|
We often hear the expression, "the dog days of summer" and most of us generally assume these to be the hottest and most humid days the summer season inevitably brings.
But how did this expression come to pass?
Look up, look up!
We have to look up in the night sky for the answer. In ancient times, people would look up at the heavens and connect the stars much like a child would "connect the dots" and develop a picture of various characters and images. These images were to be called constellations.
Sirius and the sun are perfectly aligned
One of the major constellations recognized is Canis Major, otherwise known as "the big dog." The brightest star within this constellation is Sirius. During the period know as "conjunction," which is a fancy term referring to how two constellations are aligned as seen from the Earth, Sirius and the sun are perfectly aligned. The period of 20 days before and 20 days after this conjunction is referred to as "the dog days of summer" and this translates roughly to a timeframe of July 3 to August 11, though this can vary.
Let's get Sirius
Since Sirius is an extremely bright star, (in fact it is twice the size of the sun and 20 times as luminous) ancient follower's thought that its heat combined with the sun was causing this extra warm condition. Thus, the term "dog days of summer" was born.
Â
|
