Star
Diphda
Orange star · K0III
β Ceti · Cetus
Shown in its true colour — like most stars, it is too far away to photograph as more than a point of light.
Beta Ceti is the brightest star in the constellation of Cetus. It is officially named Diphda, pronounced ; Beta Ceti is its Bayer designation, which is Latinized from β Ceti and abbreviated Beta Cet and β Cet. Although designated 'beta', it is actually brighter than the 'alpha' star in the constellation, Menkar, by half a magnitude. This orange giant is easy to identify due to its location in an otherwise dark section of the celestial sphere. Based on parallax measurements, it lies at an estimated distance of 96.3 light-years from the Sun.
Description from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
In your sky
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Key facts
Distance
~96.3 light-years
Apparent mag.
+2.04
Spectral type
K0III
Luminosity
116 × Sun
Absolute mag.
−0.31
Catalogue
HIP 3419
Spectral type
K0III
True colour from its B–V index (1.02): a surface around 4700 K.
Did you know
- Diphda is also known as β Ceti.
- Its spectral type K0III marks it as a orange star.
- It lies in the constellation Cetus.
