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 tape specified that an unspecified cash ransom was to be delivered to "Sirius Star", where it would be counted using machines that were able to detect counterfeit bills. On 20 November, the pirates demanded a ransom having set a 10-day deadline. Mohamed Said stated: "We do not want long-term discussions to resolve the matter. The Saudis have 10 days to comply, otherwise we will take action that could be disastrous." The then Foreign Secretary David Miliband ruled out the UK paying any form of ransom, saying "There is a strong view of the British Government, and actually the international community,