# Menkar (Alpha Ceti)

Menkar (Alpha Ceti) is a star in the constellation Cetus, magnitude 2.5.

**The Sea Monster’s nostril — a dying red giant big enough to swallow Mercury’s orbit.**

If Menkar took the Sun’s place, its surface would reach past the orbit of Mercury. This bloated [red](https://astropilot.space/glossary/star-colour) giant is about 100 times the Sun’s width, and although its surface is a cool 3,700 K, all that glowing area gives off more than 1,700 times the Sun’s light.

It is near the end of its life. Menkar has used up first the hydrogen and then the helium in its core. Astronomers expect it to become unstable, like its famous neighbour Mira, before puffing off its outer layers as a [planetary nebula](https://astropilot.space/glossary/planetary-nebula) and leaving behind a white dwarf.

The name is Arabic for “nostril” — the Sea Monster’s. Despite its Alpha label, Menkar is not the brightest star in Cetus: Beta Ceti, also called Diphda, outshines it.

Menkar (Alpha Ceti) is 250 light-years away: the light we see from it set off around 1775, around the time William Herschel discovered Uranus.

## Did you know?

- **Part of a hand.** Arabic star lore grouped Menkar with six other stars of Cetus as al-Kaff al-Jidhmah, “the part of a hand”.
- **The Circular Granary.** In Chinese astronomy Menkar is the first star of Tiān Qūn, the Circular Celestial Granary, a group of 13 stars in Cetus.
- **A ship named Menkar.** The US Navy named a Crater-class cargo ship after the star: USS Menkar (AK-123).

A ruddy orange star of magnitude 2.5 in the ring of stars that forms the head of Cetus, the Sea Monster. Binoculars bring out its colour. The famous variable Mira lies about 13 degrees to the south-west — compare the two when Mira is bright.

## When and where to see it

It is best placed in the evening sky around December, when it crosses the meridian at about 10 pm local time (around midnight in November). It can be seen from everywhere north of 86°S and never sets north of 86°N.

At its highest it stands 44° up from 50°N, 59° up from 35°N, 86° up from the equator, 51° up from 35°S.

## Facts

- Type: Star
- Constellation: Cetus
- Designations: Alpha Ceti, α Cet, 92 Cet, HR 911, HD 18884, HIP 14135
- Magnitude: 2.5
- Position: RA 3h 2.3m, Dec +4° 5′ (J2000)
- Spectral type: M1.5IIIa
- Colour: orange-red (B−V 1.64)
- Distance: 250 light-years
- Discovered: Known since antiquity

Open AstroPilot to see when Menkar (Alpha Ceti) is highest tonight from your location, how easy it is with your telescope or binoculars, and an eyepiece view. https://astropilot.space/object/menkar