Dog days in 1995; Florence and the Machine's 2009 "Dog Days Are Over"; and Within Temptation's 2013 "Dog Days". "Dog-day" promotions are also a common feature in baseball, used by American ballparks to boost ticket sales during mid-afternoon games. Dog days The dog days or are the hot, sultry days of summer. They were historically the period following the heliacal rising of the star system Sirius, which Greek and Roman astrology connected with heat, drought, sudden thunderstorms, lethargy, fever, mad dogs, and bad luck. They are now taken to be the hottest, most uncomfortable part of summer in the Northern Hemisphere. The
Sirius the star when rising left the viewer with the impression that it was red. To the naked eye, it often appears to be flashing with red, white and blue hues when near the horizon. With an apparent magnitude of −1.46, Sirius is the brightest star system in the night sky, almost twice as bright as the second brightest star, Canopus. From Earth, Sirius always appears dimmer than Jupiter and Venus, as well as Mercury and Mars at certain times. Sirius is visible from almost everywhere on Earth, except latitudes north of 73° N, and it does not rise very high