THE SOUTHWORTH PLANETARIUM
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"Everything works out."
THE DAILY ASTRONOMER
Wednesday, March 1, 2017
The Fifty Brightest Stars
Every star has a story. That is why we love stars so much. Though, like
snowflakes, they appear interchangeable when viewed from a distance, stars
reveal distinct characteristics when closely examined. Discovering these
distinctions is no easy task: we see thousands of stars in the night sky;
billions in the galaxy; and trillions in the universe. It is fortunate
that we cannot resolve most stars in distant galaxies, because the stars we
can observe provide plenty of work for everybody.
So, today we offer a list of the night sky's fifty brightest stars. . We
toyed with the idea of listing our FIFTY favorite stars. However, such a
list would require us to place a star at the number one position. That's
a problem, as we're like Don Juan when it comes to stars: "If you're true
to one, you're cruel to all the others." We opted finally for the
brilliant and beautiful with this list of fifty apparently brightest stars
in the sky. Northern inhabitants can see most of them and many are well
placed this time of year. Instead of being encyclopedic about this
list, however, we wanted to mention something interesting about each one: a
little factoid or tidbit that makes the star (or at least our perception of
the star) quite fascinating, as all stars truly are.
SUN
a beautiful star, though not large when compared to its big brothers.
Sustains our lives and is delightfully photogenic. Should live for
billions more years, and will eventually become a bloated red giant. It
will be bad news for Earth when this expansion occurs, but we won't be
around to enjoy the catastrophe.
SIRIUS
King of the hill as far as the night sky is concerned. Sirius is
brighter than the rest, though often out shined by the planets Venus and
Jupiter. This star used to be a household name, until falling out of
public consciousness for while. Fortunately, JK Rowling renewed its fame.
CANOPUS
The "other" truly bright star. Don't worry if you've never heard of it,
as it is not visible to those in the mid-northern latitudes. Canopus is
the alpha star in the southern hemisphere constellation of Carina the Keel.
ARCTURUS
The truly bright northern sky star. It lent its name to Earth's cold
northern region, "the Arctic." One can find Arcturus by sliding down the
Big Dipper's handle, hence the famous mnemonic "Arc to Arcturus." Arcturus
is a "slicing" star, as it is slicing across the galactic plane at a rapid
clip and will vanish from our skies in half a million years.
RIGIL KENTAURUS (ALPHA CENTAURI)
Well, determining this star's distinction will be difficult. Rigil
Kentaurus is also known as "alpha Centauri," the brightest star in
Centaurus. Visible only in regions south of 30 degrees north -but best
seen at or below the Tropics- Alpha Centauri is the closest star system to
our Sun. We call this a star system, as it consists of three stars: two
sun-like stars, Alpha Centauri A and B, and an outer red dwarf star, called
Proxima Centauri.
VEGA
Summer's beacon star. Vega, the Summer Triangle's brightest star, marks
Lyra the Harp's northern tip. To those around 40-45 degrees north
latitude, Vega is visible for at least a part of the night each day of the
year, even though it isn't circumpolar. "Vegan" stars are those
non-circumpolar stars which are so high in the sky that they are visible
for at least a part of the night each night.
CAPELLA
Capella is also a "Vegan" star. Poised high in Auriga, the
pentagon-shaped constellation north of Orion, Capella is the "goat star,"
located just north of a faint grouping of stars called "the kids," or young
goats.
RIGEL
Orion's brightest star marks Orion's knee. It is a blue supergiant star at
the southwest of Orion's rectangular outline. Three of these four
rectangle stars are on this list. The Bayer Nomenclature system (see
Gacrux) indicates that Rigel is not as bright as Betelgeuse, but that is an
error. While Betelgeuse runs a close second, Rigel is the most brilliant
of all the bright Orion lights, and believe you me that's saying something.
PROCYON
Poor Procyon! It can never escape Sirius's shadow. Procyon is the bright
star in the two-star stick called "Canis Minor," the little Dog. Procyon
is the Ron to Sirius' Harry: a star that is famous only for its association
with a more well known star. The name Procyon means "before the dog," as
it rises a few minutes before Sirius. It is the opening act for the main
event; the animated concession snack band before the film; the countdown
before the Times Square apple drops; and we've had to exhaust all our
analogies just to fill a paragraph about this underappreciated star.
