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 loaded with oil. She was estimated to be worth approximately , with her cargo worth at least . "Sirius Star" was released on 9 January 2009 after payment of a US $3 million ransom. Three other VLCCs that have been ransomed by pirates are "Samho Dream", "Maran Centaurus" and "Irene SL". "Sirius Star" is a double-hulled oil tanker with a length overall of , a beam of , a hull depth of , and a draft of . She can carry of crude oil. She has a gross tonnage of 162,252 and a total cargo capacity of . Vessels of