Rigel is brighter.
Rigel is brighter than Betelgeuse. Rigel is a blue supergiant star and one of the brightest stars in the night sky, while Betelgeuse is a red supergiant and although it is one of the largest stars known, it is not as bright as Rigel.
Betelgeuse has an apparent magnitude of 0.42(v) and an absolute magnitude of -6.02. Rigel has an apparent magnitude of 0.12 and an absolute magnitude of -7.04. So Rigel is brighter.
Rigel appears as bright as Betelgeuse even though it is further away because Rigel is intrinsically brighter (has a higher luminosity) than Betelgeuse. Despite being further away, its higher luminosity compensates for the distance, making it appear similarly bright in the sky.
Rigel is a blue-white star, while Betelgeuse is a red supergiant star.
Betelgeuse is larger in size than Rigel. Betelgeuse is a red supergiant star with a diameter about 800 times that of the Sun, while Rigel is a blue supergiant star with a diameter about 70 times that of the Sun.
Rigel is brighter than Betelgeuse. Rigel is a blue supergiant star and one of the brightest stars in the night sky, while Betelgeuse is a red supergiant and although it is one of the largest stars known, it is not as bright as Rigel.
Betelgeuse has an apparent magnitude of 0.42(v) and an absolute magnitude of -6.02. Rigel has an apparent magnitude of 0.12 and an absolute magnitude of -7.04. So Rigel is brighter.
Rigel appears as bright as Betelgeuse even though it is further away because Rigel is intrinsically brighter (has a higher luminosity) than Betelgeuse. Despite being further away, its higher luminosity compensates for the distance, making it appear similarly bright in the sky.
Rigel is a blue-white star, while Betelgeuse is a red supergiant star.
The simple answer is by looking at them.The technical answer is by analysing their bolometric luminosity with a bolometer.
Betelgeuse is larger in size than Rigel. Betelgeuse is a red supergiant star with a diameter about 800 times that of the Sun, while Rigel is a blue supergiant star with a diameter about 70 times that of the Sun.
Betelgeuse is larger than Rigel. Betelgeuse is a red supergiant star with a diameter about 1,180 times that of the Sun, while Rigel is a blue supergiant with a diameter roughly 79 times that of the Sun.
Betelgeuse is brighter.
Betelgeuse and Rigel are stars in the constellation Orion. Betelgeuse is a red supergiant and Rigel is a blue-white supergiant, and both are easily visible to the naked eye in the Orion constellation.
No, Rigel is hotter than Betelgeuse. Rigel is a blue supergiant star with a surface temperature of around 12,000 Kelvin, while Betelgeuse is a red supergiant with a surface temperature of around 3,500 Kelvin.
Betelgeuse is around 10 times greater in diameter than Rigel.
It is common for astronomers to identify stars in a constellation with Greek alphabets. This is called the "Bayer designations". Bayer, a German astronomer, designated the stars in a constellation according to brightness, but this is not always the case. Here, Betelgeuse is not as bright as Rigel but it is called Alpha Orionis, rather than Beta Orionis. One reason for this is because 400 years ago, nobody could accurately determine which star was brighter, and it probably seemed that Betelgeuse was the brighter star.