Rigel

Description:

Rigel, also known by its Bayer designation Beta Orionis (β Ori, β Orionis), is the brightest star in the constellation Orion and the seventh brightest star in the night sky, with visual magnitude 0.13. The star as seen from Earth is actually a triple star system, with the primary star (Rigel A) a blue-white supergiant of absolute magnitude −7.84 and around 120,000 times as luminous as the Sun. It has exhausted its core hydrogen and swollen out to 79 times the Sun's radius. An Alpha Cygni variable, it pulsates periodically. Visible in small telescopes and 500 times fainter than Rigel A, Rigel B is itself a spectroscopic binary system, consisting of two main sequence blue-white stars of spectral type B9V that are themselves estimated to be 2.5 and 1.9 times as massive as the Sun. he modern name Rigel is first recorded in the Alfonsine Tables of 1521. It is derived from the Arabic name Rijl Jauzah al Yusrā, "the left leg (foot) of Jauzah" (i.e. rijl meaning "leg, foot"). The Arabic name can be traced to the 10th century."Jauzah" was a proper name of the Orion figure, an alternative Arabic name was رجل الجبار riǧl al-ǧabbār, "the foot of the great one", which is the source of the rarely used variant names Algebar or Elgebar. The Alphonsine Tables saw its name split into "Rigel" and "Algebar", with the note, "et dicitur Algebar. Nominatur etiam Rigel." Alternate spellings from the 17th century include Regel by Giovanni Battista Riccioli, Riglon by Wilhelm Schickard, and Rigel Algeuze or Algibbar by Edmund Chilmead. Ink and photoshop, mixed media