Rigel is a star striking with power and beauty

Rigel - a star that struck people with its beauty since ancient times. In Egypt, she was identified with the god of the dead and the patron of the starry sky Sah, and later with Osiris. Rigel is part of the constellation Orion, one of the most visible celestial drawings.

Location

Orion is a winter constellation. The best time for his observation is from November to January. It is easy enough to learn from the three luminaries that lined up on one straight line, keeping the same distance between each other. This is the Belt of Orion, a mythical hunter, the son of Poseidon, placed in heaven after death. Three stars, also called the Three Magi or Kings, appear late in the evening in the southern part of the sky. Above the Belt shines a well-marked reddish dot. This is Alpha Orion, Betelgeuse. Almost diagonally from it, below the Three Kings, is Beta of this heavenly figure - Rigel, the star, rightfully considered the most beautiful.

It is interesting that Rigel is located near the celestial equator, that is, it is accessible for observation practically anywhere in the world. This is true, however, for the entire constellation Orion.

Leg of Orion

Like many other luminaries, Beta Orion has the name of Arabic origin. Rigel means "leg" in translation. And in appearance he is the knee of a hunter.

What color is the star Rigel? In order to answer this question, it is enough to look at the sky on a winter night. As a simple observer, and an astronomer armed with a telescope, Rigel will be seen as a bluish star. The reason for this is that most of the light it emits in the blue part of the spectrum.

Rigel belongs to the class of blue and white supergiants. Its luminosity far exceeds the solar luminosity (more than forty thousand times). The distance from our planetary system to the star is estimated at about 770 light-years, which makes Rigel one of the closest luminaries of such brightness to us.

Neighbors

Rigel is a star with a diameter of approximately 95 million kilometers, which is 68 times more than the analogous parameter of the Sun. The powerful radiation of this giant acts differently on the approaching bodies, than, for example, the light of the same Sun. All objects located at a distance of one astronomical unit (the same space separates the Earth and the Sun) will immediately evaporate under the influence of temperature and the stellar wind.

However, not only the destructive potential is possessed by the star Rigel. The constellation Orion is famous for the nebulae located on its "territory". One of them is the Head of the Witch. The opportunity to admire it gives us the blue supergiant Rigel. It highlights the reflective nebula, making it accessible for observation. The bluish light of the Witch's Head is associated not only with the radiation of Beta Orion, but also with the "propensity" of cosmic dust to primarily reflect the rays of the blue spectrum.

Star system

Rigel is a star with companions. Beta Orion refers to binary luminaries. For the first time it was observed in 1831 by Vasily Yakovlevich Struve. Rigel B - less bright star, which is from component A at a distance of 2200 astronomical units.

Rigel B, in turn, refers to the spectral double stars. Both its components belong to the main sequence and revolve around the common center of mass with a period of just under ten days.

Unstable

Another feature of Rigel is that it is a variable-type star. For such super-giants, this is uncharacteristic. Shine luminosity varies in the range from 0.03 to 0.3 magnitude. The period of "flickering" is from 22 to 25 days.

Emitting a bluish light, Rigel throws out about 90 billion tons of its substance into the space every second. Such "extravagance", most likely, will not allow the star to live up to the age of our luminary (the Sun is already warming 4.5 billion years). According to scientists, Rigel exists about 10 million years and will shine as much as before, and then collapses.

We can say that Rigel (photo) is a star: its beautiful glow is quite often found on telescope images. The white-and-blue giant attracts the attention of both scientists and amateur astronomers or just romantics who do not want to rest their gaze exclusively on the ground. Magnificent star, part of the bright Orion, boldly claims the right to be called the most beautiful.