Event Date: August 1st
Time: 6:12 AM
Brief
Over the last several years, my astro-blog colleagues would introduce the month of August by talking about the "dog days". Why? Although too close to the glare of the Sun to see easily, the first week of the month is when the "dog star" Sirius crosses the horizon just minutes before the Sun. As the brightest star of Canis Major, Orion's larger companion of two dogs, hence the wording dog days. The star is seen low in the image below, just below Orion's stick figure, while Canis Major's stick figure shows the star as the dog's nose.
NOTE: as always the case of my images, most Sun-glare and atmospheric pollution being absent will make the star seem much brighter than originally seen at this altitude.
Time: 6:12 AM
Brief
Over the last several years, my astro-blog colleagues would introduce the month of August by talking about the "dog days". Why? Although too close to the glare of the Sun to see easily, the first week of the month is when the "dog star" Sirius crosses the horizon just minutes before the Sun. As the brightest star of Canis Major, Orion's larger companion of two dogs, hence the wording dog days. The star is seen low in the image below, just below Orion's stick figure, while Canis Major's stick figure shows the star as the dog's nose.
NOTE: as always the case of my images, most Sun-glare and atmospheric pollution being absent will make the star seem much brighter than originally seen at this altitude.
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| click on image to enlarge: courtesy of Starry Night Pro Plus, version 6.4.3, by Simulation Curriculum Corp. |
Detailed
Other people may use the term dog-days in ways having little or no link to astronomy: being the middle of summer in the northern hemisphere, many locations deal with very warm or sweltering heat, that can bring out the "dog" in people mood-wise: whether that of aggressive dogs fighting, or people involved in "heated" arguments, either can be considered.
Getting back to Sirius marking Canis Major's nose, some jokingly consider him as "Rudolph the white nosed doggie" of the heavens! Okay, so I just thought of that off of the top of my head, yet maybe I am not the first! As August progresses, and we see Sirius higher at this time of morning each day, it will become easy to see quickly. The Sun continues to have a rise-time gap increase by more seconds each day, making it darker at this time of morning each week between now and the end of daylight savings time in early November.
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