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: the Sun sits at the opposite point of the sky and the star culminates around midnight. How high it climbs above the horizon depends on the latitude you watch from.

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Write my signature

A public signature from a real person. The chosen name is a symbolic denomination within Stelvia, with no official standing or IAU recognition: the sky is not for sale and belongs to no one.

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