Star profile

Baten Kaitos

Zeta Ceti · Cetus

3D likeness based on its real data · class K · ~4,200 K

What is Baten Kaitos

Baten Kaitos means «the belly of the sea monster» in Arabic and lies in the middle of Cetus, the creature that in Greek myth besieged Andromeda chained to the rock. It is an orange giant 235 light-years from the Earth, with warm, ancient light, suspended calmly in the middle of a region of sky thinly populated with bright stars. Its name still survives today as a direct relic of the Islamic astronomers who methodically charted the entire sky when Europe was only just relearning how to read Aristotle in Latin translation again.

Where it is and when to see it

Baten Kaitos lies in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is October, when it culminates around midnight.

From London it culminates about 28° above the horizon.
From New York it culminates about 39° above the horizon.
From Sydney it culminates about 66° above the horizon.

It can be seen from anywhere south of 80° N.

It ranks no. 8 in brightness among the 111 stars of Cetus in our catalogue. To find it, start from Diphda, the brightest: it lies about 18° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).

The light you see today left it about 240 years ago.

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Astronomical data for Baten Kaitos

Constellation: Cetus
Apparent magnitude: 3.74
Distance: 235.0 light years
Coordinates (J2000): RA 27.865° · Dec -10.335°
Catalogue: HIP 8645 · HD 11353

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Other stars in Cetus

Cetus has 111 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.

See all 111 stars in Cetus