RIGEL

'Rigel' (pronounced ) (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 rarely used.
The star's name comes from its location at the "left foot" of Orion. It is a contraction of ''Riǧl Ǧawza al-Yusra'', this being Arabic for "Left Foot of the Central One". Another Arabic name is 'الرجل الجبار' ''ar-riǧl al-ǧabbār'', "the foot of the great one" (giant, conqueror, ''etc''.), which is also the source of the variant name Algebar.
It is known as 参宿七 (''Shēnxiù Qī'', "The Seventh of the Three Stars") in Chinese. The mathematically questionable name is due to the fact that the Asterism of Three Stars was originally composed of just three stars, all of them in the girdle of the Orion. Later, four more stars were added to this asterism, but the name remained unchanged.

Contents

Characteristics

Spectroscopy

Companions

See also

References

External links

Characteristics

Rigel is well beyond the current range of accurate parallax measurements; spectroscopic estimates place its distance between 700 and 900 light years, while ''Hipparcos' "best guess" is 773 light years (237 parsecs), with a margin of error of about 19%. Rigel is a B8 Ia,b supergiant at 17 solar masses, it shines with approximately 40,000 times the luminosity of the Sun.^[1] Rigel is 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 it is moving through a region of nebulosity, Rigel lights up several dust clouds in its general vicinity, the most notable being the IC 2118 (the Witch Head Nebula).^[2] 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 specifically, it is a member of the Taurus-Orion R1 Association, with the OB1 Association reserved for stars closer to the nebula and more recently formed.^[3]
Rigel is slightly variable, in an irregular way common to supergiants, with a range from 0.03 to 0.3 of a magnitude over roughly 22-25 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.^[4]

Spectroscopy

Studies done on Rigel, looking at the Hα lines, have shown a wide variety of configurations. It varies from large emission to large absorption. Current studies are underway to determine if there is a pattern.
Rigel is surrounded by a shell of expelled gas, perhaps shed by its pulsations, stellar wind, or both; the issue remains unsolved.^[5]

Companions

Rigel has been a known visual binary since at least 1831, when it was first measured by F.G.W. Struve. Though Rigel B is not particularly faint at magnitude 6.7, its closeness to Rigel A — which is over 500 times brighter — makes it a challenging target for telescopes smaller than 150 mm (6 in.).^[6] At Rigel's estimated distance, Rigel B is separated from its primary by over 2200 AUs; not surprisingly, there has been no sign of orbital movement, though they share the same proper motion.^[6],^[8]
Rigel B is itself a spectroscopic binary system, consisting of two main sequence stars that orbit their center of gravity every 9.8 days. 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.^[9],^[10]
There was long-running controversy in the late 19th and early 20th century over the possible visible binarity of Rigel B. A number of experienced observers claimed to see it as a double, while others were unable to confirm it; indeed, the proponents themselves were sometimes unable to duplicate their results. Observations since have ruled out the likelihood of a visible companion to Rigel B.^[11],^[3]

See also

★ Rigel in fiction

References

1. James Kaler, "Rigel". http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/rigel.html Accessed 2/4/07.
2. Peter Jedicke and David H. Levy, "Regal Rigel," 52. The New Cosmos. Waukesha: Kalmbach Books, 1992. 48-53.
3. Jedicke and Levy, 52.
4. ^ Robert Burnham Jr., ''Burnham's Celestial Handbook'',(New York: Dover Publications Inc., 1978), p. 1300.
5. Jedicke and Levy, 53.
6. Burnham, 1300.
7. Burnham, 1300.
8. Jedicke and Levy, 50-1.
9. Burnham, 1300
10. Jedicke and Levy, 51.
11. Burnham, 1300-1.
12. Jedicke and Levy, 52.

External links

★ Bright star Catalogue

★ Rigel