Visible in small telescopes, Rigel B is itself a spectroscopic binary system, consisting of two main sequence blue-white stars of spectral type B9.

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.

However a good 7 cm telescope will reveal Rigel B at 150x power and good seeing.

At Rigel's estimated distance, Rigel B is separated from its primary by over 2200 AU ( 12 lightdays ); not surprisingly, there has been no sign of orbital movement, though they share the same proper motion.

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.

There was long-running controversy in the late 19th and early 20th century over the possible visible binarity of Rigel B.

Observations since have ruled out the likelihood of a visible companion to Rigel B.

Blue giants should not be confused with blue supergiants such as Rigel or ordinary hydrogen-fusing O to B stars such as Regulus which is a main sequence dwarf star.

Rigel ( β Ori, β Orionis, Beta Orionis ) is the brightest star in the constellation Orion and the sixth brightest star in the sky, with visual magnitude 0. 18.

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 117, 000 times as luminous as our sun.

Although Rigel has the Bayer designation " beta ", it is almost always brighter than Alpha Orionis ( Betelgeuse ).

As it is both bright and moving through a region of nebulosity, Rigel lights up several dust clouds in its vicinity, most notably the IC 2118 ( 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 almost twice as far away from Earth.

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.

Rigel is a variable supergiant.

The Rigel system is known to be composed of three stars.

Rigel is surrounded by a shell of expelled gas.

The general spectral type of Rigel as B8 is well established and it has been used as a defining point of the spectral classification sequence for supergiants.

In stellar navigation, Rigel is one of the most important navigation stars, since it is bright, easily located and equatorial, which means it is visible all around the world's oceans.

Rigel, the brightest star in the constellation Orion is a typical blue-white supergiant, whereas Betelgeuse and Antares are red supergiants.

The Witch Head Nebula | Witch Head reflection nebula ( IC2118 ), about 900 light years from earth, is associated with the bright star Rigel in the constellation Orion.

Rigel has been a known visual binary since at least 1831, when it was first measured by F. G. W. Struve.

* The Rigel Concourse: a system of 26 planets orbiting Rigel, which were moved into the system in antiquity by a vanished alien race.

The P-3B fleet was upgraded in the mid 1980s ( Project Rigel ) with a more modern radar ( APS-134 ), an IRDS camera, a digital computing bus and electronic displays / information management system.

* Handlebar ( Alan Oppenheimer ): A hulking, 14-ton, green-skinned bartender and former space pirate from the Rigel star system, with a bright orange handlebar mustache and a Brooklyn accent.

There has been speculation that the Mayans of Central America may have described the nebula within their " Three Hearthstones " creation myth ; if so, the three would correspond to two stars at the base of Orion, Rigel and Saiph, and another, Alnitak at the tip of the " belt " of the imagined hunter, the vertices of a nearly perfect triangle with Orion's Sword ( including the Orion Nebula ) in the middle seen as the smudge of smoke from copal incense in a modern myth, or, in ( the translation it suggests of ) an ancient one, the literal or figurative embers of a fiery creation.

In present day 2003, two vampires specialized in assassinating Lycans, Selene and Rigel, known as Death Dealers, track a pair of Lycans who are in their human form.

He has written two pictorial histories of science fiction ( A Pictorial History of Science Fiction and The Illustrated Book of Science Fiction Ideas and Dreams ) and three licensed novels set in the Lensman universe ( The Dragon Lensman, Lensman from Rigel and Z-Lensman ).

The game follows two protagonists, lifelong friends Alm and Celica, over the course of five chapters and takes place in two kingdoms on the continent of Valencia: Rigel and Sofia.

Rigel started painting for a living soon after arriving to the United States and soon became his main source of income allowing him to paint murals and paintings full time.

Many stars visible to the naked eye have such a low absolute magnitude that they would appear bright enough to cast shadows if they were only 10 parsecs from the Earth: Rigel (− 7. 0 ), Deneb (− 7. 2 ), Naos (− 6. 0 ), and Betelgeuse (− 5. 6 ).

The Maori people named Rigel as Puanga and was said to be a daughter of Rehua ( Antares ), the chief of all stars.

Rigel and Aldebaran ( top left and right ) compared to smaller stars and the Sun ( very small dot in lower middle ): click image for larger view and links to other scales.

Of all the stars known to the Māori, Atutahi had a special place, along with Rigel ( Puanga ), because of their intimate association with kūmara cultivation.

Of the top ten apparent brightest stars ( excluding our Sun )— Sirius, Canopus, Alpha Centauri, Arcturus, Vega, Capella, Rigel, Procyon, Achernar and Betelgeuse — Achernar is the hottest and bluest.

Project Blue Book officially determined the witnesses had mistaken Jupiter or bright stars ( such as Rigel or Betelgeuse ) for something else.

Also, one-third of the 1st-magnitude stars visible in the sky ( seven of twenty-one ) are in the Winter Hexagon with Sirius, Procyon, Pollux, with 2nd-magnitude Castor-Capella, Aldebaran, and Rigel on the periphery, and Betelgeuse located off-center.

A star near the middle of the spectrum, such as the modest Sun or the giant Capella radiates more heat per unit of surface area than the feeble red dwarf stars or the bloated supergiants, but much less than such a white or blue star as Vega or Rigel.

Though first in alphabetical order, it is the eighth member of the Concourse in orbit around Rigel.

The Arabs greatly increased the knowledge of astronomical cycles, and many of the star names that remain in common use today, such as Aldebaran, Altair, Betelgeuse, Rigel and Vega retain the legacy of their language.

The Arabs greatly increased the knowledge of astronomy, and many of the star names that are commonly known today, such as Aldebaran, Altair, Betelgeuse, Rigel and Vega retain the legacy of their language.

The aliens explain that they are taking the Simpsons to their home planet on Rigel IV, " a world of infinite delights ," for a ' feast '.

Rescue at Rigel is very similar to Temple of Apshai, a popular dungeon crawl by Epyx, part of their " Dunjonquest " series.