Diphda

An orange K-type star, Diphda is the brightest member of Cetus, the Sea Monster, despite bearing only the Beta designation of that large constellation. Its colour index of 1.019 sits firmly in the range of cooler, evolved stars. Diphda appears at apparent magnitude 2.04 and lies about 96 light-years away, with an absolute magnitude of −0.31 that marks a luminosity modestly greater than the Sun-like norm. Notably, it outshines Alpha Ceti in the same constellation, an example of the frequent mismatch between Bayer lettering, which does not always follow brightness, and a star's actual apparent rank. As Cetus occupies a dim stretch of the autumn sky, Diphda serves as one of the region's more reliable naked-eye guides.