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Rigel is approx 860 ly away.
Betelgeuse is a red supergiant in the constellation Orion. It is approximately 640 light years from us.
Betelgeuse is about 391.53 light years from Rigel. Here's a bit of mathematics about working out this distance: The distance ("a") from Earth to Betelgeuse is about 427 light years and the distance ("b") from Earth to Rigel is about 772 light years. The angle between the two stars from Earth is 18.56 degrees. Knowing these three numbers, we can now use the "law of cosines" to calculate the distance (c) between the stars: c = square root of (a2+ b2- 2ab x cosine of the angle). (In fact, we don't really know the distances to these stars as accurately as this answer may seem to suggest.)
No. Some time in the next million years Betelgeuse will explode as a supernova, but it is too far away from us to damage the earth. All we will see is Betelgeuse getting a lot brighter in the night sky.
Betelgeuse is about 640 light-years from the sun.
It isn't the brightest star - at least, usually Rigel is brighter. However, Betelgeuse is variable, and can sometimes be brighter than Rigel. Wikipedia lists its luminosity as 105,000 times the luminosity of our Sun; and the distance, as 640 light years. Assuming these numbers, this would make it as bright as a star that is 10.5 times as bright as our Sun, at a distance of only 6.4 light years. In other words, the extreme luminosity compensates for its distance.
It is the brightest type of star, Red Supergiant.
Rigel is approx 860 ly away.
No, Betelgeuse is too far away to have any effect on the sun.
It is 260 +/- 20 parsecs away.
Betelgeuse is a red supergiant in the constellation Orion. It is approximately 640 light years from us.
We will have a pretty sight in the night sky. When it explodes, Betelgeuse is predicted to be almost as bright as a full moon in our night sky for a few weeks. Scientists will also learn a lot about supernovas, from being able to observe one happening relatively close. But, Betelgeuse is too far away to do any damage to Earth.
It probably does, but it is too far away for our telescopes to see that level of detail.
Betelgeuse is about 391.53 light years from Rigel. Here's a bit of mathematics about working out this distance: The distance ("a") from Earth to Betelgeuse is about 427 light years and the distance ("b") from Earth to Rigel is about 772 light years. The angle between the two stars from Earth is 18.56 degrees. Knowing these three numbers, we can now use the "law of cosines" to calculate the distance (c) between the stars: c = square root of (a2+ b2- 2ab x cosine of the angle). (In fact, we don't really know the distances to these stars as accurately as this answer may seem to suggest.)
No. Some time in the next million years Betelgeuse will explode as a supernova, but it is too far away from us to damage the earth. All we will see is Betelgeuse getting a lot brighter in the night sky.
Betelgeuse is about 640 light-years from the sun.
Orion is probably the best constellation of all, given how bright most of its stars are. In the northern hemisphere it is very clearly seen through the winter months. Orion has many stars. There are 7 very clear stars that people see. They are Rigel Betelgeuse Bellatrix Alnilam Alnitak Saiph Mintaka The two brightest magnitude stars in Orion are Betelgeuse and Rigel. Betelgeuse is the bright red-looking star that, from our perspective, would be top left, or Orion's left shoulder if he were facing away from us. It is in fact a type of star known as a red giant. To the top right of Orion is Bellatrix. Across the centre are the three stars often collectively known as Orion's Belt. From left to right they are Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka. On the bottom right is Saiph, the faintest of the 4 outer stars. It is hard to miss Rigel, which is bright blue-white and would be at the lower right, designating the knee. Many people think of stars as being the same colour, but looking at Rigel and Betelgeuse is a great way of seeing how different in colour some stars are. The famous Horsehead Nebula is to the east of Orion's Belt and far too faint to see with most home telescopes. There is also a nebula in Orion's Sword. If you look closely, one of the "stars" in the sword appears fuzzy; it is not a star but the Orion Nebula. Do a net search for Orion, Betelgeuse, Rigel, constellations, "Orion Nebula," "Orion's Belt," or any combination of these. I'm sure you'll find lots of info. Or better yet, buy yourself a backyard guide to the night sky. You may not use it much, but you'll never regret it. You may even become addicted to astronomy. Astronomy is a simple hobby to start. All you have to do is go outside on a clear night and look up. There are always wonders to be seen.