Sirius B mystery - Key - Positions of Sirius B - another star - a planet - The Dogon, an African tribe, were said to have astronomical knowledge that should have been beyond them, specifically relating to the star Sirius. The Dogon were reported to have carried that information with them down through their long history, which is remarkable in itself - but the claims of ancient contact with aliens who may have been the Dogon's ancestors are what really pushed this story into the limelight. If you want to find Sirius, look at the night sky and locate the constellation Orion. Then look south and east from the line of Orion's belt. The brightest star in that part of the sky is Sirius. It's twice as large as our Sun and 23 times as luminous - so despite it being over 8.6 light years1 away it still seems very bright. Bright enough, in fact, to completely obscure its neighbour star. Sirius B is a smaller, denser star known as a White Dwarf. The two orbit each other, eliptically, about once every fifty years. Dwarf stars are made of incredibly dense material, with Sirius B weighing in at about a metric ton per cubic centimetre2. Sirius B wasn't discovered until 1926 - TopFoto