ACHERNAR
The end of the river, the river Eridanus, that is. This great, meandering
river constellation begins at Orion's knee and ends far in the southern sky
with Archernar. We can't see it here in the north. This star is a trick
because it is shedding its matter at a stunning rate: more than a thousand
times greater than the Sun's mass loss. This rapid and continued material
expulsion makes it difficult for astronomers to determine the star's
physical properties. All stars are energetic and hyperactive in their
own regards, but this one is bursting on all eight cylinders.
BETELGEUSE
Big, band, bold, beautiful, brilliant, bloated Betelgeuse. If someone
came up to us and said, "choose a favourite star or I'll smash all your
Mannheim Steamroller Christmas CDs", we might just select this star as our
main squeeze. What's not to love about a star that resembles a fire
opal! Marking Orion's eastern shoulder, Betelgeuse is a red supergiant
that could swallow more than 150 million Suns, if it developed a taste for
unflavored plasma. While its translated name "giant's armpit" is hardly an
endearing term, Betelgeuse is the mammoth sphere that puts a crimson flare
in our crisp winter sky. It is about 520 light years away. It if were
just a couple of hundred light years closer, it would be high on this
bright star list! Even at its ranking now, though, Betelgeuse rocks.
HADAR
Let's pretend we're in the southern hemisphere during their early spring
(our autumn). High in the evening sky one can see the magnificent
Southern Cross, also known as 'Crux.' Just to the east of Crux is Beta
Cenaturi (Hadar) and to the east of Hadar is Alpha Centauri (Rigil
Kentaurus). The mnemonic is Alpha-Beta-Crux. Like its constellation
companion Alpha Centauri, Hadar is among the brightest. However, at a
distance of 390 light years, it is almost 100 times more distant than Alpha
Centauri. Here we encounter one of the night sky's most effective
deceptions: the concealment of depth. Alpha and Beta Centauri seem locked
arm-in-arm, even though the former is poised on our shores, while the
latter is far off on the horizon.
ALTAIR
Imagine a star that resembles a blue egg and you'll see Altair. The star
marking the Summer Triangle's southern tip is one devil of spinner, as it
rotates once every 8.9 hours, as opposed to the Sun's comparatively
lethargic rotation rate (25 days at the Equator; 32 days at the poles.)
Because Altair spins so rapidly, it bulges out dramatically at its equator,
making it look like an egg. As it is a hotter star, it glows blue-white,
hence the "blue egg" appearance. Altair, being so close at a distance
of 16 light years, is one of the few stars that astronomers can directly
image. These images have verified one of astronomy's somewhat more
advanced theories, called the Von Zeipel effect. The Von Zeipel theorem
states that a star's effective temperature is affected by its surface
gravity. The stronger the gravity the higher the temperature: Altair's
equator, being a bit farther out from the center than other regions, has a
lower surface gravity and should be cooler, therefore slightly dimmer,
since temperature and luminosity are related. And, indeed, this gravity
darkening (Von Zeipel) effect has been observed on Altair.
ALDEBARAN
So, we admit it, we LOVE this star. Not only because of the enchanting
Enya song of the same name, but because it is the follower star: the star
that follows the Pleiades star cluster across the sky like an adoring
lover. The name Aldebaran actually means "the follower" for this very
reason. It marks Taurus the Bull's orange eye, the one glowering down at
Orion, who has pursued the fleeing sisters with the same earnestness with
which Aldebaran trails them. It's lovely to be admired, isn't it?
ANTARES
Rival to Mars! Well, that is what its name means. It is Mars' rival
because of its red color. A star's temperature determines its color:
Antares is red because it is a cool star, with an effective temperature of
2,300 degrees. Mind you, this temperature is blisteringly hot by
planetary standards, but, as far as stars are concerned, is rather tepid.
Antares marks the heart of Scorpius the Scorpion, a constellation
currently lurking low in the pre-dawn sky.
SPICA
Remember the mnemonic "Arc to Arcturus?" It has a second verse. "Arc to
Arcturus; Speed to Spica." Found south of Arcturus, Spica marks Virgo's
hand. Spica has been corn, wheat, or another agricultural staple, for
Virgo is the daughter of Demeter, goddess of the harvest. Finding Spica
is handy as it is the one prominent star in the long and relatively faint
constellation Virgo.
POLLUX
Pollux is the immortal Gemini twin and the constellation's brightest star.
