Rigel

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β Orionis, 19 Ori, Algebar; Elgebar, HD 34085, HR 1713, HIP 24436, SAO 131907

|} Rigel (pronounced /'raɪ.ʤəl/) (β Orionis) is the brightest star in the constellation Orion and the seventh brightest star in the sky, with visual magnitude 0.12. Although it has the Bayer designation "beta", it is almost always brighter than Alpha Orionis (Betelgeuse). It also has the alternative traditional names Algebar or Elgebar, but these are almost never used.

The star's name comes from its location at the "left foot" of Orion. It is a contraction of "Rijl Jauza al-Yusra", this being Arabic for "left foot of the Central One". Another Arabic name is الرجل الجبار ar-rijl al-jabbār, "the foot of the great one" (giant, conqueror, etc.), which is also the source of the variant name Algebar.

The distance to Rigel from our star system is somewhere between 700 and 900 light years; Hipparcos' best guess is 773 light years (237 parsecs), but that far out the range of error is quite large. Rigel is a B8 Ia supergiant, and shines with approximately 40,000 times the luminosity of the Sun. It is far and away the most luminous star in our local region of the Milky Way; the nearest more powerful star is Deneb, as much as 3300 light years (1000 parsecs) down the Orion Arm.

As it is so bright, and is moving through a region of nebulosity, it should come as no surprise to learn that Rigel lights up several dust clouds in its general vicinity. The most notable is the Witch Head Nebula. Rigel is also associated with the Orion Nebula, which—while more or less along the same line of sight as the star—is about twice as far away from Earth. Despite the difference in distance, projecting Rigel's path through space for its expected age brings it close to the nebula. As a result, Rigel is sometimes classified as an outlying member of the Orion OB1 Association, along with many of the other bright stars in that region of the sky; more commonly it is considered a member of the Taurus-Orion R1 Association, and the OB1 association is reserved for stars closer to the nebula and more recently formed.

Rigel is a triple star. The main star is orbited by a binary system, Rigel B and C, which orbit one another closely at 28 AU and in turn orbit around Rigel as a unit, at a distance of about 2000 AU.

It is also variable, in a slight, irregular way common to supergiants. The range of variability is from 0.03 to 0.3 of a magnitude, over an average of 25 days. A fourth star in the system is sometimes proposed, but it is generally considered that this is a misinterpretation of the main star's variability, which may be caused by physical pulsation of the surface.

Contents

1 Rigel B
2 Rigel C
3 Rigel in fiction
4 External links

Rigel B

Rigel B is a 6th magnitude star in a 28-au binary with Rigel C at about 2000 au from Rigel A. It has a mass of 2.5 suns.

Rigel C

Rigel C is a 6th magnitude star in a 28-au binary with Rigel B at about 2000 au from Rigel A. It has a mass of 1.9 suns.

Rigel in fiction

In the Star Trek Universe, Rigel is orbited by at least twelve planets, many of which have been colonized by the Federation:

Rigel III was mentioned in TNG episode "All Good Things...".
Rigel IV was mentioned in the TOS episode "Wolf in the Fold".
Rigel V - mentioned in TOS episode "Journey to Babel".
Rigel VII - mentioned in TOS episode "The Cage", home to a race of humanoid barbarians who are not allied with the Federation, at least not as of the time of the episode.
Rigel X - mentioned in Enterprise episode "Broken Bow".
Rigel XII is home to a dilithium mining colony. It was featured in the TOS episode "Mudd's Women" where Mudd strikes a deal with the lonely miners to trade his women for dilithium.

It is unclear which, if any, of these planets is home to the Rigellians, a reptilian race seen in [[Star Trek: The Motion Picture]].

In the universe of Marvel Comics, the Rigellians (short large-headed humanoids) are rulers of the largest and most powerful interplanetary empire in the Milky Way Galaxy. The thunder god Thor has frequently become involved in their activities.

In the Simpsons universe, Rigel 7 is the home of Kang and Kodos.

Rigel was also posited as the home system of various aliens in some science fiction short stories of the 1940s and 1950s.

In Jack Vance's Demon Princes novels, Rigel is the parent star to a system of twenty-six habitable planets, the Rigel Concourse.

In his song "Sept merveilles et un oiseau vert" french-speaking singer Higginwood refers to Rigel aboard the Titanic. This Newfoundland was first officer Murdoch's dog.

External links

[Bright star Catalogue]
[Rigel]

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