The Brightness of the Sun and Star Rigel

Why does the sun appear brighter than the star Rigel to an observer on earth?

Is it because of the distance between the Sun and Earth and the distance between the star Rigel and Earth?

Answer:

Yes, the reason why the sun appears brighter than the star Rigel to an observer on earth is indeed due to the distance between the Sun and Earth compared to the distance between the star Rigel and Earth.

When we look at the distance between the Sun and Earth, it is only about 147.85 million km, while the distance between the star Rigel and Earth is about 817.63 * 10^7 million km. This vast difference in distance plays a crucial role in how bright these celestial objects appear from our perspective on Earth.

The distance between the Sun and Earth is relatively close compared to the distance between star Rigel and Earth, making the Sun appear much brighter. The farther an object is from the observer, the smaller it appears in size and the dimmer it appears in brightness. In this case, the star Rigel is much farther away than the Sun, causing it to appear dimmer compared to the Sun.

Therefore, the sun appears brighter than the star Rigel to an observer on earth because of the significant difference in distance between these celestial bodies.