RIGEL
DISTANCE: 770 ly
APPARENT MAGNITUDE: 0.03 m
SPECTRAL CLASS: B8 lab
We could not live as close to Rigel as we are to the sun, because its surface temperature is much hotter, about 19,000 degrees F (11,000K) in contrast to about 10,000 degrees F for the sun. Overall, is about 40,000 times brighter than our local star. Earth would need to be about 200 times farther away, or about 5 times as far as Pluto. (Even then the light would not be the same, as much would be at higher, bluer, wavelengths.) Counting all its radiation (not just visible light, but infrared, ultraviolet and so on), it is 66,000 times more powerful than the sun. With such enormous energy, you might be surprised to find that it is only 17 times more mass, and 70 times width, of our nearby luminary.
The star lights up a nearby nebula
DISTANCE: 770 ly
APPARENT MAGNITUDE: 0.03 m
SPECTRAL CLASS: B8 lab
We could not live as close to Rigel as we are to the sun, because its surface temperature is much hotter, about 19,000 degrees F (11,000K) in contrast to about 10,000 degrees F for the sun. Overall, is about 40,000 times brighter than our local star. Earth would need to be about 200 times farther away, or about 5 times as far as Pluto. (Even then the light would not be the same, as much would be at higher, bluer, wavelengths.) Counting all its radiation (not just visible light, but infrared, ultraviolet and so on), it is 66,000 times more powerful than the sun. With such enormous energy, you might be surprised to find that it is only 17 times more mass, and 70 times width, of our nearby luminary.
The star lights up a nearby nebula
