Rigel, however, is 57,000 times the luminosity of our sun. It it was to swap places with Sirius, Rigel would shine with about a fifth of the light of the full moon. It appears dimmer than Sirius because it is much farther away - about 900 light years. It takes the brilliant light from Rigel 900 years to reach our eyes. It takes the light of Sirius only 8.7 years to reach us.
Individual stars are one way to think of the immensity of the universe.
Another way to boggle your mind is to look at galaxies. Our own Milky Way galaxy, believed to be average size, is only 100,000 light years across. The Andromeda Galaxy is just slightly larger, at 110,000 light years across. The Cosmos appears every Sunday in the Youngstown Vindicator .