Sirius: Brightest Diamond in the Night Sky [Paperback]

This book tells two stories. The first and most obvious is why the star known as Sirius has been regarded as an important fixture of the night sky by many civilizations and cultures since the beginnings of history. A second, but related, narrative is the prominent part that Sirius has played in how we came to achieve our current scientific understanding of the nature and fate of the stars. This is the first book to integrate the cultural history of Sirius with modern astrophysics in a way which provides a realistic view of how science progresses over time.

This book describes why Sirius has been regarded as an important fixture of the night sky since the beginnings of history. It also examines the part that Sirius has played in how we came to achieve our current scientific understanding of stars.

Of all the fixed stars in the night sky, Sirius is by far the brightest  almost twice as bright as its nearest rival, the star Canopus, which lies too far south to be viewed from most of the Northern Hemisphere. Only the Sun, Moon and the planets Venus, Jupiter and, at times, Mars, appear brighter. Sirius, with its flashing brilliance, is a striking feature of the northern winter sky and has understandably drawn the attention of observers of the night sky for thousands of years.

Sirius has many names.  Astronomers recognize over fifty designations for the star, but the most commonly used is Alpha Canis Majoris, the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major.  This is Latin for the 'Great Dog', which has led to its popular nickname the Dog Star. Over the centuries many beliefs have come to be associated with Sirius. Some of these beliefs still echo in such phrases as the dog days of summer, which the ancient Romans understood well. Other old beliefs long ago fell from public consciousness  only to be revived and to grow into modern popular and scientific col-