterpart, with measurements reporting about 45,000 degrees F which is about 3 times hotter

than Sirius A. In all, these set of stars are about 240 million years old, which is insane to think

that something in the world is that old and still exist for humans to actually see and witness.

What is interesting about Sirius however is how long it has been recorded in human

history and how important it was in ancient civilization. Ancient Egyptians in particular, found

great importance of the star since it played a part in the creation and foundation of their religious

system (Holloway, 2017). It was often associated with ancient Egyptians gods including Osiris

which is the god of life, death, fertility and rebirth of planet life. The star was used as a sign that

the annual flooding of the Nile was about to commence since during a certain time of the year,

the star would rise before the Sun in the morning (Byrd, 2019). Not just Ancient Egyptians was

swayed with Sirius, but in Indian subcontinent this star was known as the Chieftain's star and in

other Hindu writings, it is referred to as Sukra, the Rain God, or Rain Star. The movement of the

star similar to ancient Egyptians was used to predict events that would happen here on Earth. For

ancient Greeks they saw the star as a mark to the beginning of the hottest days of summer hence

the nickname of “Dog Star” and even Ancient Polynesians used the star to mark the beginning of

winter and even used as navigation around the Pacific Ocean. Other civilizations including
 Sumerians, Babylonians and many others recorded and observed this stars for thousands of years

(Holloway, 2017).

I really liked learning about these pairs of stars and how important they were in ancient

times. Even though a lot of the information was inaccurate they believed in, it is still pretty cool

to think about how this random, really bright star in the sky is the same stars that my ancestors

was looking at thousands of years old. And what even more insane and awesome is that those

pairs of stars that has been already here for millions of years will still be in existence for many

more years to come.

Work Cited Page

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Sirius.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia

Britannica, Inc., 11 Apr. 2019, www.britannica.com/place/Sirius-star.

Byrd, Deborah. “Sirius Is Dog Star and Brightest Star.” EarthSky, 7 Feb. 2019,

earthsky.org/brightest-stars/sirius-the-brightest-star.

Chrisoforou, Peter. “Interesting Facts About Sirius, the Dog Star.” Astronomy Trek, 12 Mar. 2017,

www.astronomytrek.com/interesting-facts-about-sirius-the-dog-star/.

Holloway, April. “What Is so Special About Sirius, the Dog Star?” Ancient Origins, Ancient

Origins, 5 Dec. 2017, www.ancient-origins.net/history-ancient-traditions/what-so-special-about-

sirius-dog-star-009232.