Mythologically, Pollux and Castor had the same mother, but different
fathers. Pollux was sired by Zeus, the Greek god king. Having been Zeus'
son, Pollux was immortal, while his brother Castor was not. When his
brother was slain in battle, Pollux approached his father and offered to
give his immortality to his Castor. So touched was Zeus by this gesture,
that he offered both brothers a place in the sky where they could be
together for all eternity. Pollux is the star south of Castor.
FOMALHAUT
We have something special to say about this "mouth" star. Marking the
mouth of Piscis Austrinus, the "southern fish," Fomalhaut is not only
noteworthy for being a bright star in our southern Autumn skies, but its
planet was the first exo-planet ever directly observed. This planet is
three times more massive than Jupiter and is almost three times farther
away from Fomalhaut than Pluto is from the Sun. It is because the planet
is so distant from its parent star, which is also close to us (25 light
years) that it could be imaged with present day technology. We're likely
to observe many other exo-worlds, but Fomalhaut's will always be the first
ever "seen."
MIMOSA
The brightest star in the Southern Cross is not its alpha star. The
Bayer system (see Gacrux) indicated that Mimosa was fainter than the cross'
alpha star, Acrux. However, modern observations reveal that Mimosa (at
magnitude 1.25) is slightly brighter than Acrux (magnitude 1.33).
Astronomers use the magnitude system to measure the brightness levels of
different celestial objects. The brighter the object, the lower the
magnitude number. Mimosa and Acrux are so close in apparent brightness
that the Bayer Nomenclature mistake is quite pardonable.
DENEB
Sometimes life isn't fair. Vega is much brighter and gets so much
attention, but Deneb is far brighter than Vega when their actual
luminosities are compared. Deneb is 60,000 times brighter than the Sun,
because it is also 1600 light years away, so it seems dimmer than Vega,
which is merely 26 light years distant. If Vega and Deneb traded places,
Deneb would not only be the night sky's brightest star, but it would cast a
shadow on us at night and would be visible during the day!
ACRUX
The "Southern Cross" is actually called Crux. This cross is famous because
its longer axis points to the South Celestial Pole, a spot with a dirth of
bright stars. (Sigma Octans marks the south celestial pole, but being
barely visible, does not serve as a convenient marker.) While it is best
to see the Southern Cross in the southern hemisphere, one can still observe
it peeking above the southern horizon as far north as Florida. Yet, even
here it is difficult to see.
REGULUS
The "Little King" representing Leo the Lion's heart. One can also see it
as the point under Leo's sickle, "backward question mark." Like more than
half of the night sky's stars, Regulus is a multiple system. Were one to
visit Regulus, one would find four component stars. While binaries are
somewhat common, quadruples are rare. When viewed telescopically,
Regulus reveals three stars. One of these three is a spectroscopic binary,
two stars so close together as to be optically unresolvable. Only by
examining shifts in the stars' spectra are astronomers able to determine
the presence of two stars.
ADHARA
Sometimes we don't know why stars have their given names. Adhara, the
second brightest star in Canis Major, is the leg star in Orion's faithful
hunting dogs. The name "Adhara" means "the virgins," as the three star
triangle around Adhara was once called by the name "virgins." One can
only speculate as to the origin of this name. During the many centuries
that have elapsed between the days when stars were first given recorded
names and our modern day, much knowledge has been lost and many legends
forgotten. The appeal of Adhara is that this star's name is all that
remains of these wholly unknown celestial virgins.
GACRUX
Here we have a moment to mention the Bayer Nomenclature System, which lists
the stars within a constellation according to brightness. Developed by
Johannes Bayer (1572-1625), this scheme assigns the Greek letter alpha to
the constellation's brightest star; beta to the second brightest; gamma to
the third brightest, and so forth. Gacrux is merely a contraction of the
term Gamma Crux. Although, to be proper, Caesar, the actual star name must
be formed by the Greek letter and the Latin genitive of the Host
constellation name, so it would be Gamma Crucis. And, of course,
everybody cares deeply about this issue.
SHAULA
"The Stinger Star" in the Scorpion's tail. Though listed as Lamba
Scorpii, Shaula is Scorpius' second (not eleventh) brightest star. Shaula
is called a "heat valve" star, more properly known as a Beta Cephei type
variable. These variables expand and contract due to a layer of metals
that behave like heat valves, causing fluctuations in heat transfer from
the hotter inner regions. The magnitude difference during these
variability periods, however, is slight, noticeable only with equipment
much more sensitive than the human eye.
