Why is Rigel and why is it so bright?

Pointing out the constellations in the sky is an interesting game, and when those constellations have bright stars, it is hard for anyone to ignore them in the night sky. One of the constellations that all children and amateur astronomers first recognize is Orion because this constellation is not only easily recognizable, but also contains a star named Rigel - one of the bright stars. Most in the sky!

What is Rigel?

Rigel is a giant blue star found in Orion , and it acts as a "left leg" for the constellation. Rigel is the 7th brightest star in the night sky and the brightest star in the constellation Orion. However, this is not always true because the star's brightness sometimes changes and because the giant red superstar named Betelgeuse (also in the constellation of Orion) sometimes overcomes Rigel's brightness.

Rigel is a giant blue star found in the constellation Orion.

Rigelgeuse's scientific name is Beta Orionis , while Betelgeuse has the scientific name of Alpha Orionis . Being the brightest blue superstar in the sky, the starlight of Rigel makes it easy to ignore one of its most interesting features: the stars that make up this multi-star system. Rigel includes Rigel A (main superstar), Rigel Ba, Rigel Bb and Rigel C - all of which are much smaller and form a three-star structure in their own system.

Compared to the sun, Rigel (Beta Orionis) is thought to be 60,000-350,000 times brighter if only in terms of brightness, but due to uncertainty about the distance and the brightness of this star, the scientific world. It is very difficult to determine the exact brightness of Rigel. It can be said, it is difficult to miss this star in the sky, especially due to Rigel's unique blue color compared to other stars of yellow, orange and red.

Why is Rigel so bright?

If you are fascinated by the constellation of Orion, it's hard to resist the blue light coming from Rigel, but the star's brightness is even more notable because of the most feasible estimate of the distance of the star to the solar system. about 860 light years. Since ordinary people find it difficult to visualize this astronomical distance, try the following comparison: light from the nearest star - the sun - takes only 8 minutes and 20 seconds to shine on Earth. Meanwhile, Rigel's starlight that you see in the night sky takes more than eight centuries for your eyes to see.

To explain why this superstar is more than 350,000 times brighter than the sun according to top estimates, the answer is both simple and complex. The sun emits an energy source equivalent to 100 billion tons of explosives per second and has a surface temperature of approximately 5810 thousand. This planet is so big that it can swallow about 1.3 million planets about the size of Earth. However, compared to Rigel, our "fireball" is nothing. Rigel is about 74 times larger and has a surface temperature twice as high as that of the little sun star.

Rigel is about 74 times larger and has a surface temperature twice as high as that of the little sun star.

Being a separate star and life cycle also affects the brightness of Rigel. Due to its enormous size, Rigel burned a huge amount of fuel: although it only survived 10 million years - a young age compared to the Sun, it burned the hydrogen core. Finally, after burning helium, oxygen and silicon, Rigel undoubtedly evolved into supernova-like supernovae. Experts believe that when this star transforms into a supernova, Rigel will shine like the second moon in the sky.

When a big star like Rigel and burning fuel burns at such a tremendous speed, the amount of absolute energy and radiation emitted is enormous. Rigel is still one of the largest blue superstars ever discovered, so it is not surprising if the superstar shines like an interstellar lighthouse.

How big is Rigel?

People often use relationships to compare, help us understand the world and the universe, even when the scale is too big for the small knowledge of human beings. So after learning that Rigel made the Sun look like a ping pong ball next to the beach ball, scientists also easily compared Rigel to other stars in the sky.

As mentioned above, Rigel is about 74 times larger than the Sun, but that number is only half the size of a star's theoretical size. Specifically, scientists believe that the maximum size of stars in the universe is about 150 times that of our "fireball" . When this size is reached, the radiation pressure will be too great for the giant gas cloud or nebula to condense and form stars.

Rigel made the Sun just look like a ping pong ball next to the beach ball.

In other words, there are stars that can be twice as large as Rigel - the glistening star that can be seen with the naked eye in the sky 860 light years away from us! However, the larger the life, the shorter the life of the star and because so many stars are formed and exist in the gas nebula, obscuring most of our vision, there may be even larger stars than there, formed, developed and burned before people had the opportunity to witness their glow!

Conclude

In the next few million years, when Rigel goes through the life cycle stages, its brightness will continue to change, but as long as humans exist, the mysterious light from the Orion constellation "left leg" will continue. keep nurturing people's imagination and remind us of the vastness of the universe.