It also bore the traditional names Caph (from the Arabic word كف kaf, "palm" – i.e. reaching from the Pleiades), Chaph and Kaff, as well as al-Sanam al-Nakah "the Camel's Hump".

[17] Consequently, the Chinese name for β Cassiopeiae itself is 王良一 (Wáng Liáng yī, English: the First Star of Wang Liang.

)[18] Together with Alpha Andromedae (Alpheratz) and Gamma Pegasi (Algenib), Beta Cassiopeiae was one of three bright stars known as the "Three Guides" marking the equinoctial colure.

[9] This is an imaginary line running due south from Beta Cassiopeiae through Alpha Andromedae to the celestial equator, at a point where the Sun's path (the ecliptic) crosses it each autumn and spring equinox.

This is giving the star an oblate spheroid shape with an equatorial bulge that is 24% larger than the polar radius.

This shape is causing the polar region to have a higher temperature than the equator: the temperature difference is about 1,000 K. The star is being viewed nearly pole-on, the stellar axis is inclined about 20 degrees to the line of sight from the Earth.

[8] Beta Cassiopeiae was once considered to be a spectroscopic binary with a faint companion in a 27-day orbit, but it is now thought to be a single star.