Being the brightest star in the night sky, Sirius certainly qualifies as a "great star". It "burns" in the sense that the name "Sirius" means "scorcher" plus the phrase "Dog Days of summer" derives from Sirius's nickname "Dog Star". Even the "seven days" (sept jours) part relates to Sirius in that ancient Egyptians called the star Spd, Spdt, or Sept, resonating with the French sept meaning "seven. ("Seven days" can also allude to the 7-day festival Saturnalia, Dec 17-23.)

Saturnalia (Dec 17-23) was another important window we were watching very closely... (Saturnalia starts on Pope Francis's birthday, by the way.) My tweet from Nov 24: