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Object

Rigel

A bright blue star with a glowing core and a faint surrounding glow, set against a dark starry sky, represents Rigel, a supergiant star in Orion's constellation.

A blue supergiant marking the foot of Orion, about 860 light years away, with a surface temperature near 12,000 kelvin and a luminosity roughly 120,000 times that of the Sun. Its hot photosphere shifts the peak of its emission into the ultraviolet, leaving the visible portion looking blue-white. The contrast with the red Betelgeuse on the opposite shoulder of the same constellation is the cleanest naked-eye demonstration of stellar temperature.

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