{"id":42397,"date":"2023-03-06T14:39:58","date_gmt":"2023-03-06T14:39:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/?p=116636"},"modified":"2023-03-06T15:35:11","modified_gmt":"2023-03-06T15:35:11","slug":"a-guide-to-star-rigel","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/a-guide-to-star-rigel\/","title":{"rendered":"A guide to star Rigel"},"content":{"rendered":"

A guide to the bright star that represents Orion the hunter’s foot. <\/p>

By Pete Lawrence\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Monday, 06 March 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

There are two famous supergiant stars in the main pattern of Orion<\/a>. In the northeast corner lurks orange-hued Betelgeuse<\/a> (Alpha (\u03b1<\/span>) Orionis), a red-supergiant star coming to the end of its life.<\/p>\n

In the southwest corner is the blue-supergiant Rigel (Beta (\u03b2<\/span>) Orionis).<\/p>\n

Rigel represents Orion\u2019s foot \u2013 the name originating from the Arabic \u2018rijl al-Jauza\u2019 meaning \u2018foot of the Central One\u2019 (Orion was<\/span> known to ancient Arabic astronomers as the Central One).<\/p>\n

Although designated beta, at mag. +0.1 Rigel is brighter than Betelgeuse.<\/p>\n

One possible explanation is that Betelgeuse is variable and may have been close to peak brightness when the labelling was decided.<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Betelgeuse and Rigel. Credit: iStock<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

The seventh brightest star in the sky<\/a>, Rigel lies 863 lightyears from the Sun.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a massive object estimated to be 79 times larger than the Sun and around 120,000 times as luminous. <\/span><\/p>\n

Rigel is classed as an Alpha Cygni-type variable exhibiting a small magnitude variation between +0.05 and +0.18. At around 10 million years old it is a relatively young star.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rigel has a mag. +6.7 companion 9 arcseconds away. Although not particularly faint, Rigel\u2019s brilliance makes its companion<\/span> hard to see.<\/p>\n

Rigel B is located 2,500 AU from Rigel and although it shares the same proper motion, its orbital period is unknown, probably around 20,000 years.<\/p>\n

The companion is actually a close binary in its own right, its two components in a mutual 400-year orbit separated by 100 AU.<\/p>\n

A fourth member of the system sits 44 arcseconds from Rigel, shining away at a rather dim 15th magnitude.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
IC2118 Witch Head Nebula by Quek Zong Ye, Singapore.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

A popular associated target for astrophotography<\/a> is the blue reflection nebula known as the Witch Head Nebula, IC 2118.<\/p>\n

It gets this name because it looks like the profile of a witch\u2019s face.<\/p>\n

The nebula sits 2.5\u00b0 northwest of Rigel and is visually extremely faint.<\/p>\n

Amazingly, although it\u2019s physically located 40 lightyears from Rigel, it is Rigel\u2019s light that illuminates it.<\/p>\n

This guide originally appeared in the December 2018 issue of <\/strong><\/em>BBC Sky at Night Magazine<\/strong>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n

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