Cetus is a large autumn evening constellation, nearly all of it lying south of the celestial equator, just south of the faint Zodiac constellation Pisces. The stars in Cetus tend to be brighter than some of those constellations surrounding it, although that's not saying much. To me the standout star is Beta Ceti, better known as Deneb Kaitos, situated at Cetus' southwest corner at magnitude 2.04, a clear marker in the night sky, especially in juxtaposition to its dim setting. Mira is a noted variable star whose magnitude dramatically and periodically changes from easily-visible 3 all the way to 10, only viewable through telescopes. There's a Messier object, M77, on the constellation's northeastern end...it is a spiral galaxy some 50 million light-years distant. Cetus represents the sea monster that mythical Greek heroic character Perseus had to battle. Its nearby constellations in the fall sky are elements of Perseus' story: Pegasus, Perseus himself, Andromeda and Cassiopeia. Sometimes Cetus is referred to as a whale, and Curious George creator H.A. Rey's redrawn constellations from his children's book Find the Constellations (which I used to check out a lot as a kid) depict it that way. Next month I'll discuss a constellation from December's evening sky...
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