How to see it
The star Rigel is easy to spot, in part because it’s so bright and also because of its distinctive blue-white color. Plus this star graces a lower corner of one of the sky’s most distinctive constellations, Orion the Hunter.
You can catch Orion in the east before dawn in late summer, but on January evenings Orion is riding at its highest in the mid-evening sky. Look for Orion high in the south on these Northern Hemisphere winter evenings. By early March, Orion – with blue-white Rigel in its midst – is high in the south as soon as the sun sets. By early May, it is setting before the sky has a chance to get really dark.
To find Rigel, look first for its constellation Orion. You’ll look first for three stars in a short, straight line. These stars mark Orion’s Belt. A line drawn downward at a right or 90-degree angle from Orion’s Belt takes you to Rigel.
For comparison, draw the line upward and you come to Betelgeuse, with a distinctive orangish tinge. Do not confuse Rigel with Sirius, which is farther to the east and farther south. Sirius is similar in appearance, but significantly brighter than Rigel.
Science
We could not live as close to Rigel as we are to the sun, because its surface temperature is much hotter, about 19,000 degrees F (11,000K) in contrast to about 10,000 degrees F for the sun. Overall, is about 40,000 times brighter than our local star. Earth would need to be about 200 times farther away, or about 5 times as far as Pluto. Even then the light would not be the same, as much would be at higher, bluer, wavelengths. Counting all its radiation (not just visible light, but infrared, ultraviolet and so on), Rigel is 66,000 times more powerful than the sun. With such enormous energy, you might be surprised to find that it has only 17 times more mass, and 70 times the width, of our sun.
Yet Rigel is not one of the galaxy’s largest stars, as the great video below, by Jon S. on YouTube, shows.
At magnitude 0.18, Rigel is the seventh brightest star in the heavens, the fifth as viewed from North America. It is a blue supergiant star, designated as type B8Ia, some 773 light-years from Earth (by Hipparcos data).
Blue-white Rigel via Clark Planetarium
In other words, the light you may see from Rigel some spring or winter night, started on its journey a least 250 years before Columbus stumbled upon the outskirts of the already populated North America in his failed attempt to sail to the Orient.
History and myth
Historically, the brightest star in a constellation receives the designation Alpha, the second-brightest is Beta, and so on. This system isn’t used for Orion’s star, however. Instead, the red star Betelgeuse is Alpha Orionis, and Rigel is Beta. But Rigel is the brighter star. Go figure.
This deviation from standard stellar designations might be because Betelgeuse is a variable star and has been known to at least approach Rigel in brilliance. Rigel received the designation Beta Orionis from the German astronomer Johann Bayer in the early 1600s, who sought to systematize the naming conventions. It’s possible Betelgeuse actually was brighter around this time. Nowadays, Rigel outshines Betelgeuse, though. By the way, Rigel is intrinsically the brighter star. If you were to put Rigel and Betelgeuse together at the same distance, Rigel would outshine mighty Betelgeuse by more than 400 percent.
Star atlases depict Rigel as the left foot of Orion the Hunter. Via the National Radio Astronomy Observatory
The name Rigel comes from an Arabic phrase frequently translated as The Left Foot of the Central One. Although Orion was depicted as a giant or warrior in many cultures, in the original Arabic it might have been reference to a black sheep with a white spot or spots. Thus in the original form, Rigel might have designated the left foot of a sheep! Now, however, many people know it as the left foot of Orion the Hunter.
The mythology related to Rigel is sparse and unclear. Perhaps the most interesting connection is in Norse mythology, which sometimes identified Orion with Orwandil (also Orvandil, Aurvandil, Earendel and others). According to some, Orwandil was traveling with his companion, the god Thor, when his big toe froze in an unfortunate river-crossing incident. Thor broke off the frozen digit and threw it into the sky, where it became the star we see as Rigel. In some variations, the Orwandil’s other big toe became the faint Alcor in Ursa Major.
Rigel’s position is RA: 05h 14m 32.3s, dec: -08° 12′ 05.9″.
hi
Hi Abby!
It is stuped
hi abby
What is the blue\green star to the left and down from Orion belt in the south/east sky. Viewing from Minnepolis, Mn.
Scott,
No doubt you are referring to Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, in Canis Major.
