Gamma Cassiopeiae

Gamma Cassiopeiae (γ Cas, γ Cassiopeiae) is the Bayer designation for a star in the northern circumpolar constellation of Cassiopeia. Although it is a fairly bright star with an apparent visual magnitude of 2.47, it has no traditional Arabic or Latin name. However, in Chinese, it has the name Tsih, derived from the word 策 (cè), meaning "the whip". It is located at the center of the distinctive "W" shape that forms the constellation's asterism. American astronaut Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom nicknamed the star Navi after his own middle name spelled backwards. The star was used as an easily identifiable navigational reference point during space missions. Based upon parallax measurements made by the Hipparcos satellite, this star is located at a distance of roughly 550 light-years (170 parsecs) from Earth.