This star is known by three names: Sirius, the Dog Star, and Alpha Canis Majoris. The dog days, in the most technical sense, refer to the one- to two-month interval in which a particularly bright star rises and sets with the sun, shining during the daylight hours and staying hidden at night. These folk etymologies shrink in comparison with the actual background of the phrase, a story of astronomical proportions. Or, more delightfully, the dog days.Ĭontrary to common conjecture, the dog days do not take their peculiar name from weather that “isn’t fit for a dog,” or heat that is so extreme it drives dogs mad. It’s the portion of summer known as the hottest time of the year. It’s that time of year when the sun shines its most unforgiving beams, baking the ground and, indeed, us. It’s hot again, up in the Northern Hemisphere.
