Cetus Constellation: The Ultimate Guide

Cetus was first described in ancient geoglyphs of ancient Egypt. These describe a giant creature resembling a sea monster in the shape of a whale, hence its name "kētos," which means cetacean, Whale in Egiptian.

Other versions describe Cetus as a monster with the head of a wild boar or greyhound and a whale or dolphin body, and a split tail in the shape of a fan. Cetus was said to be a colossal beast the size of a ship; only a skull measured 40 feet and was the terror of sailors.

In Greek mythology, the most famous story about Cetus is in which Poseidon orders the sea monster Cetus to attack the city of Ethiopia in revenge as Queen Cassiopeia boasted that she and her daughter Andromeda were more beautiful than the Nērēides.

To save the city, King Cepheus consults an oracle who tells him that the one way to save the city is to sacrifice his daughter, Andromeda. So, Cepheus places his daughter tied up on a cliff to devour Cetus.

Finally, Perseus arrives on time and, with the head of the medusa, turns Cetus into stone, saving Andromeda and the city of Ethiopia.

Later the image of the creature Cetus would be spread throughout the old world until it reached China, where it would influence the modern image of dragons.

During the seventeenth century, Dutch cartographers Willem Blaeu and Andreas Cellarius depicted Cetus as a whale-like creature in the stellar calendar of the southern constellations. Since then, it remained among the 88 official constellations.

From its annex to the modern constellations, Cetus underwent modifications in its limits and today occupies a total area of 1,231 square degrees, the fourth largest constellation in the night sky.

Cetus resides in the first quadrant of the Southern Hemisphere (SQ1) at latitudes between 70° N and 90° S, which means we can see the constellation in the night sky from all countries in the world.

Cetus is visible in America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Antarctica.

Cetus is not visible in areas above 70° N latitude, such as northern Canada, northern Greenland, Siberia, and the Arctic Circle.

Cetus is a constellation close to the celestial equator, visible almost all year round; however, November is the best month to see it.

Cetus is visible mainly during autumn in the Northern Hemisphere when it stays longer in the night sky.

Cetus is located near the celestial equator, so if you are in the northern hemisphere, you will have to direct your gaze to the south.

One way to locate the Cetus constellation is by finding its brightest star Deneb, which is in the part of the constellation closest to the west and the closest star to the Sculptor constellation.

You can contact the constellation Pisces to find Cetus since both constellations are very close.

The easiest way to locate the constellation Cetus is by drawing an imaginary straight line from the constellation of Pisces to the constellation Eridanus, in the middle of the two entries to the constellation Cetus.

The constellations bordering with Cetus are Aries, Pisces, Aquarius, Sculptor, Fornax, Eridanus, and Taurus.

In addition, Cetus belongs to the family of constellations of Perseus; these include Andromeda, Auriga, Cassiopeia, Cepheus, Lacerta, Pegasus, Perseus, and Triangulum.

The constellation Cetus officially contains 189 stars, of which 14 make up the central figure of the constellation, these are Diphda, Menkar, Dheneb Algenubi, Kaffaljidhma, Mira, Tau Ceti, Deneb Kaitos Shemali, Theya Ceti, Baten Kaitos, Upsilon Ceti, Delta Ceti, Mu Ceti, Xi-2 Ceti, and Lambda Ceti.

Deneb is the brightest star in the constellation Cetus, with a magnitude of +2.04; it is easy to locate, as it is in a very dark area of the sky.

Deneb is a giant star of yellow-orange color and spectral type on the boundary between G and K. With a surface temperature of 4800 K; it is cooler than the Sun but 145 times more luminous.

With an apparent magnitude of +2.54, Menkar is the second brightest star in the constellation Cetus, located 220 light-years from the Solar System.

Menkar is a cold red giant of spectral type M1.5IIIa, whose surface temperature is only 3700 K. The total radiation from Menkar is 1800 times greater than that from the Sun, so there should be no habitable planets around it.

Of apparent magnitude +3.47, Kaffaljidhma is a star system located 80 light-years from our Solar System.

