Rigel

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Rigel

Rigel , bright star in the constellation Orion ; Bayer designation Beta Orionis; 1992 position R.A. 5 ^h 14.2 ^m , Dec. -8°13′. A huge, blue supergiant of spectral class B8 Ia, Rigel has an intrinsic brightness about 40,000 times as luminous as that of the sun. It is an irregular variable star , with apparent magnitude ranging from 0.08 to 0.20, making it normally the seventh-brightest star in the sky. Its distance from the earth is nearly 1,000 light-years. Rigel is actually a four-star system consisting of a visual binary star , each component of which is itself a spectroscopic binary. Its name is from the Arabic word meaning "foot," indicating its position in the constellation.

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Rigel

A Dictionary of Astronomy | 1997 | Â© A Dictionary of Astronomy 1997, originally published by Oxford University Press 1997. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Rigel The star Beta Orionis, magnitude 0.18, the seventh-brightest star in the sky. It is a B8 supergiant 773 l.y. away and has a luminosity 40 000 times the Sun's. It has a companion of magnitude 6.8, which is itself a spectroscopic binary.

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