Sirius astrological symbol was listed by Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa. Many cultures have historically attached special significance to Sirius, particularly in relation to dogs. It is often colloquially called the "Dog Star" as the brightest star of Canis Major, the "Great Dog" constellation. It was classically depicted as Orion's dog. The Ancient Greeks thought that Sirius's emanations could affect dogs adversely, making them behave abnormally during the "dog days," the hottest days of the summer. The Romans knew these days as "dies caniculares", and the star Sirius was called Canicula, "little dog." The excessive panting of dogs in hot weather was thought
Sirius Sirius Sirius (, a latinisation of Greek , "Seirios", ."glowing" or "scorching") is a binary star and the brightest point of light in the night sky. With a visual apparent magnitude of −1.46, it is almost twice as bright as Canopus, the next brightest star. The system has the Bayer designation α (Alpha) Canis Majoris. The binary system consists of a main-sequence star of spectral type A0 or A1, termed Sirius A, and a faint white dwarf companion of spectral type DA2, designated Sirius B. The distance between the two varies between 8.2 and 31.5 astronomical units as they orbit