BELLATRIX
The Amazon Warrior star adorning Orion's western shoulder. While most know
the name because of Bellatrix LaStrange, Harry Potter's truly wicked
witch. Those who find this character to be appealing will have no trouble
remembering that Bellatrix is special because it is one of the hottest
stars visible to the naked eye. Its high "surface" temperature of 22,000
degrees makes it a truly bright star. A star's energy output, or
luminosity, depends upon its size, mass and temperature. While Bellatrix
is not a highly massive star, it is hot enough and close enough (250 light
years) to place it neatly in the center of our top fifty list.
EL NATH
El Nath represents Taurus the Bull's horn tip. Taurus' beta star is far
outshined by the alpha star Aldebaran. What distinguishes El Nath is that
it is a lynch pin star, one that has been associated with another
constellation. Some charts link El Nath with Auriga, the charioteer
constellation to the north of Taurus and Orion. Very few prominent
stars are shared by two constellations, however. Perhaps the most famous
example is Alpheratz, the northeastern corner star in Pegasus that is
actually considered part of Andromeda, the chained princess.
MIAPLACIDUS
Now, that is a name! Not that we're truly sure what it means. Those
who study word origins believe the term derives from "gentle waters," as
the star is in Carnina, the Keel. Years ago, a large ship adorned the
southern skies. Called Argo Navis, this vessel was said to have conveyed
the Argonauts in their quest for the Golden Fleece. This ship has been
divided into four different constellations: Carina, Puppis, Vela and
Pyxis.
ALNILAM
"The belt of pearls." The center star in Orion's belt doesn't garner the
press coverage it deserves, perhaps because it is just one of Orion's belt
trio: the three lovely sister stars Alnitak, Anilam, and Mintaka. Each
Orion belt star is quite distant, but Alnilam is the farthest away (1340
light years). Despite its greater distance, Alnilam still appears brighter
than its sisters because it is so intrinsically brilliant (370,000 times
brighter than the Sun.) If Anilam were as close as Mintaka (915 light
years), it would certainly rank higher than Orion's 4th brightest star.
AL NA'IR
This is the very first time the DA has mentioned the constellation Grus.
Strangely, Grus represents a crane. The term Grus americana is the
technical name for Whopping Crane. Once part of Piscis Austrinus, Grus
was a creation of Petrus Plancius (1552-1622), who fashioned a dozen
constellations out of faint stars. Only a few remain on the charts today.
As it was once part of the southern fish, Al'Nair's name means "fish's
tail," even though it now marks the crane's leg. For those of us
around 43 degrees north latitude, Al Nair is just barely out of sight,
visible only to those at or below 41 degrees north latitude.
ALIOTH
The curve in the Big Dipper's handle, or the handle star closest to the
bowl. The three handle stars in the Dipper are Alioth, Alcor-Mizar, and
Alkaid at the handle's end. Alcor-Mizar mark the handle's bend. Alioth
is part of the Ursa Major Moving Cluster, an open star cluster at a
distance of approximately 75 light years. Over thousands of years, the
Big Dipper will dissipate as Alkaid and Dubhe, neither of which belong to
this cluster, slowly migrate away from the others.
GAMMA VELUM
It is curious that a top 50 star has no proper name. (We'll encounter two
examples of these.) Yet, no proper name has been recorded for this star.
We must admit that the star names we have today derive from western
civilization sources, which list precious few names for stars visible
primarily in the southern hemisphere. Instead of a proper name, we have
the star's Bayer Nomenclature Designation. (See Gacrux) So, Gamma Velum is
the brightest star without a proper name.
MIRFAK
Perseus' brightest star is not its most famous star. Algol, the eclipsing
binary representing Medusa's eye, is much better known. One can find
Mirfak within the stick figure shape of Perseus. Astronomically, Mirfak is
notable for being a supergiant (quite rare) and the brightest member of the
'Alpha Persei Cluster," an open cluster of stars only about 52 million
years old. Open clusters are relatively young collections of
gravitatioally bound stars. They are smaller and much younger than the
other principal star cluster type, the globulars, which lurk in the halo, a
spherical region centered on the galactic nucleus.
DUBHE
We like Dubhe because it is one of the "pointer stars," those two stars
that direct us to the north star Polaris. Dubhe is the corner star in the
Big Dipper's bowl. By drawing an imaginary line through the bowl's outer
stars, Dubhe and Merak, one can find Polaris, which is about a dipper's
length away.
