Suhail star spotted in UAE skies, marks the end of the summer. Learn about the significance behind Suhail star

SHARJAH: The Emirates Astronomy Society reported the sighting of the much-anticipated Suhail star at dawn on Wednesday, marking an end to the sweltering summer heat. The sighting comes as a relief to many as the mercury hit 50 Celsius multiple times this summer.

The Suhail star (or the Canopus) is the most-anticipated star in the Arab world because according to folklore it finally signals the end of summer and the gradual beginning of cooler days in the desert.

What is Suhail star:

Talking to The Brew Hasan Al Hariri, CEO of Dubai Astronomy Group, explained, “Suhail, it is scientifically called or let’s say astronomically, which is one of the brightest objects in the sky, or let’s say the third brightest object in the sky. Now, because we are at the latitude called 25 degrees. So we can see 25 degrees from the southern skies. And so here is one of those stars which appears in that area. And there is a combination of Arabic old stories about Sale and how it went to that area. But the most important thing that people who observed from this region, they looked at as a kind of the start of Drew calendar, which is a seasonal calendar, solar-based and starting with the appearance of Suhail.”

So when Suhail appears in this region, means in the UAE area is August 20 to 24 every year. And it appears in the morning time before the sun rises. And it’s very obvious in the south direction. So we have here which is the north star in the north and the south area to indicate so here is utilized for so many reasons. So here is an indicator of a New year calendar a start-up for cooling down the soil, donates changing of the weather.

To truly understand how Suhail works, Hasan Al Hariri said, “There are several ways to do it, one observing it directly and then night become cooler. And the other way they say the bidding in the desert, how they know the Suhail, they put their hand under to test the temperature under the sand the lower bed of the sun, if that’s cool, this is the heels have appeared. This is a direct indicator of a change in weather.

Relevance of Suhail star in ancient Arab culture:

Another way is when the monsoon lashes mountain areas, Hasan Al Hariri explained. He added, “And exactly like we were witnessing these days effect of monsoon on the mountain areas. There are many floods specifically in the Oman area and Saudi these days. Now, Suhai, as I said, it’s a part of the durur calendar which is ancient people of our ancestry who are working in the sea or cultivated agriculture on the shore and other occupations. They all use hail in different ways and different sizes for the people of troublingly and also for fishing and pearl diving. They used to use the sail to close up the summer activities. So also Suhail is known that there will be some winds coming up in the sea which will make it rough and difficult for people who are pearl diving. So they used to close at the appearance of the star. Now these are some of the things about Sale and for people who are looking to observe it I would advise definitely to go to look towards south at Fajr time after fajr prayer, they will see Suhail star. And as I said, people are connecting with Suhail but they are not believing in Suhail as an astrologer and that the stars or planets are doing something. But more for us as kind of a guidance concept means if this happens, usually this kind of effect happens on there. So this is how you understand the effects of Suhail or the donation of the Suhail and how we are using it to understand how different elements and seasons are changing.”

About Suhail star:

Suhail, Lambda Velorum (λ Vel) is an orange supergiant star located in the constellation Vela. With an average apparent magnitude of 2.21, it is the third brightest star in Vela, after Regor (Gamma Velorum) and Alsephina (Delta Velorum). Suhail lies at an approximate distance of 545 light-years from Earth.

Suhail is an evolved supergiant star of the spectral type K4 Ib. It has a mass seven times that of the Sun and has expanded to a size of 210 solar radii. With an effective temperature between 3,800 and 4,000 K, it is 7,900 times more luminous than the Sun. The star is a very slow spinner, with a projected rotational velocity of 6.7 km/s. Its estimated age is about 31.6 million years.

Comment below and tell us if you’ve ever seen the Suhail Star today or in the past.