No, Rygel isn’t my real name but I’ve been using it as an pseudonym for quite some time. While in college, a roommate introduced me into the world of MIRC chat. The first thing you had to do was come up with a username. One of my interests is reading about the galaxy and among the dozens of stars out there, Rigel was my favorite name for a star (I just liked the sound of it) and I decided that it would make a good username.Unfortunately, being Filipinos, it was only natural that Rigel was pronounced ‘Ree-ghell’. When I got to talk on the phone with my chatmates I found it annoying to hear my username pronounced that way. So I changed the ‘i’ to ‘y’ and Rygel was born. I have stuck with that username more or less 10 years and some friends even know me only by that name. I don’t mind. My real firstname is so common that if you speak it out loud a dozen guys will look your way trying to recall if they know you. But try calling out Rygel, and a dozen guys will still look your way (coz Filipinos like to do that even if they know you’re not talking to them) but I’ll know immediately that it’s me you’re talking to.
While making this blog, I decided to look for facts about Rigel and here are 4 of them:
- It is part of the constellation Orion (the Hunter);
- It represents Orion's left foot where he was stung by a scorpion and died;
- It is the brightest star in Orion and the 7th brightest star in the sky;
- It shines with the light of 40,000 suns.