WEZEN
The third brightest star in Canis Major, Wezen is one of the truly "young
ones," being a star that formed about 10 million years ago. It has already
ripped through its core hydrogen and is presently gathering enough heat to
fuse helium. Like all massive stars, Wezen expends its nuclear fuel
rapidly, unlike the Sun, which gradually burns through its fuel allotment
over billions of years.
KAUS AUSTRALIS
Sagittarius is the archer aiming his arrow at Scorpius the Scorpion.
Kaus Australis is that star in the arrow's tip. Star names are so
fascinating because they derive from a variety of sources, such as Greek,
Latin and Arabic. The name "Kaus Australis" means "bow of the south."
One might recognize the Latin word "south" embedded in Australis. The
southern lights are called the aurora australis. Remembering star names
is an effective way of memorizing Latin, Greek, and Arabic direction and
body part terms.
AVIOR
Some star names are quite ancient, dating as far back to the days of the
Sumerians. Others are of much more recent vintage. The name "avior" was
assigned to this star during World War II. The term refers to the pilots
using the stars in their navigation. Being quite far south (not visible
to those south of 28 degrees north latitude), it did not receive any proper
name noted on any starchart. It is the brightest of the "ignored" stars.
ALKAID
The Big Dipper is well represented on this list. Alkaid is the end star
in the Big Dipper's handle. It also represents the great bear's tail. It
is curious that so many different cultures saw this pattern as a bear.
Some native Americans referred to the dipper's bowl as the bear. The
handle stars were three hunters pursuing the bear, with Alkaid taking up
the rear. The name Alkaid has no relation to bears, however. The name
means "the leader," for these stars were seen by Arab astronomers as the
three daughters attending their father's funeral: the bowl being the tomb.
SARGAS
Sargas, marking the Scorpion's underbody, defines our southern horizon.
As it lurks so close to the horizon, Sargas was used an indicator star: one
whose visibility attested to clear southern sailing. Sargas is another
star with a mysterious name, one most likely of Babylonian origin.
Sargas is a Cepheid variable: a star that expands and contracts with a
regular period. These stars are brilliant distance indicators since their
variability period relates to their intrinsic brightness. By observing how
much time a Cepheid requires to complete one variability cycle, one can
measure its absolute brightness. Comparing this value to its apparent
brightness yields its distance.
MENKALIMAN
Do you think Menkaliman is a strange name? Well, it's better than
solstitial colure, a construct with which it is associated. What the
devil is the "solstitial colure," you ask. It is the great circle that
passes through both celestial poles and the two solstice points (Winter and
Summer) You see, the Winter Solstice point is in Sagittarius; the Summer
Solstice point is in Taurus. If you drew a circle between the North
Celestial Pole and the South Celestial Pole so that it passes between both
of these points, you'd draw the solstitial colure. Menkaliman, the second
brightest star in Auriga the Charioteer, marks the solstitial colure's
location, in much the same way that Polaris marks the North Celestial
Pole's approximate position.
ATRIA
The sky is replete with triangles. One can make triangles almost
everywhere. All one needs, after all, is a set of three stars. There
are a couple official triangles in the sky: Triangulum and Triangulum
Australe. (As we can guess, the latter one is the southern triangle) This
triangle is WAY down there, ladies and gentlemen. It isn't even visible on
the Tropic of Cancer. One has to be south of 20 degrees north to find it.
Atria is so far south, it is one of the brightest stars close to the
South Celestial Pole. Needless to say, we northern dwellers don't have a
chance to find it.
ALHENA
Let's take a moment to explain the "Al," which is common in star names.
Many stars were named by Arabic astronomers. These names often contain
the prefix "al," the Arabic word for "the." Alhena is one such example.
Even though it is Gemini's third brightest star, Alhena means "brand on
the camel." Arabic astronomers did not see the Gemini stars as twins, but
as a camel procession. One can find a great deal of incongruity between
the names of constellations and the stars that comprise them. This is
because we have a rich mish-mash of cultures that have left their imprints
on the star charts.
PEACOCK
And, speaking of star names, how interesting it is to find a star name in
English! The Peacock is the alpha star in Pavo, the Peacock. Another
constellation that is far south of us, Pavo is a modern star pattern with
an ancient association. Formed by Dutch explorers, Pavo represents Argos
after Hera transformed him into a peacock after conveying his vessel the
Argo Navis to the sky. As Pavo is near the four constellations made from
the Argo Navis, its inclusion is quite logical, mythologically.
