The pulsating blue supergiant Rigel has a diameter of about 100 million kilometres, some seventy times that of the Sun. In the far distance a double blue star is visible - Rigel's much less luminous companions.

A blue supergiant star that remains very bright despite lying almost 800 light years away. At a distance of 10pc, it would be much brighter than Venus.

The famous blue star Rigel forms the western foot of the Hunter Orion, and indeed its Arabic name means 'Leg of the Giant'.

The pattern of Rigel's variability suggests that it is turbulent and energetic, with the star's internal processes sending complex patterns of waves and ripples across its surface regions.

The galactic position and direction of Rigel relative to Earth's Sun. Note that, at this extreme scale, the two stars are effectively in the same place.