THE CLOSEST cONSTELLATION TO eARTH Orion is represented on earth by The Three Pyramids at Giza, whose shafts point at the Earth Equinox to both Orion and Sirius, on which the Egyptian calendar was based
The works of Hancock, Bauval et al propose an Archeoastronomical model for the whole of the monuments in the Giza region, “As above, so Below” whilst the research by US Geologist West suggests a date of 10450 BC, (when they were directly overhead Giza), for this temple to the Stars of Orion’s Belt on Earth Such a birthmark requires restoring the operational capability for the Great Pyramid(‘s initiation chamber) by replacing the capstone which was removed by the Hyksos (Shepherd Kings, Habiru=Hebrew) in the 17th Century BC
this website helped me a lot
M Miller, unfrotunately you cannot say that Orion is the closest constellation to Earth, because the stars in it are all at various distances from Earth. If you defined “closest constellation\” by which constellation has the closest brigfht star, it would be Centaurus in the Southern Hemisphere, since it contains Alpha Centauri, the closest major star. In addition, I have no idea what you are referring to as the Great Pyramid\’s \”initiation chamber\”, as this has no astronomical significance nor any scientific validity that I am aware of.
Hi Larry,
Please research data about the pyramids before commenting as you did! The great pyramid in Egypt is a generator.
The great pyramid is not a generator of anything except speculation, pseudoscientific claims and paranormal fantasies. While it is possible that there may be some astronomical alignments built into the Great Pyramid and other ancient monuments, there is no scientific evidence of alien visitations, supernatural activity or anything other than a highly intelligent civilization of ancient Earth.
Sina, thank you. Please feel free to ask questions.
Wow, I am doing a project on Rigel and this site helped me A LOT! Thank you so much to Larry Sessions!
One question though, is VY Canis Majoris the biggest star known?
Selena, thanks for your comments. The general consensus is that VY Canis Majoris is the largest star known, in terms of diameter and volume. Placed where our Sun it, its surface would be well past Jupiter’s orbit. However, it is not the most massive (it would be erroneous to say “heaviest,” but that conveys the general meaning); nor is it the most luminous (brightest or most energetic).
this site did not help me AT ALL!!!
I’m sorry, Emma, that you found no help here at all. Were you looking for something in particular?
Mt Miller
You mention the connection between the three pyramids at Giza and Orion’s belt … do you know which if any of the other monuments in the area relate to the other stars in the constellation, and particularly Rigal?
Eadie,
I cannot speak for Mt Miller, but just for the record here, any claimed connection between the pyramids at Giza and Orion’s Belt is controversial at best. In my personal opinion, even if the builders of the pyramids intended for them to somehow represent the Belt of orion, that doesn’t necessarily reflect anything except their interest in that constellation. After all, people have used images of the Sun and Moon for who knows how long without any connection to those bodies other than a fascination with them.
i like the rigel star because i relly like a star very much and the name of the star is like mine
Rejel,
Rigel *is* a beautiful star. Another star, the closest major star to Earth other than the Sun, is called Rigil Kent. It is even brighter, but unfortunately too far South to be seen from North America except from southern Texas, Florida and Hawaii.
Hi Larry Sessions
Thanks for the facts put into an easy layman’s summary.
Thanks also for explaining the alpha, beta, gamma, etc. on naming a star in a constellation according to brightness to observers, as this is a pastime/side-interest to me, I now know where that came from, from just this stumble-apon search result.
Have a great christmas and a good 2011 :)
Tank, thank you. We always aim to please.
[...] six stars that compose the Winter Hexagon are Aldebaren, Capella, Castor (and Pollux), Procyon, Rigel, and [...]
[...] Rigel: Orion’s brightest star [...]
Man, this website is great! I hated science, but now we got to the good stuff, Astronomy. I came here looking for facts and boy did I get them. Thanks Man.
Rigel: Orion’s brightest star
Has a alien planet orbiting it… If we were smart we would explore it! light speed can be matched. Say a ship or flying saucer was to come from a tiny little planet from the orbit of Rigel and moved at light speed, 530 or even 900 light years this would now become minutes. At light speed think of it what would take mankind year months to do can be acomplished in hours and days.
Mr. Tocco, let me say on behalf of well established science that there is NO technology today, and in consideration of the documented laws of science, not even any firmly grounded hope that anything, ever can travel at the speed of light…. except light (electromagnetic radiation) itself. I cannot say that it is completely impossible, simply because we do not know everything. Scientists are not God. Nor are they hocus-pocus prediction schisters. They basde their understanding of the Universe on observed fact. And the fact is, we have never observed anything traveling at the speed of light except light itself, and Einstein’s theories strongly forbid it.
Science does not know everything, and it is not impossible that someday and exception will be observed and the “law” disproved. But we have no reason at this time to expect it. The is abundant reason to believe that travel at or beyond the speed of light is extremely unlikely, and perhaps impossible. So you cannot say on the basis of any known science or any known observation or any established theory that “light speed can be matched.” It has never been observed, much less confirmed, and likely is completely impossible.