DELTA VELORUM
The other stars on the top 50 list that doesn't have a proper name. Delta
Velorum is in Vela, part of Argo Navis. Those venturing into the
southern hemisphere in search of the Southern Cross be warned: there is
such a thing as the "false cross," an asterism within Vela. It resembles
the southern cross as it consists of two perpendicular star lines.
However, it is larger than Crux (the smallest constellation) and consists
of fainter stars. Delta Velorum is in this false cross. Vela is the
southern pole constellation on Mars, the star Kappa Velorum being only a
couple degrees away from the Martian SCP.
MIRZAM
Canis Major's beta, but fourth brightest star. Yes, if you've been
reading these little sections, you will remember that the Bayer system
assigns Greek letters to a constellation's stars in order of relative
brightness. However, the system is often inaccurate, as it was designed
years before modern brightness determination equipment was invented.
Like most of Canis Major's other bright stars, Mirzam is in the dog's
head. Though it is much dimmer than Sirius, when Mirzam eventually
explodes as a supernova, it will be as bright as a galaxy for a brief time
and will outshine all the other stars. Of course, this fleeting fame will
come at the cost of its life, but for some, being notorious is preferable
to being extant.
CASTOR
The second brightest star in Gemini; also the name of the mortal twin.
Castor is a six star system (two inner pairs of white stars around which
revolve an outer red dwarf pair.) This star is a historical stepping
stone, as it was the first place outside the solar system where astronomers
could observe motion induced by gravity. As they determined that Castor's
component stars moved in accordance to Newtonian laws, it helped us realize
that gravity works all over the Universe.
ALPHARD The "solitary star." It occupies the region close to Regulus, but
is the one prominent star in a dark part of the sky. Though it is low on
our list, Alphard is still the brightest star in Hydra, the many-headed
watersnake. Hydra, like Eridanus, is one of those meandering
constellations consisting of relatively dim stars that, nevertheless, form
a discernible procession across the heavens.
HAMAL
The brightest star in Aries the Ram. Whereas we've seen prominences on
Betelgeuse, we've observed a phenomenon called "limb darkening" on Hamal.
Limb darkening is the apparent darkening visible along the limbs (outer
edges) of the Sun. We perceive such darkeneing because when we observe the
sun's outer edges, we're peering through a thicker section of gases than we
see in the Sun's center. Thus, the solar limbs seem "shadowed" As Hamal
is a close star (15 light years), similar edge diminishment is also
observable.
NUNKI
Have you ever heard of the "Little Milk Dipper?" Well, let us tell you
that it is one the night sky's hidden gems. Like the Big Dipper, the
Little Milk Dipper is an asterism (a star pattern contained within a larger
constellation.) This Little Milk Dipper is part of Sagittarius the
Archer. Sagittarius is steeped in the Milky Way Galaxy's glow, as the
constellation is aligned with the region marking the galaxy's center. In
this part of the sky field we encounter wide swaths of brilliant star
light. The Little Milk Dipper is a five star asterism that appears upside
down to us, as though it were pouring milk out onto the shimmering stars
below it. This dipper encompasses Sagittarius' northern portion.
Nunki is the northern star in this asterism.
POLARIS
Yes, you have to wait until you reach the list's bottom to finally
encounter Polaris, the north star. As it has the name recognition that
most other stars do not enjoy, people naturally assume it's the brightest.
However, it barely makes the top 50. Polaris is currently the north star
because Earth's northern axis is aligned close to it. The star barely
appears to move during the night and always marks north. Eventually,
precession (Earth's wobble) will shift Polaris away from his position,
allowing for other stars to eventually become the north star. In fact,
Vega will become the north star 13,000 years from now.
DENEB KAITOS
The Whale's Tail is the tail end of today's DA Deneb Kaitos, also known
as Diphda, marks the tail of Cetus the Whale (or sea monster) Cetus was
the monster released by Posideon to destroy Cassiopeia's village after the
latter insulted the former by declaring that the latter's daughter was more
beautiful than the former's sea nymphs. It's an ancient story that needn't
be rehashed here. Suffice it to say that all ended happily for everyone,
except Cetus. Take note of the word "deneb," meaning tail. We see that a
few times in star names, such as Deneb, the tail of Cygnus the Swan and
Denebola, the Lion's tail.