Modern astronomy has divided the entire celestial sphere into certain sections, calling them constellations. Each such site contains dozens, and sometimes hundreds of stars. In the old days, they were simplified by assigning different shapes to each constellation. Connecting the stars with lines, the ancients received drawings, vaguely reminiscent of earthly creatures. So there were constellations of Peacock, Crane, Golden Fish and more. At present, there are 47 constellations in the Northern Hemisphere and 41 in the Southern Hemisphere. It is believed that the brightest star in the northern sky is in the constellation Canis Major in Latin.
Canis Major Constellation
By combining all the lines in this constellation between the stars, we get a drawing that is somewhat reminiscent of a dog. In total there are 148 stars. Only 80 of them are visible to us, and the most noticeable of them is Sirius. This bright star in the sky emits a bluish glow, so it's hard not to notice it. It is worth noting that it is Sirius who is considered the leader in brightness not only in the constellation itself, but also in the vastness of the entire night sky above the Earth. Therefore, for thousands of years people have been paying special attention to it.
It is visible both in the Northern and Southern hemispheres of our planet. This is due to the fact that it is very close to our solar system. Closer to Sirius is only Alpha Centauri, Wolf 359, the star of Bernard and the red dwarf Lalande.
The distance between the Sun and Sirius is 8.64 light years. In comparison with the location of other stars of the Milky Way, this distance is considered insignificant. If you do not take into account the largest planets of our system, this bright star in the sky is best seen.
Sirius
Until about the mid-nineteenth century, it was believed that this Sirius was alone in the sky, until in 1844 the theory was put forward that next to it was a large body, invisible to the human eye. This fact was suggested by the astronomer Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel from Germany. He built this hypothesis on the principle of motion of a celestial body and the trajectory of its deviation.
In his opinion, this invisible body, together with Sirius, rotates in the same type, and he calculated that one rotation occurs in fifty years. But his theory was rejected by other respected astronomers on the basis of a lack of practical evidence. Friedrich could not prove his case until his death, and after sixteen years in America, the creator of the telescope Alvan Graham Clark saw another celestial body next to this bright star in the sky. Thanks to this, they began to observe Sirius, and soon the theory of the German astronomer was confirmed.
White dwarf
After very little time, astronomers managed to understand why Sirius was moving along such a trajectory. It is all about the star that is nearby - scientists gave it the name Sirius V. Its status is a white dwarf in which thermonuclear reactions do not occur. It is also interesting that the mass of this celestial body is equal to the mass of the Sun, while the size is much smaller. That is why Sirius B attracts other stars, causing them to rotate along a specific trajectory. Its influence extends to the brightest star in the sky - Sirius A.
Sirius B was the first white dwarf to have such a gigantic mass. Scientists have determined that these stars are about three hundred million years old. There is a theory that when Sirius was just in its infancy, it consisted of two objects, one of which exceeded our luminary by five times in mass, and the other by two. The first luminary burned out, turning into Sirius B visible to us with a reduced diameter and large mass. Sirius A retained its properties, so people can not admire its radiance for more than a thousand years.
Sirius Red Glow
In ancient times, different thinkers also watched Sirius, but there was a very strange pattern in their observations: they all noticed that a bright star in the sky in the south emits a red glow. Its bright red star was called by her Roman philosopher and noble citizen Lucius Anney Seneca. Claudius Ptolemy observed the same glow in the fourth century BC.
It could be assumed that the color of the star was distorted due to the hemisphere where the observers were. But in the history of Chinese astronomy there are records of a red star, which was observed by the scientist Sima Qian. Almost all peoples in ancient centuries left records of such an unusual sight. Astronomers believed that most recently (by heavenly standards) a bright star in the night sky was red.
The official version of the red glow
But official science completely disagrees with this statement. They believe that in such a short period of time, no drastic changes could have occurred with Sirius. According to modern scholars, people of that time simply wanted to embellish what they saw, adding bright epithets to the description. In addition, if you watch him in the evening and in the morning, you can see that Sirius is flickering - it is this flickering that distorts his true light.
Worship of Sirius
To understand the meaning of beliefs and cults created on the basis of worshiping this star, it is necessary to take into account not only that it is visible from all corners of the Earth for many centuries, but also to which constellation the star Sirius belongs. For example, the Sumerians called it Arrow, in their religion it was believed that the god Ninurta sent this arrow. But the Egyptians believed that this star personifies the goddess Soptet.
Egypt
Egyptian astronomers began to watch this star. By the way, with her help, they determined exactly when the Nile would flood. They believed that this was due to the tears of the goddess Isis, mourning her husband, the god of agriculture Osiris. Also in ancient Egypt, the year was counted not according to the Sun, but according to Sirius.
Greece
But in Greek mythology, the word "Sirius" has a direct translation - "bright". The Greeks believed that the brightest star in the sky in January was the Great Dog of Orion. The Greeks also believed that this dog follows the Pleiades, which Osiris hunts for, and chases the Hare.
In Latin, this star was called Vacation, which means "little dog." Those moments when Sirius was most visible were considered the days of this star. These days it was impossible to do anything, and it was difficult to do, because they were the hottest of the year.
At the same time, the indigenous people of New Zealand revered the star Sirius as the embodiment of the deity Rehua, who lives in the highest sky.
Dogon
The most mysterious worship of Sirius at the moment is considered to be the service of this star by the Dogon tribe. Despite the fact that modern science recently discovered Sirius V, the inhabitants of this tribe have been known since very ancient times. And this is taking into account the fact that the structure of life and the level of knowledge of the Dogon are still at a primitive level.
It is also worth noting the fact that the calendar of this tribe was built on a fifty-year period, referring specifically to the period of rotation of the white dwarf around the bright star of Sirius A. It is impossible to discern this star without equipment, and the Dogon does not even have primitive sky observation devices.
Conclusion
The brightest star in the sky is Sirius. It can be seen both from the Southern Hemisphere, and from the Northern. They watched this star for a very long time, and in the end they found out to which constellation the star Sirius belongs - it is called the constellation Canis Major. It is believed that this star is the second most important for the Earth after the Sun. Until now, many of the information and legends associated with Sirius are considered a mystery to modern science. That is why many are interested in what this star is, which is so close to us.