I hope I am wrong, because I would like for superluminal speeds to be possible, but as it stands, there is no strong reason to be hopeful about it.
yall are nerds
Not to change the subject but… This is to all of the astronauts out there.
03-29-10
Dear NASA astronauts and scientist Here’s a space experiment. I want you to try the next time a unspeakable object flies under your airspace a whitish to invisible flat round UFO I want your astronauts or scientist to try and paint one with a
green laser pointer. You know a back and forth motion. I believe it will re-atomize it to a visible state.
[personally identifiable information removed]
ceowildfire@nycap.rr.com
Mr. Tocco,
This is a post about Rigel, not UFOs. Please keep your questions and responses here on topic. There are places you can post about UFOs, but this is not the proper place.
In my experience, it is better to be a nerd than to be ignorant. So in that sense I am proud of nerds everywhere!
Do any of these stars that form Rigel have objects orbiting them?
Pablo, to my knowledge, no planets or other objects have been found orbiting Rigel to this point.
[...] Betelgeuse is Alpha Orionis, despite the fact that it’s fainter than Orion’s other bright star, Rigel. Betelgeuse is the 10th brightest star in the sky overall, and it’s the 7th brightest star [...]
Hi,
I’m just wondering, as Rigel is a supergiant star what is the lifespan of a star like this. Is it possible to predict how old this star is and how much life it has left.
Many thanks.
Michelle,
The more massive a star is, the shorter its lifespan. Massive stars such as Rigel and Betelgeuse may have lifetimes of 15-20 million years. In contrast, our sun’s lifetime is expected to be 10 billlion years. And red dwarf stars having only 0.1 % of the mass of the sun may live as long a trillion years.
According to the star expert Jim Kaler, Rigel is thought to have the mass of 18 suns and to be around 10 million years old. Read more at http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/rigel.html
Bruce
Thanks Bruce,
So Rigel could have about 5 million years left then. Is Betelgeuse older than Rigel ? When supergiant stars reach the end of their lifespan is that when black holes are formed ?
Michelle,
Yes, after supermassive stars explode as supernovae, they either shrink into a neutron star or a black hole.
Is Betelgeuse older than Rigel? Great question but I don’t know the answer. I would think you’d have to know initial mass of both stars at birth. Betelgeuse is probably nearer the end of its lifetime than Rigel is, but I don’t know if that necessarily means Betelgeuse is older than Rigel.
Here are a few articles you may find of interest: http://quest.nasa.gov/lfs/QA/Age_of_Stars.txt and http://www.astronomynotes.com/evolutn/s9.htm
Bruce
The best estimates I can find are that the mass of the two stars is pretty similar, with Betelgeuse perhaps being slightly more massive. (The estimates I have seen are in the range of 17-20 times the mass of the Sun, with Betelgeuse likely int he higher part of the range and Rigel in the lower). In general, the more mass the shorter the lifepan. Given their masses, both Rigel and Belelgeuse should have lifetimes of roughly 10 million years (very short, astronomically). Betelgeuse’s lifespan may be slightly less than Rigel, but since Betelgeuse is already in its supergiant phase, I would guess that it is currently slightly older than Rigel.
Thanks Larry – and Michelle!
This was postedon my bday…must be my lucky star. Like a horoscope.
Thanks Bruce and Larry.
Hello again,
Does the Orion constellation have any planets within it or are they all stars like Rigel ?
Michelle,
There are several stars within the boundaries of Orion that are known to have planets, but this does not include any of the bright stars. The brightest of the stars in Orion known to have planets is HD 38529, which under the best of conditions, might be just barely visible to the human eye. This star is slightly above (North) and to the left (East) of the Belt of Orion, in general on a line from the middle Belt star toward Betelgeuse. A good chart and excellent conditions would be needed to find it. It has one confirmed planet and possibly others.
[...] B class stars come next, still appearing bluish to us. Rigel, the brightest star in Orion, is a B class star — one you can see and identify [...]
[...] Counting all of Rigel’s radiation (not just visible light, but infrared, ultraviolet and so on), it is 66,000 times more powerful than the sun, and is the brightest star in Orion. -Source [...]
Larry, sad to see you belittle Christopher Columbus in such a passive aggressive way: he “stumbled” upon N. America in a “failed” attempt to find the Orient? The glass is half full or half empty and you said it is empty and bone dry. I think your attempt at political correctness does this man a great injustice.
I don’t have a particular bone to pick with you on this, but the historical facts are that Columbus did not know where he was going and he did not know what he had “discovered” when he got there. Several other Europeans (or at least Old Worlders) had already been there, and of course the Asiatic bands who ultimately became American Indians “discovered” it thousands of years before. There are numerous other facts that could be construed as negative about Columbus, but whether by accident, intent or pure luck, none of the negative aspects takes away from the huge influence his image has made on Western and World society.
