Beta Ceti, officially named Diphda, is the brightest star in the constellation of Cetus. Although designated 'beta', it is actually brighter than the 'alpha' star in the constellation, Menkar, by half a magnitude. This orange giant is easy to identify due to its location in an otherwise dark section of the celestial sphere. Based on parallax measurements, it lies at an estimated distance of 96.3 light-years from the Sun.
Image of orange giant Beta Ceti from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.
Cetus is a constellation, sometimes called 'the whale' in English. The Cetus was a sea monster in Greek mythology which both Perseus and Heracles needed to slay. Cetus is in the region of the sky that contains other water-related constellations: Aquarius, Pisces and Eridanus.
Cetus annotated with lines (a "stick figure") from a latitude further north (north of its declination), above a horizon, in conditions ideal for observation.
Messier 77 spiral galaxy - HST (Hubble Space Telescope).
The spiral galaxy NGC 298 basks in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. NGC 298 lies around 89 million light-years away in the constellation Cetus, and appears isolated in this image — only a handful of distant galaxies and foreground stars accompany the lonely galaxy.
An alike depiction from Celestial Atlas (A. Jamieson) (1822)