The Fixed Stars

Caph

Beta Cassiopeiae

The palm, the stained hand, from the Arabic al-kaff al-khadib. It stands at about 5° Aries (tropical).

The queen's hand, one of the two stars that steer the W back to the pole.

Beta Cassiopeiae marks the queen's hand. With Alpheratz it once fixed the equinox, and it sits at the leading tip of the W. Little individual delineation attaches to it in the old books.