What We Need To Know About Rigel Star.

The stars are a very important part of this universe. No Universe can be imagined without them. It is because of their light that we are able to know this huge Cosmos. There is much type of stars. It depends on the elements inside them. Everyone must have heard about the Orion Constellation. This constellation has been important since ancient times. This constellation and the stars in it are quite popular.  In fact, it was associated with aliens.  Today we will talk about Rigel, One of these famous stars.  You can easily see this star without the aid of a telescope. Rigel is a very bright star. Its Apparent magnitude is +0.13 From Earth. This makes it the seventh brightest star in the night sky. Its Distance from Earth is about eight hundred and sixty light years.

Rigel is a blue super giant and is quite a massive star. In fact, the brightest stars in the universe are the blue stars. They are much brighter and more massive than the sun. These stars consume the hydrogen fuel inside them very fast. Due to which their lifespan was much shorter than that of the sun. These become supernovae in just a few millions of years. Rigel is 17 times more massive than our sun. Its surface temperature is about 12,000 degree Celsius. That’s twice has much as the sun. In terms of size, it is estimated to be 75 times larger than the sun. The Rigel star is not really a star but a triple star system. Usually we do not see these two stars with it. 

   

But they can only be detected by a giant telescope. Both stars are much smaller than Rigel and are much farther apart. The distance of these stars from Rigel is about 2,200 astronomical units. This distance is quite wide. They are named Rigel B and Rigel C by astronomers. These three stars orbit each other in a common centre of gravity. It takes them about 24,000 years to complete one orbit. In addition, it only takes about 10 days for Rigel B and Rigel C to orbit each other. Rigel B and Rigel C fall into the category of blue and white main sequence stars.

Both of these stars can be 3 to 4 times more massive than the sun. If we talk about the brightness of the Rigel star, then Rigel star is a unique star in terms of brightness. It is thought to be 50,000 times brighter than our sun. In addition, both of the Rigel B and Rigel C stars are not much brighter. At the moment Rigel is a much larger star than the sun, and it is increasing in size even more. Blue super giant star Rigel is using the hydrogen inside it very fast and in large quantities. If we talk about its age, according to scientists, it may be up to eight million years old. These types of stars are very unbalanced. But stars like the sun are very balanced.

Because of this, the Life span of blue super giant stars like Rigel was much shorter than that of the sun. But such giant blue stars are much larger than the sun in terms of luminosity and mass. But it is constantly losing a lot of its mass. Due to the excessive amount of stellar wind being released through it. A stellar wind is charged particles that are released by the star into interstellar space. The sun emits a similar stellar wind. This stellar wind forms a heliosphere around our solar system. This prevents dangerous cosmic waves from entering the solar system.

At the moment such activities are taking place on a very large scale within Rigel. Soon it will cause its downfall. Because the stellar wind it emits is more than a million of times more powerful than the sun. That is why it will die in the next few million years. According to scientists, this star will end up in the form of a type II supernova. This is a variable star, meaning that its brightness fluctuates from time to time. Due to which its size is increasing soon after the supernova in Rigel will take the form of a black hole or a neutron star. This explosion will be easily seen on earth in the future.

Betelgeuse, a red super giant star in the same constellation, has the potential for supernovae, according to scientists.