the brightest-appearing
star in the
heavens. In the early 1800s, it was discovered that Sirius had a companion
star that is so dense that 1 cubic inch of it has a
mass of nearly 1 ton. The two
stars revolve around each other so closely that at
times it is
hard to separate them by telescopic means. When they revolve closely, they
exchange gas which
flows between their equators. This causes the two
stars to
look like a dumbbell.
—Games Congress Gls (Approved 13.8.92)