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Article: Dog days: Every dog has its day, and its song, and its movie ...(Knight Ridder Newspapers)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- August 9, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Believe it or not. Technically, the so-called "dog days" of summer end this Sunday. That's in keeping with mythology and the rules of celestial motion.
But, doggone it, we know those days are far from over. It's sweltering hot out there.
The way the ancient Greeks and other Mediterranean cultures figured things, such unrelenting weather came from Sirius, the Dog Star. It's the brightest star in the sky, found in the "dog" constellation Canis Major.
During the summer Sirius rises and sets along with the sun, so those bygone people thought the star was just adding to the heat. The 40 days when Sirius' path appears to dog the sun are July 3 to ...