- Stars with a name
- Caph
Caph
β Cassiopeiae
Caph is a yellow-white giant, in the constellation Cassiopeia. The light you see from it tonight left it around 1971.
Where to find it
From mid-northern latitudes, such as New York, Rome or Tokyo, it never sets: it circles the pole all night, all year.
Bright enough to see even from a city. Apparent magnitude 2.28.
What it’s like
It gives off 30 times as much light as the Sun.
Its surface temperature is about 6,700 degrees Celsius.
It is 54.7 light years away: 518 trillion kilometres.
It is the star of people born around 1971: the light that left it then is reaching Earth now.