Betelgeuse and Rigel are both in the top 10 brightest stars in the sky. The history of the star: Rigel. [A scanned copy can be viewed on this webpage] Beta (β) Orion, Rigel, is a double star, the 7th brightest star in the sky, 0.3 and 8, both bluish white in the left foot of the Hunter (west foot).

Rigel is a blue supergiant star marking the knee of the constellation Orion. Betelgeuse is much bigger, in size than Rigel - about 12 times.

That has a surface temperature of about 12,000 degrees Celsius.

Rigel, brightest star in the easy-to-see constellation of Orion the Hunter, shines with a blue-white color.

Subscribe to our newsletter. Use the data in this table to fill out the rest of this worksheet. Alpha Centauri (Latinized from α Centauri, abbreviated Alpha Cen or α Cen) is the closest star system and closest planetary system to Earth's Solar System at 4.37 light-years (1.34 parsec) from the Sun.It is a triple star system, consisting of three stars: α Centauri A (officially Rigil Kentaurus), α Centauri B (officially Toliman), and α Centauri C (officially Proxima Centauri). Sign Up. Name: _____ Date: _____ Class: _____ You are going to be examining the sizes of stars. Star Facts: Rigel February 9, 2016 Peter Christoforou Stars 0 Orion is the most-easily recognized constellation in the sky, which is no doubt due to its distinctive configuration, and the fact its constituent stars are very luminous.

Credit: CWitte with minor alterations by Bob King Credit: CWitte with minor alterations by Bob King At a distance of 860 light years, Rigel is big enough and close enough to have its diameter measured directly. As a warm-up to measuring stars in a binary system, take a look at the data below showing the sizes of selected stars in our galaxy. from p.312 of Star Names, Richard Hinckley Allen, 1889.

Rigel is variable, in an irregular way common to supergiants, with a range from 0.03 to 0.3 of a magnitude over roughly 22 to 25 days. So, they were discovered about the same time. Stellar Dimensions. Betelgeuse is usually the tenth-brightest star in the night sky and, after Rigel, the second-brightest in the constellation of Orion.It is a distinctly reddish semiregular variable star whose apparent magnitude, varying between +0.0 and +1.6, has the widest range displayed by any first-magnitude star.At near-infrared wavelengths, Betelgeuse is the brightest star in the night sky.

The main star, in terms of brightness, is Rigel A. If placed where the Sun is, Rigel would engulf the orbit of Mercury, the innermost planet. Rigel, brightest star in the easy-to-see constellation of Orion the Hunter, shines with a blue-white color. Stars can be bigger than the Sun, and stars can be smaller. If the Hayden Sphere is the size of the Kuiper Belt of comets, then this model is the relative size of blue supergiant star Rigel.

They have been seen bright in the sky even since cavemen looked up.

Let’s take a look at the size of stars. The star Rigel, which has a visual magnitude of 0.18, is listed as the beta star in Orion (Beta Orionis). As you probably can guess, our Sun is an average star. There is more than one star in the Rigel "system". but only just smaller in terms of mass. The stars both belong to the spectral class B9V; Rigel B is the more massive of the pair, at 2.5 versus 1.9 solar masses.

How Big is That Star? The star Rigel, which has a visual magnitude of 0.18, is listed as the beta star in Orion (Beta Orionis). Rigel, a blue supergiant star, is 18 times more massive than the sun and 74 times its size.