My comments on Columbus are no more derogatory about him than they are about Galileo when I point out that he was an argumentative and largely unlikeable person, that he did not “invent” the telescope, nor was he particularly honest with local officials in Venice and Padua about the origin of said instrument.. That does not diminish his enormous contributions to science, but merely portrays him for what he was, a human being.
Whether you see it as half empty or half full, a glass is a glass is a glass.
Hi. I’d like to ask if a star such as Betelgeuse was to reach the end of it’s life span how would this affect the rest of the Orion constellation and our universe ?
When Betelgeuse blows up it will obviously affect the way Orion looks, but that is it. It will not affect the other stars in the constellation at all. They are simply too far apart. The gases and material from Betelgeuse will spread out into space, possibly eventually contributing to condensing clouds that give birth to new stars, which eventually would change the appearance of Orion, but in fact that will not be until millions or perhaps hundreds of millions of years after Betelgeuse’s demise, and by then all the stars in Orion will have moved out of position anyway.
Hi Larry,
I have a query about a star in the sky, not Rigel but near to the Orion constellation. I hope you don’t mind but alot of people are wondering what this star is. It’s appeared in the sky since September and is brighter and bigger than any other star. In the UK it comes up in the east fairly low and outshines everything else. I’d say it’s not too far from the Orion constellation and Sirius. Do you know what this star is called ?
Michelle, undoubtedly you are referring to Jupiter. It rises several hours before Orion. In fact it is already in the eastern sky at sunset, whereas Orion doesn’t really rise (at this time of year) until at least 8 p.m., with Canis Major and Sirius even later. But I am sure you are referring to Jupiter. Right now the Moon is slowly approaching Jupiter in the evening sky, and will pass it on Tuesday evening. You can read more here: http://goo.gl/MWymk
Larry S.
P.S. No, I don’t mind. That’s what we are here for!
HI ABBY!!!!!!
[...] Rigel: Orion’s brightest star [...]
Are there other stars that is bigger that the vy canis majoris?
VY Canis Majoris is the largest known star. While we cannot say that there are no stars larger, it is unlikely that there are any that are much larger. As stars form, if they are too big, they usually fragment into several smaller stars. Actually, there are a few stars more massive (“heavier”), but not as wide across as VY Canis Majoris.
Who is the very first person that discovered the Rigel star?
Mary Trisha, since Rigel has been recognized (with other names) for as long as people have been looking to the skies, so no one discovered it any more than anyone discovered the Sun. It is just there and readily visible to all.
Rigel looks so good in the winter sky . It’s lovely to see the comparison with the red Betelgeus opposite Orions belt . How can two stars be so different ?
Martin, stars are different for a variety of reasons. The most noticeable difference, that of brightness, can be because of the distance (nearer brighter, farther dimmer) and/or their natural brightness (a 500 watt light bulb is brigter than a 100 watt bulb). Another difference is color, which is directly related to temperature. White or bluish white stars are especially hot, whereas red stars are relatively less hot. Thus you can say that Rigel is not just bluish-white, but that it also is very hot. Betelgeuse, being reddish, is much less hot. The temperature and brightness also can be affected by age and mass (similar to the concept of “weight”). A star that is near the end of its stellar lifetime often puffs up to a large size and become reddish (Betelgeuse). Stars of very small mass may start off red and stay that way all their lives (but small mass stars are very dim in general). On the other hand, high mass stars start off as blue or white, and generally stay that way during their short lifespans.
Hi Larry , Thanks very much for your information . I have been watching the wonderful Moon , Jupiter and Venus tonight . I’m here in the U.K. just north of Birmingham , where are you residing ? During the early evening the planets mentioned looked fabulous in the dark blue evening sky , very cold too so i’m inside again now !
Orion has been wonderful this winter , moving over the night sky from the east . It’s been worth breaking my sleep to see the change in position during the night , makes me feel i’m living on a planet !
Aldebaran and the Pleiades have been a pleasure to watch too .
Heres’ to clear skies !
Martin
Martin, glad you are enjoying it. I have been observing Orion for well more than 50 years, and I am always pleased to see it as an old friend. I always welcome it back in the early morning hours in the Autumn. I am in the US in Denver, where it currently is early afternoon and cloudly. It may be cloudy and light now, but I know that sometime — maybe not tonight — it will be clear and dark again and the thought that Orion will be there is comforting!
BTW, you *DO* live on a planet — Earth! It is out prototype planet — we judge all other planets on the basis of Earth. I know that the idea of being on another planet looking out in space is exciting. But just keep in mind the wonders of our own world! The Earth is pretty cool, too!