Sirius in fiction below)—and even if such were eventually discovered, with an estimated age of 230 million years the system is too young to have fostered the development of life or a complex biosphere. Sirius AB is the alpha star of the constellation Canis Major (the great dog, sometimes styled as Orion's hunting dog), whence its cognomen "the dog star". The most commonly used proper name of this star comes through the Latin "Sirius", from the Greek Σείριος ("Seirios", "glowing" or "scorcher"). The ancient Greeks observed that the appearance of Sirius heralded the hot and dry "dog days" of summer, and feared that
MV Sirius Star that payments for hostage-taking are only an encouragement to further hostage-taking." By 24 November, the pirates had reduced their ransom demand to US$15 million. A small faction of Somali Islamic rebels planned to attack "Sirius Star" to liberate her from her hijackers. The faction's planned attack on the hijackers is seen in retaliation for them seizing a "Muslim" vessel. Locals in Harardhere have said the threats of attack from Islamic militants have forced the pirates to leave the port and remain approximately offshore. A spokesman for the Islamic rebel group, Abdirahim Isse Adow, stated "We are against this act and