The Sirius mystery
by Robert Temple
The sirius mystery investigates the possibility of ancient astronauts through the legends and artifacts of a very old civilization.

Sirius, popularly known as the “Dog Star,” has been observable for centuries. It is 8.6 light years from Earth. Sirius has a companion star, which we will call SiriusB, which is invisible to the naked eye. This dwarf companion was first photographed in 1970. Its existence was theorized as early as 1844 but was not visualized until 1862.

The mystery lies in the fact that the folklore of a primitive West African tribe known as the Dogon has foretold of its existence for thousands years. The Dogon are believed to be of Egyptian descent. They migrated to Mali, West Africa bringing with them this legend that is traceable to approximately 3200 B.C. Without the aid of modern optical instruments and mathematics they could not have possibly known about Sirius B’s existence. Yet they mystery of SiriusB was revealed to two French anthropologists in the late 1940s.
	
The priests stated that Sirius had a companion star (SiriusB), which was invisible to the human eye; this star follows a 50-year elliptical orbit around Sirius. They further described SiriusB to be a small and incredibly heavy star that rotates on its axis. What is incredible about this legend is that it predates modern western astronomy knowledge by more than 4,000 years. Even if they had had access to current astronomy textbooks, they still could not have known about SiriusB. They also had a detailed knowledge of the rotations and orbits of the planets in our own solar system.

According to the priests, they learned of the existence of SiriusB from unearthly sources. This source was called the “Nommos”. These were amphibian-looking beings that arrived in an, “Ark accompanied by thunder and fire”. The legend depicts the “Nommos” as partly fishlike in appearance and living mostly in the sea. These creatures bear a striking similarity to the creatures called Oannes by the Babylonians and the Sumerian creature called Enki. Even the Egyptian god Isis was depicted as what would be later termed a mermaid. In all cases, these “gods” were related to the worship of Sirius.

The mystery gets even more intriguing with the last declaration of these priests. They continue to say that a third star exists in the Sirius cluster. “SiriusC” is lighter and larger than “SiriusB”. “SiriusC" also revolves around Sirius. Around “SiriusC”, orbit the planet from which the “Nommo” came.

Many notable astronomers have argued that the Dogon derived their knowledge from modern astronomers. This has been proved to be wrong, as the priests have produced a four thousand year old artifact that depicts the Sirius configuration.