Kaffaljidhma is the fifth brightest star in the constellation Cetus and is made up of three stellar components, of which one of them is a white-yellow star with an apparent magnitude +6.25, it is 60% more luminous than the Sun.

Cetus is known as the home of several deep-sky objects. Deep-sky objects often mean star clusters, nebulae (interstellar cloud bodies), or galaxies.

In the case of Cetus, it is rich in galaxies, nebulae, and star clusters, being one of the constellations with the most incredible diversity of deep-sky bodies.

The most notable deep-sky object in the constellation Cetus; is a barred spiral galaxy located about 47 million light-years away. The galactic core of Messier 77 is an intense source of radio known as Cetus A.

• NGC 17: Galaxy resulting from the merger of two other galaxies, having observed recent star formation in its central regions.
• NGC 45: Spiral galaxy of very low surface brightness.
• NGC 217: Spiral galaxy.
• NGC 1042: Barred spiral galaxy.
• NGC 1052: Elliptical galaxy.
• NGC 247: Spiral galaxy member of the Sculptor Group, one of the closest galactic groupings to the Milky Way. It is 9 million light-years away.
• NGC 615: Also a spiral galaxy.
• NGC 908: A barred spiral galaxy 60 million light-years away.
• NGC 1055: An SBb-type barred spiral galaxy about 52 million light-years away. It forms a binary system con M77.
• NGC 1087: Spiral galaxy.
• NGC 1090: Galaxy dwarf.
• Galaxy IC 1613: Dwarf galaxy belonging to the Local Group. Next to the Magellanic Clouds is the only irregular dwarf galaxy in the Local Group where variable stars have been found RR Lyrae.
• Wolf-Lundmark-Melotte: A magnitude 11.0 galaxy is an irregular galaxy on the boundaries of the Local Group.
• NGC 246: Small diameter planetary nebula.
• Abell 370: Galaxy cluster 5 billion light-years away.

According to the record of star showers of the Adam Mickiewicz University (Poland), in the region that comprises the constellation of Cetus, there are at least 22 meteor showers. The most notable are the following:

• Omega Cétids: It occurs between May 5 to June 9 and is most important; its maximum activity peak occurs on May 7.
• Cétids Omicron: Occurs between the dates of May 7 to June 9.
• Pi Cétids: Occurs between the dates of 16 June- 4 July.
• August omicron Cétids: Peak of maximum activity August 10.
• Lambda Cétids: Peak of maximum activity October 29.

• In the Bible, it is mentioned in several verses a sea creature with the characteristics of the mythical beast Cetus.
• It is thought that the story of the Kraken, the ship-destroying sea monster, was initially inspired by Cetus.
• It is thought that the history of Cetus inspired the mythical dragons of ancient Chinese culture since, on the Silk Road, figures were exchanged with the image of the sea monster that could influence the dragons of ancient Chinese astronomy.

• Cetus is a constellation located primarily in the southern hemisphere; its name comes from the mythological creature of the Greek culture "Cetus," consisting of a whale-shaped sea monster.
• Cetus is one of the largest and most prominent constellations in the sky; despite being primarily in the south, it is possible to see it from all world countries.
• The best month to see the Cetus constellation is in November, between the latitudes of 70° N and 90° S.
• The easiest way to locate the constellation Cetus is by drawing an imaginary straight line from the constellation of Pisces to the constellation Eridanus; in the middle of the two, you will find the constellation Cetus.
• The brightest star in Cetus is Deneb Kaitos (β Ceti / 16 Ceti) which has an apparent magnitude of 2.04.
• The most notable deep sky body in the constellation Cetus is M77 (NGC 1068), one of the largest and brightest spiral galaxies in the sky.
• The strongest meteor shower in Cetus is the "Omega Cétids."

1. https://www.constellation-guide.com/constellation-list/cetus-constellation/
2. http://www.seasky.org/constellations/constellation-cetus.html
3. https://www.universeguide.com/constellation/cetus
4. https://earthsky.org/constellations/cetus-the-whale-mira-stars-myth/
5. https://www.universetoday.com/20094/cetus-constellation/