1. The Enterprise is five parsecs out of Rigel 12.

2. Yet, as a variable star, Betelgeuse is occasionally brighter than Rigel.

3. Moravveji and colleagues calculate a luminosity for Rigel of 120,000 times that of the Sun.

4. The apparent brightness of our Sun is much greater than that of the star Rigel in the constellation Orion because it is so close to us. However, if both objects were placed at the same distance from us, Rigel would appear much brighter than our Sun because its absolute brightness is much larger.

5. You can find the Hunter’s main Asterism, with Betelgeuse at one shoulder and Rigel at a knee, without much trouble throughout autumn, winter and into spring

6. As it is both bright and moving through a region of nebulosity, Rigel lights up several dust clouds in its vicinity, most notably the 5°–long IC 2118 (the Witch Head Nebula), located at an angular separation of 2.5° from the star.