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From: dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd)
Newsgroups: net.astro
Subject: StarDate: August 15: Return of the Dog Star
Message-ID: <559@utastro.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 15-Aug-85 02:00:45 EDT
Article-I.D.: utastro.559
Posted: Thu Aug 15 02:00:45 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 19-Aug-85 07:21:18 EDT
Organization: U. Texas, Astronomy, Austin, TX
Lines: 34

The star Sirius is now coming back to the sky before dawn.  More on the
return of the Dog Star -- after this.

August 15:  Return of the Dog Star

Around this time every year, Sirius returns to the predawn sky.  Sirius
is the sky's brightest star.  It's a white diamond of a star that
glitters in the evening sky each winter.  The star won't be visible in
the evening sky for several more months.  But, this month, you can see
Sirius as comes back to the sky before dawn.

Sirius is recognizable for being brighter than any other star -- though
it may not look as bright when it's low in the sky as when it's higher
up.  Also, Sirius isn't as bright as the planet Venus -- now high in
the east before dawn.  Look for Sirius low in the east just before
sunup.  It'll be surprisingly bright for being so low in the sky --
piercing the haze on the horizon -- just south of where the sun will
rise.  Because you'll see it low in the sky, through great thicknesses
of atmosphere, you might notice Sirius flashing different colors.

Sirius was an important star to the early Egyptians, who called it "the
Dog Star." Its annual reappearance in the east before the sun is known
as its "heliacal rising." The heliacal rising of Sirius used to occur
around the end of June -- about the same time that Egypt's Nile River
staged is yearly flood.  Thus, to the ancient Egyptians, the Dog Star's
return appeared to bring the flood.  The priests watched before dawn
for the reappearance of the Dog Star each year -- and later founded
their calendar on the momentous event.



Script by Deborah Byrd.

(c) Copyright 1984, 1985 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin