Nuffnang

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Dog Star

Hello Hollywood, here I come - Kess, the dog star! Fame and fortune awaits me. Champagne, limousine, bodyguards, paparazzis....


ZZZZ! "Kess...Girl, girl, time to wake up sweetie. Were you dreaming your doggie dreams again?" I hear mum's voice calling through my dream-like fuzzy state of mind. Oh, it's all a dream...You mean, I'm not really a dog star?

Wait a minute...I remember now, thanks to my pals, this beagle underdog won the "DWB Featured Blog Award" for coming in second on the "Awesome Blog Award" nomination. Thanks again everyone! But no, I'm not really a dog star. Hollywood is not my cup of tea. I'm just Kess, a Malaysian beagle who is happy sniffing away in her home in Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia.

Back to the dog series... Dog star isn't really a dog who is a star. Nor is it a star who is a dog. No, it's not a dog reality show....even thought there are lots of dog reality shows out there...(which sometimes really shows the worst of human behaviour! Shudder...).

Dog star is a real star of the "twinkle, twinkle" variety. I did some research on Wikepedia and came up with the following: Dog Star is the colloquial name for Sirius, the brightest star of Canis Major, the "Great Dog" Constellation(but of course...we dogs, are always the brightest...so naturally, a star named after us have to be the brightest). The Dog Star actually consists of two white stars, named Sirius A (the brighter one) and Sirius B (its fainter companion). It's actually twice as large as the sun and 25 times brighter than the sun! Imagine that! Here' what a real dog star looks like:


The Dog Star is also known as Orion's dog. Apart from Greek mythology, other cultures also associate Sirius with dogs:
Chinese astronomy - Celestial Wolf
North American indigeneous people:
Seri and Tohono O'odham - Dog that Follows Sheep
Blackfoot - Dog Face
Cherokee - Dog Star Guardian of Path of Souls
Pawnee - Wolf Star & Coyote Star
Alaskan Inuit - Moon Dog

I hope you've enjoyed this little piece on astronomy 101 about the dog star!

"Dog" Series
1. It's a dog's life
2. Fighting like cats and dogs(Beagle Identity Crisis)
3. Gone to the dogs
4. Let sleeping dogs lie
5. It's dogged as does it
6. The Underdog (vs. Top dog) (The Awesome Blog Award Nomination)
7. Every Dog Has Its Day

13 comments:

Dughallmor Beagles said...

Hot dog! Thank you for the astronomy lesson Kess! We didn't know all that about Sirius....(now I know why the dog blog called Finding Sirius is called that.....duuh!) We love reading your very interesting and educational posts....and you ARE a dog star, in many people's opinion BTW!
Slobbers xx

Lorenza said...

Hi, Kess!
You made a very interesting post. I did not know about the Dog Star.
Have a great day
Kisses and hugs
Lorenza

KEY WEST COLLIES said...

We are familiar with the "Dog Star." We don't see it right now during our morning walks right now. Instead we see Scorpio.

Keep up the Dog Gone Good Work.

Essex & Deacon

Thor and Jack said...

Very interesting, Kess! Thanks for sharing with us.

Love,
Thor

Amber-Mae said...

Wow! Interesting stuff indeed. Thanks for sharing Kess!

Butt sniffs,
Solid Gold Dancer

Tee said...

Wow! Now that's very Enlightening! You are definitely a STAR!!

Licks and Wags,

Tuffy of Dog WOods

Fred said...

Wow! I'll have to look up at the sky tonight!

Ice Pony Girl said...

Ah...very interesting. And that's a cute photo. <;p]

Anonymous said...

Hi Kess! You definitely look like you're having sweet dreams! Very interesting research there - I especially like the "Dog Star Guardian of Path of Souls" - that's very cool.

See ya!
Joey

Georgeous said...

I bet all that studying of stars made you feel like going back to sleep??? Congrats on the featured blog and paws crossed you get best blog in the near future...
George

Dexter said...

We have a dog star here too. Do you think they are related?

Slobbers,
Mango

Martha said...

Hi Kess
Just popped over to visit having seen you were the featured blog on DWB!
We feel we are leaving your blog having learned something new so that is nice. We had never heard of a Dog Star before but we are sure you are one!
love and kisses
Martha & Bailey xx

Kathryn and Ari said...

We love this series--we're learning so much.

When I was little, I always thought it was "Serious," which seemed strange to me since most of the dogs I knew were clowns.

PS- With ears like yours, Kess, you ARE a star!

Thanks for signing my guest book.