This feature is inspired by the questions we have received over the years from interested readers. If you have a question about an astronomical topic, please forward it to us.

Leslie Tryon writes:

Dear Dr. Babcock: I am an author/illustrator of children's books. I am preparing information for my July web site ~www~leslietryon.com-Ed.1. I would like to include the "dog days" tale but before I send visitors out to star gaze I want to make sure that you can see Sirius and Canis Major in the summer sky. [. . .] I know that I can just go out onto my driveway here in Carmel Valley and check it out for myself but I feel more comfortable getting info from the experts.

I'm afraid that it isn't possible to see Sirius in the summer; Canis Major is a winter constellation (in the Northern Hemisphere), highest in the evening sky in January.

As far as I understand it, the "dog days" of summer are associated with Sirius, the Dog Star, because in late summer it rises at about the same time as the Sun; this makes it impossible to see, of course.

My encyclopedia tells me that the term "dog days" originated in the Mediterranean region, where since ancient times the weather during the hottest part of the summer was considered to be unhealthy and to have the effect of inducing madness in dogs! Sirius, rising at about the same time as the Sun, supposedly added to its heat. Fortunately, our summer in Carmel Valley has been rather cool and the dogs in my neighborhood have been pretty calm.

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The Astronomical Society of the Central Coast has recently changed its focus and is now called the MIRA Observing Group. It is a group without officers, and is open to all Friends of MIRA.

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