Rigel is the brightest star in the constellation Orion and the sixth brightest star in the sky, with visual magnitude 0.18. Although it has the Bayer designation "beta", it is almost always brighter than Alpha Orionis (Betelgeuse). Rigel is a blue supergiant star that is well beyond the current range of accurate parallax measurements; spectroscopic estimates place its distance between 700 and 900 light-years. Rigel is a Blue supergiant, at 17 solar masses, shining with approximately 40,000 times the luminosity of the Sun. Rigel is the most luminous star in our local region of the Milky Way. As it is so bright and it is moving through a region of nebulosity, Rigel lights up several dust clouds in its general vicinity, the most notable being 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. Despite the difference in distance, projecting Rigel's path through space for its expected age brings it close to the nebula. 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. 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 is my name.
