As temperatures soar above 50 degrees Celsius in the midst of this summer’s oppressive heat, Arabs are keeping an eye out for Suhail, a star whose sighting is believed to portend cooler weather.
In the past, the star indicated when the days in the desert would get colder. In Arab tradition, when “Suhail rises,” the night “cools down.”
According to the News, Abouazza Elmhamdi, an associate professor in King Saud University’s astronomy department, “Suhail is one of the most important stars for the people of the Arabian Peninsula.” Astronomers, as well as locals and farmers, have been interested in it throughout history. It is linked to a discernible decrease in temperature following an extended duration of intense heat. It also coincides with the season of several of the region’s native crops, such palm trees.
Suhail is about 310 lightyears from the sun and is listed in the International Astronomical Union database of star names under the Latin name Canopus. Its mass is around eight times bigger than that of the sun, but its brightness is about 10,000 times greater. Elmhamdi clarified that it looks to be the second-brightest star in the night sky, behind the well-known Sirius star, and the brightest star in the southern constellation of Carina.
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