It is faintly visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of 4.885.
[2] The distance to this star, based upon an annual parallax shift of 7.15 mas,[1] is around 460 light years.
This is an A-type main sequence star with a stellar classification of A0 V.[3] It is spinning rapidly with a projected rotational velocity of 219[8] km/s, giving the star an oblate shape with an equatorial bulge that is 10% larger than the polar radius.
[10] The star has an estimated size 3.1[6] times the radius of the Sun and is radiating 178 times the solar luminosity from its outer atmosphere at an effective temperature of 8,905 K.[7] This star, along with π Cet, ε Cet and σ Cet, was Al Sufi's Al Sadr al Ḳaiṭos, the Whale's Breast [11] According to the catalogue of stars in the Technical Memorandum 33-507 - A Reduced Star Catalog Containing 537 Named Stars, Al Sadr al Ḳaiṭos were the title for four stars :this star (ρ Cet) as Al Sadr al Ḳaiṭos I, σ Cet as Al Sadr al Ḳaiṭos II, ε Cet as Al Sadr al Ḳaiṭos III and π Cet as Al Sadr al Ḳaiṭos IV[12] In Chinese, 芻蒿 (Chú Hāo), meaning Hay, refers to an asterism consisting of ρ Ceti, 77 Ceti, 67 Ceti, 71 Ceti, HD 14691[13] and ε Cet.
Consequently, the Chinese name for ρ Ceti itself is 芻蒿一 (Chú Hāo yī, English: the First Star of Celestial Meadows.