Saiph is the hot blue-white star at Orion’s eastern knee, a luminous giant whose Arabic name, meaning sword, strayed to it from the hunter’s sword.
At a glance
| type | blue-white giant (class B) |
|---|---|
| distance from the Sun | 647 light-years (198 pc) |
| its light left it | 647 years ago |
| luminosity | 62,800 × the Sun |
| radius | 11 × the Sun |
| surface temperature | 27,600 K |
| constellation | Orion (Hunter) |
Read off the piece’s own catalogue, the same values it draws with.
About Saiph
Saiph is a hot blue-white star, larger than the Sun and enormously brighter, but much of its output is ultraviolet light the eye cannot see. That is part of why it looks fainter than Rigel, the hunter’s other lower corner, which is both more powerful and brighter in visible light.
It marks Orion’s right knee, opposite Rigel at the left foot. The name comes from the Arabic for the sword of the giant, a name that belonged to the stars of Orion’s sword and was transferred to this star.
What you see in the piece
Its colour in the piece is the hard blue-white of its temperature; flying out, Saiph and Rigel stay as far-flung corners of a figure that only holds together from Earth.
Questions
Where is Saiph in Orion?
Saiph marks Orion’s right knee, at the lower left of the figure as seen from the northern hemisphere, opposite Rigel.